The company building the new convention centre is getting a boatload of tax money for the project, but it doesn’t like its own tax bill. Rank, Inc., owner of the Nova Centre complex now under construction downtown, also owns an office complex at 7051 Bayers Road. The company is appealing its 2013 tax assessment for […]
Tim Bousquet
Posted inNews + Opinion
Mayor Mike Savage wants to build a stadium
Mayor Mike Savage and CFL commissioner Mark Cohon have been discussing the possibility of a CFL franchise coming to Halifax, and today the pair took questions from reporters concerning the effort. There are two intertwining issues involved: the building of a stadium and starting and operating a Halifax team. Neither idea is entirely crazy. And […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
There’s still more black history to be unearthed
Over the 30 years since Black History Month was first recognized in the Halifax city library, it has matured into in a province-wide celebration rebranded as African Heritage Month. Still, there’s lots more work to do, says Crystal Mulder,a historian who works at the North Branch Library and who is one of the organizers of […]
Posted inFood + Drink
People’s court
Halifax is a city of stories. There are the stories of history, the stories from our writers, our musicians. But most important are our collective stories, the stories we tell to explain what this city is about, who we are. Here’s one such story: A young immigrant from Lebanon shows up in town with nothing […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Halifax musician Jenny MacDonald wants her $92 back
Halifax musician Jenny MacDonald has had to pay $92 to get her car back, and the company she says improperly charged her is ignoring her. And at least another dozen people have had the same experience, she says. MacDonald’s sister Alicia moved into her north end apartment building when it was called Ocean Towers. Last […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Ray’s Lebanese Food and A Taste of India are being evicted from Scotia Square
Two favourites at the Scotia Square food court have been told to leave. Crombie REIT, which manages the mall, has given Ray’s Lebanese Cuisine and Taste of India until March 31 to vacate the premises. “They told me yesterday,” says Ray Khattar. “I’ve been here 31 years, and I have never missed a rent payment, […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
City abruptly changes food truck permitting system
City staff has abruptly changed the way permits food trucks. Until now, all food trucks operating on city-owned property had bid on specific spots via a tender that was offered five years ago. There were five allotted locations, and food truck owners competed for the spaces. The owners spent a significant amount on the spaces. […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Halifax mayor Mike Savage joins Mayors for Peace
Halifax mayor Mike Savage has joined Mayors for Peace. Founded in 1982 by then-Hiroshima mayor Takeshi Araki, Mayors for Peace is an international organization dedicated to “the total abolition of nuclear weapons.” Over 5,000 cities in 182 countries are members. Former Halifax mayor Peter Kelly had refused to join Mayors for Peace, but at the […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Nova Centre architect appointed to committee that will pass judgment on Nova Centre design
Construction cranes are swinging above the site, cement tucks line up on Argyle Street to deliver their loads and four floors’ worth of parking garage are materializing in the slowly filling pit, but there’s still no approved plan for the Nova Centre complex, no development agreement, no building permits issued. That’s because Halifax council has […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
There’s a reason Halifax traffic is hell
There’s a reason traffic is hell in Halifax: The 91 signalized intersections on the peninsula are regulated by a traffic control system that is using traffic data from the 1990s. Much of the subsequent updating to the system, reflecting data collected over the past 20 years, has been completely lost. Over those two decades, everything […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Opening up the police department:
Police in our society hold immense power. Police have the power to arrest people and lock people up for an entire weekend without explaining the arrest to a higher authority. Police can charge people with a crime, pulling those charged into a complex legal web that, even if found not guilty, is time-consuming and takes […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Smart phone real-time bus locator apps are coming—really, this time
Ten years and untold millions of dollars after it was first envisioned, it looks like Metro Transit will finally have a rider-friendly Go Time system. Halifax council Tuesday approved $5.9 million for an “Automated Vehicle Location /Computer Aided Dispatch” system for buses, to be purchased from Trapeze Software Group , a Mississauga company Metro Transit […]