In today’s feature story, I make reference to American newspapers and their reporting on the police blotters. Here are three examples. Some papers do a simple straight-forward listing, no bells or whistles. These are from the Ashland, Oregon Daily Tidings: Wednesday, 2:04 a.m. — Possible suicidal person reported, 2900 block of Grizzly Drive. Tuesday, 10:06 […]
Tim Bousquet
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Occupy Nova Scotia gears up
“Enough is enough,” says Ryan McKenna. “You can only get pushed around and lied to for so long before you have stand up and say ‘enough.’” McKenna is participating in Occupy Nova Scotia, a local offshoot of what is now the global Occupy Wall Street movement. Inspired by the Arab Spring as exemplified in Egypt’s […]
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To serve or suppress
Last fall, photographer Kyle Cunjak and his friends were swarmed while they walked in Halifax’s north end, and Cunjak was stabbed. In hopes of coming to terms with the attack, his photos of his injuries— which required hospitalization and subsequent plastic surgery—were featured in an art show last month. He’s making progress with his health, […]
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The Shop talk guided tour: Spring Garden Road
Without question, the Spring Garden Road area is the healthiest retail district in Atlantic Canada, forever recreating and transforming itself in interesting and positive ways. And right now, there’s more construction going on than ever before: Framed on the north by the pricey Trillium condo building, which will be a sure incentive for even more […]
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Golden doodle heist in Halifax
Have you seen this dog? This golden doodle puppy and four more in the litter, as well as their mother, were stolen from an apartment on Cunard Street last night, along with a 52-inch TV, a $3,000 watch, computer and camera equipment. A Halifax Regional Police Department release mischaracterizes the robbery, says the victim, who […]
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Right to Know Week, Day 3: Secret government meetings
Some of the criticism levelled at city council’s secret meetings misses the mark. I’m talking about the “council met 28 times in secret last year” type of criticism—the number of secret meetings really doesn’t shed much light on whether they meetings were legitimately secret. Council can legitimately meet in secret for issues involving real estate, […]
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Murky waters
On January 14, 2009, Halifax’s brand-new sewage plant broke, and we went right back to spewing raw sewage into the harbour. How could something so important, something we spent so much time and money on, go so terribly wrong? The people had a right to know, and so I requested a copy of the engineering […]
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Right to Know Week, Day 2: Opening up the police blotter
I’m writing this blog post somewhat expecting to be called out as the ugly American immigrant. Perhaps I am, but I hope readers will at least hear me out before throwing the CFA insults my way. Earlier this year, I started giving the Halifax police department some grief on Twitter for what struck me as […]
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Council declines to kill Bayers Road widening
Halifax council Tuesday refused to kill outright the plan to widen Bayers Road, opting instead to study the issue further after the upcoming five-year review of the regional plan. The decision is a setback for opponents of the road widening. At issue was a planning document called the “Road Network Functional Plan,” which included various […]
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Right to Know Week, Day 1: Still in the dark about the sewage plant failure
Happy Right to Know Week! As I reported last week, mayor Peter Kelly has proclaimed September 26-30 Right to Know Week: “Halifax Regional Municipality is dedicated to the principle of open and transparent government and is accountable to the citizens it serves.” No doubt the proclamation came at the behest of the Canadian Association of […]
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Louly’s Restaurant closes
Louly’s Restaurant (6403 Quinpool Road,, at the corner of Oxford) has closed, its windows papered over with no explanatory note. Last year, Louly’s had moved into the space once occupied by the long-standing and much enjoyed Spartan Restaurant, which shut when its owners retired. This is a desirable retail space. Especially with the newly renovated […]
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Lay-offs hit Halifax city hall
Last Thursday afternoon, city top bureaucrat Richard Butts abruptly announced a re-shuffling and downsizing of city staff, resulting in five middle managers immediately losing their jobs. Reportedly, the five were escorted out of their offices, lest they take home paper clips or trade secrets. The five laid off employees are: Andrew Whittemore, manager of community […]