Kudos to The Coast
Kudos to you and your staff for current pieces in The Coast (“A world of silence and emptiness for those battling depression,” The City; “Oppression equals depression.” Voice of the City, March 3) that address the experiences of people of African descent re: mental illness. For a variety of reasons, the topic has long been overlooked—especially as it pertains to black men. Excellent work. —Evelyn C. White, Halifax
Nova Centre rulebreakers
The “Substantial design changes planned for Nova Centre” headline for the story about modifications proposed for the convention centre made my heart leap (thecoast.ca, March 4). I thought the be-bold power set had come to their senses and decided to have the monstrous money pit torn down and use the public’s millions for real infrastructure needs.
The first convention centre exception was the special in-camera meeting where the (old) mayor and council inserted the last minute clause into HRM by Design to permit doubling the height from seven and nine storeys to 14 and 18 if any public money was donated. The second was the (new) mayor and council approving 22 major/minor variances and a steal of a deal on purchasing a block of the public’s Grafton Street. Third strike? Well there’s always been deals on the side, such as the special fund for the developer’s property tax or the extra millions from the city and the province for marketing, so really, who can know? By the time The Coast is published, an in-camera meeting to discuss amending the agreement between HRM and the province about the proposed convention centre will be over and done.
Citizens deserve good open transparent accountable government. What’s with all the secrecy? —Peggy Cameron, Halifax
Missing meetings
People elect councillors to represent them at council meetings, either at the main Council chamber or at various regional council meetings, et cetera (“Brad Johns once again HRM’s most absent city councillor,” thecoast.ca, March 5, 2016). If you want to call BINGO numbers or mainly attend social events, then just turn up as a citizen.
And the residents of your district are not “your” residents but are people you allegedly represent. The districts are not private fiefdoms even if it may not always seem that way. You, sir, are a poor example of a public servant. —posted by dartguy
What’s in a name?
For the most part I read with interest the articles published in The Coast. However, I am very confused over what community you serve. I live in Dartmouth, a community in HRM. Dartmouth is not part of Halifax, nor in Halifax in any way, shape or form. I noticed you have a city editor. Question is, what city? I’ll assume you refer to Halifax as a city from the content. This is a grave error.
Halifax lost its city status along with Dartmouth (and all other communities in Halifax County lost their incorporated status) when amalgamation was forced upon us in 1996. HRM’s new logo, while in my view a bit childish in design, is not representative of the whole region and certainly does not change the name of our municipality.
We don’t like it, do not accept it and would very much appreciate the media—print, TV, radio and online—would respect the people of Dartmouth by not lumping them in with “Halifax.”
Dartmouth is a community separate from the Halifax community but an integral part of HRM; please do not refer to Dartmouth people, places, businesses and other things as from Halifax. I, and thousands of Dartmouthians, would very much appreciate your due diligence to this matter.
I am looking to reading more accurate news and reports from The Coast. —Liz Campbell, Dartmouth
This article appears in Mar 10-16, 2016.
Sweet flying spaghetti monster! From one Dartmouthian to another: let. it. go.
No Liz, it’s all Halifax. Just as Brooklyn/Queens/etc. became New York in 1898, and Etobicoke/Scarborough/etc became Toronto in 1997, Dartmouth/Bedford/Cole Harbour and all the rest of it are now parts of Halifax. We can argue that this amalgamation went too far (Sheet Harbour WTF?), but it’s reality.
The old towns and cities within the metro region still have their particular local character, but they’re all part of this larger city. Calling it HRM was just a bit of public-relations to soft-peddle the reality: You, Liz, are a Haligonian. Get used to it.
The only alternative is to do what Montreal did a few years ago: Kick up such a fuss over amalgamation that the whole city is back into a confused mess of individual municipalities. But that would be dumb.
Consider that Liz is correct, Halifax is not a city, nor is Dartmouth, but Dartmouth is what we decided to start branding everything, calling everything. Where would we be? The City of Dartmouth indeed.
We’re just asking for some respect. The Halifax I knew, The Coast I knew when they were getting started, more than 20 years ago would understand this.
Right away.
But this is 2016 and it seems things have changed.
We can’t ask you to understand where we in Dartmouth are coming from, but it’s equally not reasonable to think those who hold this matter dear to them to let it go.
We’re not trying to take something that is not ours.
We’re not picking a fight. We’ve just decided that we’re not willing to give up the fight for our good name.
It’s too bad that is creating so much animosity among citizens of the HRM and I honestly don’t feel it has to be this way.
Have a great weekend from your neighbor and friend in Dartmouth.