Once again Tim is the Woodward and Bernstein of Halifax—drawing a clear and revealing line between this decidedly unserious plan and the thwarted Commonwealth Games scheme. Thank you Tim!
—John Wesley Chisholm, Musquodoboit Harbour
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This article appears in Apr 8-14, 2010.
“Convention Central” comments are interesting. If Bryan Burns can think af a catchy phrase to replace “Save the View” I wish he would. I’m sure everyone concerned about the view from Citadel Hill is aware that saving that view also saves the view in all other directions. Including, we hope, preserving some sunshine along Argyle Street.
Halifax, much to the chagrin of developers and political types who remain in denial, will never be New York or London or Vancouver. The peninsula is too small. Paris and Manhattan are livable and wonderful because there are long, wide streets with open ends. Here we are too small. the streets are too narrow, putting up a high rise inevitably closes things in and contributes to the claustrophobia alluded to by “thisislondon.” A similar thing will occur in Dartmouth with the erection of Fares’s development – the view will be blocked and small downtown Dartmouth will overshadowed in many ways.
Yes, let’s have new housing, let’s have spiffy offices to attract and keep businesses, but never at the expense of the history. You would never know in historic Florence that there is a modern Florence somewhere – but that certainly does not detract from the appeal of the ancient city! Also I applaud those who call for more transparency in the developments that seek input from governments, whether it is outright subsidy or simply requests for variances to regulations (like intruding into viewplanes).