When former HRM councillor Richard Zurawski made a pitch for regional staff to explore banning drive-thrus in Halifax back in 2018, he was hoping for a different future from what we see today. At the time, the Timberlea-Beechville-Clayton Park-Wedgewood councillor and Green Party hopeful told his Environment and Sustainability Standing Committee peers he was “deeply […]
City
Posted inNews + Opinion
Saving Centennial Pool, a tale of two committees
The city’s Community Planning and Economic Development Committee met on Thursday, Jan. 18, and talked about water sports. First on the agenda the committee heard from Trevor Brumwell, who was representing the Save Centennial Pool Committee. On top of Brumwell’s presentation, there was a slew of public speakers who also voiced support for saving the […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Is Halifax becoming a fire prevention leader?
The city’s Audit and Finance Committee got together Wednesday Jan. 17 for a pretty routine meeting. First up, mayor Mike Savage brought forward a financial indicators report as an information item. In a bureaucratic rondelay, the HRM compiles information, sends it to the province, the province sends back this report and then the city can […]
Posted inArts + Music
In fenced-off Meagher Park, one renegade poem keeps surviving its removal
Look beyond the chain-link fence at the corner of Chebucto Road and Dublin Street, and a story emerges. It’s there, scrawled in permanent marker, on a plywood board that would be easy to miss, if not for the fact that it keeps disappearing—then coming back again, albeit in different forms. One day, it’s a pamphlet; […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Everything you need to know about HRM council’s Jan. 9 meeting
The Property Valuation Services Corporation gave its annual presentation to council at the Tuesday, Jan. 9 meeting, council’s first meet of this election year 2024. PVSC is the independent arms-length government agency that sets a property’s value so that it can be taxed based on that value. (Assessments are right now arriving in the mail […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Mission creep has Halifax police caught in a bind
After the annual elections of the chair and vice-chair, Halifax’s Board of Police Commissioners used its Monday, Jan. 8 meeting to vote to recommend council approve an additional six RCMP officers in the 2024/25 budget: two for domestic violence, four for general duty. After commissioner Becky Kent kept her seat as chair and vice chair […]
Posted inFood + Drink
7 new Halifax restaurants to get you excited for 2024
If last year’s haul of industry awards is anything to go by, Halifax’s food and drink scene continues to put our coastal city on the map. That doesn’t show any signs of slowing in 2024, even as the region reels from the loss of several beloved haunts in 2023. The good news? More palate-pleasing options […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Halifax’s police board presents accountability theatre
In much the same way an elementary school puts on a holiday show to end the year, Halifax’s Board of Police Commissioners used its last meeting before the holidays for a bit of theatre. At its Dec. 13 meeting, the board got a pitch from the RCMP about its recommendation of approximately $1.1 million in […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Everything you need to know about HRM council’s Dec. 12 meeting
Halifax’s budget pre-season is in the books, and reading the tea leaves, it is wildly unclear what the future will hold. (More on that in the Notable Debates section below.) This meeting was quite quotable as various councillors started coming to terms with the realities of the society we built. Councillor Pam Lovelace said homes […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Daring to question city hall’s new-car habit
During the HRM’s final budget preseason meeting, on December 12, councillor Trish Purdy caught a lot of stick. Tuesday’s budget meeting was the Capital Updates and Advance Tenders meeting. The capital update is bleak: We need a lot of capital projects—arenas, libraries, fire stations and the like—but we have no money. We have no money […]
Posted inArts + Music
Propeller Arcade’s holiday telethon is just the feel-good thing for your weekend
Andrew Neville wears a lot of hats—poet, musician, This Hour Has 22 Minutes researcher and erstwhile podcast co-host, for starters—but he might never have worn a hat quite like this one. This Saturday, Dec. 16, he’ll be co-running the first-ever Propeller Arcade Family Christmas, a telethon-style fundraiser with a lineup of performers that sounds about […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
“History will not be kind to us” warns councillor
There is a growing disconnect between what our governments think is progress and what we think is progress. Nowhere is that more evident than in municipal committee meetings, especially with old-school progressives. There is a mindset common in an older generation of progressives whereby incremental action towards the right thing is, or should be, celebrated […]
