Last week, perhaps in an effort to make downtown Halifax look more presentable for the crowd of Juno-goers about to descend upon our city, the municipality sent out an order to remove any derelict bicycles located near the ultra-touristy Historic Properties. Following city orders, a crew promptly set to work rounding up bicycles in the area, cutting locks and loading them on to municipal trucks. Unfortunately, the bikes weren’t derelict or deserted. Most of them belonged to NSCAD students—very, very confused NSCAD students. After an inquisitive student talked to one of the bike-takers, the pinched property was eventually traced to the Halifax Police, who were storing the bikes in—appropriately enough—their lost and found department. With help from the university, the city is currently attempting to return all of the missing bikes to their rightful owners. The city also plans to replace any chopped bike locks, and thus end the Great Municipal Bike Heist of 2006.
Towering victory
After weeks of rancorous debate, hours of public input and thousands of gnashed teeth, municipal council voted 15-5 in favour of going ahead with the twisted towers development proposed for the former Tex-Park site near Hollis and Granville. Hardly the paper-thin voting margin we had been expecting. Still, the towers have retained some powerful opponents. Our jet-setting mayor Peter Kelly made a special flight home from Melbourne, Australia (leaving the rest of the Commonwealth Games bid team behind) to be present for the highly anticipated vote. The mayor couldn’t have been very pleased with the outcome—Kelly stated that he could not support the project because he doesn’t believe it falls in line with the Municipal Planning Strategy. He can at least take heart in the fact that the tower debate may not be over yet—the results from council may still be appealed to the Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board.
Do as the Romans do
Apparently, boxing just isn’t doing it anymore for bloodlusty Haligonians. Fortunately, we’re upping the ante with an impending display of mixed martial arts, scheduled to make its debut in the Halifax Forum on April 29. After an initial wave of “Oh, the brutality,” “It’s so barbaric,” and “How could we stoop so low?” ticket sales for the event have been rampant—apparently, it only took two days for floor seats to sell out. For those who are still on the fence about the event or unclear as to what exactly “mixed martial arts” refers, allow us to explain: Fighters do battle using kicks, punches, throws and holds, all designed to disable their opponent. However, the sport is not without regulation: elbows to the face, back of the head or spine are strictly prohibited. Also, punches or kicks to the groin are never permitted. See? It sounds perfectly humane. Take the kids.
Pay the fiddler
From the where-are-they-now, oh-there-they-are-and-they-want-to-be-prime-minister file, Cape Breton fiddler Ashley MacIsaac announced this week that he intends to run for the leadership of the federal Liberal party. MacIsaac is best known for his 1995 breakthrough album Hi How Are You Today?, and more notoriously for briefly exposing himself during a taping of Late Night with Conan O’Brien in 1997. Ashley MacIsaac, doing something totally zany. How unexpected.
News. You have it. We want it: michaelf@thecoast.ca
This article appears in Mar 23-29, 2006.