I was most disappointed in the coverage by Ariane Hanlon. If she was not familiar with Policy 89 by the time she wrote her piece then she, like Regional Council, had not done her homework and was not listening during the public's presentations. Ms Hanlon is not a Tim Bousquet. Reality no longer 'Bites" at The Coast I fear.
While Ms Hanlon and members of Regional Council may complain that they were no wiser after suffering through the April 29th Public Hearing on the convention centre they were at least better informed.
Well guerrilla art is alive and well in Unoccupied Halifax! I mean who would want to occupy that part of downtown anyway? That is something that we are all now learning to our collective chagrin.
The installation art is wonderful - just Wonderful!! I think I can see Mr. Bill Estabrooks who is hiding in the shadows still trying to make sense of what passed for faux convention centre 'feasibility studies' and the shadow-of-a-mayor P. Kelly is obvious - but who is the third business person who has been forced to seek refuge in the debris of a vision gone quite south? Can anyone identify this guy?
But do not blame NSCAD students for this fine statement of fact for fear that the Province and HRM class them among the 99% in need of a merger, a sell out, or even worse.
As one wag who is very dear to our hearts, but shy to take credit for her wit, has said:
"The AG report on concerts on the Common is here ...... where I read with surprise about 'group think'.
I did not think any form of 'think' came into it!"
Keep at it Tim. The stonewalling clearly indicates that you are pressing on the quick of the matter. And the fact that the AG has failed to say who failed the public leaves the matter festering and I can smell it from here.
We have no problem in allowing a developer to leave a lot downtown vacant, or to tear down a building and leave it vacant, where all can see it, so why couldn't the Washburn/ Moneyburn Underpass just sit partially finished for a decade until we really want to finish it? I will bet that I can show you 10 such properties in the downtown easily where the developer is paying a minimum of annual tax on what is in effect a parking lot. Hell we even have the 'Waterslide' development that is partially demolished/restored looking like a bit of bombed out London of WWII, or Beruit of 2004, and we don't complain.
Well the 'Moneyburn Underpass' can be seen by almost no one save those that drive to the IMAX et al. theatre complex at night so why not just leave it for a long while and spend the money on other more needed and better budgeted projects? Or just not spent the money at all and reduce the tax rates for the fiscal year 2011-2012 for a change?
Whether it is an Airport Authority, or the Waterfront Development Ltd., once created they go on forever. They have a guaranteed income and they will always keep looking for something to spend it on - be it another runway upgrade, parking garage, a scheme on the Dartmouth waterfront, or a massive Bedford scheme. Let me predict that with the the Switzer and Irving tugs' none-competition agreement that has seen Switzer get all of Port Hawksbury and Irving get all of Halifax that the waterlot area to the east of 'Block M' will miraculously end up purchased by the Province for the WDC and that there will a very convenient landfill site for all the debris that will generated from the projected demolition of the Roy building and every other heritage that we can get a backhoe claw into.
Recent Comments
While Ms Hanlon and members of Regional Council may complain that they were no wiser after suffering through the April 29th Public Hearing on the convention centre they were at least better informed.
Alan Ruffman
Ferguson's Cove
The installation art is wonderful - just Wonderful!! I think I can see Mr. Bill Estabrooks who is hiding in the shadows still trying to make sense of what passed for faux convention centre 'feasibility studies' and the shadow-of-a-mayor P. Kelly is obvious - but who is the third business person who has been forced to seek refuge in the debris of a vision gone quite south? Can anyone identify this guy?
But do not blame NSCAD students for this fine statement of fact for fear that the Province and HRM class them among the 99% in need of a merger, a sell out, or even worse.
Regards and in great appreciation
Alan Ruffman
Ferguson's Cove
Halifax County, N.S.
"The AG report on concerts on the Common is here ...... where I read with surprise about 'group think'.
I did not think any form of 'think' came into it!"
Alan Ruffman
Alan Ruffman
Ferguson's Cove
Well the 'Moneyburn Underpass' can be seen by almost no one save those that drive to the IMAX et al. theatre complex at night so why not just leave it for a long while and spend the money on other more needed and better budgeted projects? Or just not spent the money at all and reduce the tax rates for the fiscal year 2011-2012 for a change?
Alan Ruffman
Ferguson's Cove
Tugboat Sally