Cell: 499-3744 Grade this year: D+ Grade last year: D Reg Rankin has a lot of experience. He was around for the landfill crisis in the ’90s, which led to the creation of Halifax’s recycling program. He understands the issues related to amalgamation and has been involved in the tax reform effort. But saying he […]
city council report card
Posted inNews + Opinion
Bill Karsten
Cell: 476-1855 Grade this year: C+ Grade last year: C I complained last year that Karsten plays “process cop” at council meetings, an irksome habit that continues unabated. But the same personality trait led him to closely examine the whys and wherefores behind a proposal to change the way the city figures transit taxes, with […]
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Peter Lund, Council newbie
Cell: 497-7508 Grade this year: C- Grade last year: N/A District 23 is free of Gary Meade! They should hold a parade and launch fireworks each October to mark the anniversary of Meade’s retirement. And I’m hoping that his replacement, Peter Lund, poured salt on Meade’s former chair before occupying it, killing whatever pestilence may […]
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Jackie Barkhouse
Cell: 476-5601 Grade this year: C+ Grade last year: C+ I still have very high hopes for Jackie Barkhouse. She’s intelligent, and comes from a union background that should serve her Eastern Passage and Woodside constituents well. But does she? Well, since she won a byelection to her seat in December 2007, Barkhouse has mostly […]
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Peter Kelly, Mayor
Phone: 490-4010 Grade this year: C- Grade last year: D Peter Kelly has a knack for getting his indecisive personality caught up in events, you gotta hand him that. Last summer, for example, he told the Chamber of Commerce that thanks to the new sewer plant, the harbour was clean enough to swim in. “Really?” […]
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Jim Smith, MLA Wannabe
Cell: 229-8887 Grade this year: C- Grade last year: C- Smith surprised me this past year. During discussion of the Clairmont Report on violence, he pointed out that everyone was ignoring Clairmont’s suggestion that brothels and prostitution stroll areas be legalized. And, through the transit tax debates, he solidly protected his low-income constituency. He remains […]
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Mary Wile
Cell: 476-2048 Grade this year: D Grade last year: D Since last year, Mary Wile has shown some sparks of awareness: As a member of the Urban Design Task Force, she piped up with a few observations related to HRM By Design, and she importantly raises issues related to handicap access from time to time. […]
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Jerry Blumenthal, Council newbie
Cell: 237-0720 Grade this year: C Grade last year: N/A Jerry Blumenthal retired after a long career as councillor in both the old city of Halifax and in the HRM, and then came back in 2008 to challenge his replacement, Patrick Murphy. Blumenthal seems to have won the October election thanks in large part to […]
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Dawn Sloane
Cell: 488-4812 Grade this year: B Grade last year: B Dawn Sloane can be unpredictably temperamental, and has a habit of speaking around an issue, sometimes just to hear herself talk, I think. But here’s the thing: She’s a damn good representative to the people in her district. I didn’t learn about this until recently, […]
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Sue Uteck
Cell: 221-7651 Grade this year: C+ Grade last year: B- Sue Uteck forthrightly and unapologetically fights for what she thinks is right. And, she knows the city—she knows where the bodies are buried, who holds the keys to which doors and what makes everything run. That knowledge serves her well, and she uses it effectively. […]
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Jennifer Watts, Council newbie
Cell: 497-4748 Grade this year: B Grade last year: N/A Jennifer Watts hit the ground running, leading the resistance to the Bayers Road widening and putting forward a proposed ban on plastic bottles in city buildings and a range of suggested changes to the HRM By Design planning initiative, all within her first six months […]
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Russell Walker, BIG improvement
Cell: 497-7215 Grade this year: B- Grade last year: C- Russell Walker’s been around forever, and knows what’s what. He’s generally right-of-centre on the issues that The Coast finds important—he’s for a third harbour crossing, he voted for the Chebucto Road widening, he unthinkingly supports huge budget increases for cops, whether warranted or not. But—and […]