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In the history of this city has there ever been a construction project that was welcomed with open arms? I mean seriously, though every project I see or read about is facing opposition either from a loud handful of citizens or a city councillor. We have how many empty lots and derelict buildings that just sit there, and sit there? I’m 25 and I’ve looked at the same empty gravel lots for my entire life. The minute a developer wants to put a building up or any development they are met with such fierce opposition they generally just walk away and don’t come back. I see The Coast has dedicated their issue to those of us that have to leave, but will there ever be a reason to stay? I hear the term “have province” all the time and it seriously depresses me. I love Halifax and Nova Scotia but we really need an attitude adjustment. Our downtown is only by name because it’s literally “down” town. City Hall is there but do they look out their windows? —Ben
This article appears in Dec 11-17, 2014.
I suspect you will leave too, like most of the most talented people in the city. Progressive thinking is just not present in Halifax except in small pockets, and people eventually get frustrated and leave for greener pastures. I love it here, but get extremely frustrated by the lack of progress. The people who say ‘no’ to every damn project also have no solution for fixing our slowly dying economy. It’s amazing we have already not turned into a retirement city. I wonder how we got this way.
I think most of what you said is untrue?
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“I’m 25 and I’ve looked at the same empty gravel lots for my entire life.” Ben
Empty gravel lots lack animate life. Looking at them for 25 years must have been unutterably boring. Have you ever thought of watching the grass grow?
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A pleasure as always,
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If they paved paradise and put up a parking lot, do you really think that’s gonna help the economy? Will it make the NS employers any less cheap? I doubt it. Employers want skilled/experienced employees with degrees but pay what they can get away with paying — shit all. Nova Scotians need to ban together and refuse to work for the chump change these cheap ass employers are throwing our way. YOU show other people how to treat you. Start saying No to these insulting job offers. When they tell you the wage, laugh right in their face and walk out of the interview. Tell um, ‘Thanks for wastin’ my time, chump’. Go on to Alberta if you need to… But if you accept chicken feed as pay, then you’re a sucker and deserve what you get. Power to the people!
When we have councillors such as the Old Grey Mare and Jenny the Twat you get opposition based in foolishness and personal desires.
The GOOD news is they are part of but a few idiots and don’t hold enough respect or power on Council to stop or delay progress we’ve seen recently; look around the city… see all the cranes? Progress.
And dear, you don’t HAVE to leave; that’s a choice you make. Threating to leave doesn’t matter to the Old Grey Mare nor Jenny the Twat.
Now, if you do leave: re-think Alberta ’cause the ivory tower there is falling-fast. Try Montréal – it’s cheap and has lots of great X.
^^^ I agree. After many years of stagnation it is great to see so much going on and so many cranes everywhere. New hotels and refurbished buildings on Brunswick, new buildings going up near Spring Garden, the new condos on Barrington, the new YMCA complex that will be starting construction next year, and on and on. There is still some NIMBY resistance to developments in certain neighbourhoods but it is mostly from people who are worried about their own property values.
And, yes, if one is compelled to leave Halifax then Montreal is the Chairman’s meow. Can’t beat the joie de vivre of the place.
What makes you think Halifax is unique in this regard? I find it amusing when people think that we here in NS have this attitude towards development, and nobody else has it. In fact people everywhere have the same attitudes.
And if you think Halifax is anti-development, try having lived here since the 1960’s. Maybe it’s just me, but it sure seems like the past 50 years have seen a shitload of development. As for the parking lots, yeah, they are eyesores, but that’s because people around here, just like in the States, abhor walking. They need to minimize the distance in which they achieve cardiovascular activity. No fault of the developers.
@lonelydwightfrye: I have no idea why you, like apparently many others, have this perception that Halifax (HRM in general) and the province by extension, have all these problems you mention that nobody else seems to have. You’re 25, so how many cities have you lived in or visited? You think a proliferation of parking lots in the downtown core is a particular problem of peninsular Halifax? Try visiting most larger cities in North America, for starters.
As for “most of the talented people leaving”, give me a break. To the extent that Nova Scotia is a small population, and even Atlantic Canada is not a large population, geographical career moves for people in this area are entirely logical. For what it’s worth, if you were to examine geographical labour mobility for people anywhere else in North America, and let’s stick to white-collar professionals or skilled trades, you’d find that there is just as much of it elsewhere as there is here. But conversely, a lot of “talented people” stay here, or come back, or arrive here, and thrive.
And “progressive thinking is just not present in Halifax except in small pockets”. Boy, isn’t that a personal anecdote if I ever heard one. You’ve personally met several hundred thousand people and had lengthy discussions with them about their philosophies?
Do you really want to know why Halifax isn’t “progressing” (whatever the F that means)? If you’re talking about expanding or filling in, the issue is quite simply this: Halifax is a military city whose fortunes have risen and fallen on the hatreds of greater powers than ours.
Yes, there appears to be something in the works at the Irving Shipyards which might increase employment prospects in the city, but we’ve learned from hard experience to wait until the need actually arises before we go spending gobs of money we don’t have on projects that’ll be empty and rotting six months after the project ends. Much of Halifax’s development, when it comes, will be to repair some of the debacles of 40 years ago or more (Cogswell interchange) and to fill in the scars – the way it should be, before we subject ourselves to further sprawl and further warehousing of poor “come from aways” a car trip from a store or a job.