Council is heading into two months of open warfare, with three large and contentious issues coming onto the table: HRM By Design, the annual budget and so-called “tax reform.” Tuesday, council started discussing HRM By Design, the downtown planning initiative, but before getting into the meat of the issue, they got hung up on five […]
News
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First report on Halifax Homeless released
The Community Action on Homelessness released its first report this week. (Read the full report here) The group found that last year 1,252 people stayed in a shelter at least once; that figure breaks down as 753 men, 340 women, 82 youth aged 16 to 19 and 77 children. The average length of stay in a shelter was 26 days. The group stresses that those numbers arent complete; they counted just 154 of a total of 194 shelter beds, and they didnt attempt to measure those living in vehicles or couch surfing. Nor does it count people sleeping outside, which
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Five Bridge Lakes
I’ve been quite critical of the provincial government for failing to meet legal targets established in the much-lauded Environmental Goals and Sustainable Prosperity Act. There is, however, one goal that seems to be on tract: the requirement that 12 percent of the province be given wilderness protection by 2015. Rodney MacDonald’s government has made tremendous […]
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Best airport?
I’ve got nothing against the folks at the Stanfield Airport, but this “we’re the best airport evar!” game is getting a bit old, doncha think? For the sixth year in a row, the airport is ranked the world’s best airport for overall passenger satisfaction in the under-five-million category. But the ranking isn’t objective; rather, it’s […]
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Crossing the law
Seemingly small changes in city policy and provincial law have combined to make a very large difference in how people walk about town. On the city side, when new crossing lights are installed at intersections, they are now programmed such that the pedestrian don’t-walk/walk signal only changes if first activated by the pedestrian pushing a […]
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Tax reform news
The misguided effort to shift the tax burden away from wealthy property owners and onto those of more modest means, which has been given the Orwellian label “tax reform,” took centre stage at Tuesday’s council meeting as Councillor Russell Walker asked council to rescind its December vote for funding new transit services. As I reported […]
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Nova Scotia’s missing insurance consumer advocate
Having problems with your car insurance company? Well, don’t bother calling Nova Scotia’s insurance consumer advocate. George Jordan’s number is no longer in service. His job was eliminated last summer. The Tory government of John Hamm appointed Jordan in April 2003 when public anger at the government and the big insurance companies was reaching the […]
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New transit garage
Wow, the bidding process for the new transit garage sure looks overly complicated to my eyes: The RFP was scored using a two envelope process. Envelope one was the technical component of the RFP (qualifications and experience, methodology and approach, work plan schedule). Envelope two consists of the lump sum project cost and deliverables for […]
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Sea Sick
Having reported on issues related to climate change for many years, I thought I understood the gravity of the situation, the scale of the challenges we face and the urgency of avoiding the cataclysmic tipping point of two degrees Celsius. But when a review copy of Alanna Mitchell’s new book, Sea Sick, showed up on […]
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Gottingen Street, the new Barrington Street
…and Barrington is the new Gottingen. Check out this 1950s era news reel on Halifax.
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Council approves bus fare increase
Halifax council this afternoon approved a 25 cent increase in bus fares, with similar increases through the rest of the rate structure– monthly passes, etc. The fare increase takes affect July 1. See my news story on Thursday for more information.
Posted inNews + Opinion
Economic predictions, pt. 2
Today we have Avrim Lazar, president and CEO of the Forest Products Association of Canada, telling the Chronicle-Herald editorial board that: The global economic downturn has been nothing short of devastating to most of Canada’s forestry products industry. But Mr. Lazar, who is based in Ottawa, says he expects a turnaround by the end of […]