A city councillor’s use of the word “negroes” while stating that it’s impossible to be racist against Mexicans has prompted the latest public tweet storm between Halifax’s elected leaders. The back-and-forth between city councillors devolved out of Halifax West Armdale representative Shawn Cleary’s statement Tuesday that he would personally no longer use the term “marijuana” […]
City Council
Posted inNews + Opinion
David Hendsbee surprised Halifax didn’t use a red tarp to cover Cornwallis statue
Days after calling Indigenous protestors “hotheads on the warpath,” Halifax Regional councillor David Hendsbee privately joked with his council colleagues about smoking a “peace pipe” and expressed surprise that the tarp the municipality used to cover the statue of Cornwallis wasn’t red. The comments were made this past summer after hundreds of protesters gathered in […]
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Cornwallis panel needs to proceed slowly, cautions HRM councillors
It’s been over a week since Halifax Regional Council voted for an expert panel to examine how the city commemorates its problematic founder, but there’s still no word on who will take part. Officially, HRM has four names selected. Those individuals are being contacted by city staff for confirmation. Another four names will be selected […]
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Update: Matt Whitman all-lives-matters Cornwallis panel
Update: Mason clarifies his since-deleted tweet was agreeing only that Whitman, Adams and Hendsbee need public shaming, not that they are shitheads. The councillor previously told The Coast he stood by his comment when asked about “shitheads” Tuesday evening, but today says he thought we were referencing a different comment. “Sorry, totally my bad,” Mason tweets. […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Eight-person expert panel proposed to determine the fate of Cornwallis
Eight people will help decide Edward Cornwallis’ place in history, but it’ll be up to the 16 members of Halifax Regional Council to follow through on the expert panel’s advice. The municipality has released its tentative terms of reference for the special advisory committee it hopes to task with examining Halifax’s commemoration of its controversial […]
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Shaw Wilderness Park sets dangerous precedent for future land deals
Allan Shaw and the Shaw Group sold the land for the Purcells Cove urban wilderness park for $6.6 million—300 percent of its assessed value and $2 million more than it paid for the property in 2011. That’s how to make “corporate philanthropy and real city-building” pay. And in another altruistic gesture, they got HRM to […]
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10 things that happened at city council
ACCESSIBILITY INACCESSIBLE Steve Craig is fed up with the lack of accessible transportation options in HRM. It’s been three years since the Lower Sackville councillor tried to expand the city’s door-to-door paratransit service, and now he’ll have to wait at least a few more months for an outside consultant’s strategic review of Access-a-Bus service. “I’m […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
David Hendsbee wants HRM to cover his pension regrets
After 20 years of public service, councillor David Hendsbee has just now decided he wants in on the municipality’s pension plan. But he needs some help to pay for it. At the next meeting of Regional Council, Hendsbee will ask for a staff report on pension options for councillors past and present who “did not […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Developer slams former planning chief over perceived snub
One of the city’s biggest developers claims he was ignored by Halifax’s ousted planning chief. It’s one reason why Danny Chedrawe doesn’t think Bob Bjerke was up to the challenge of leading HRM’s planning department. Last week, chief administrative officer Jacques Dubé dismissed director of planning and development Bjerke after three years on the job […]
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Bob Bjerke’s dismissal moves Halifax back in time
I’ll preface this article by admitting that I don’t yet know the details of chief planner Bob Bjerke’s quick exit (read: dismissal) from his role at HRM. No one does, not even the rest of HRM’s planning staff or apparently Bjerke himself (according to media interviews). This alone speaks to the culture of elusiveness that […]
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A nightmare of evocation as Halifax falls to the wrecking ball
One of my dystopian nightmares (I know that term is redundant but I want to emphasize just how scared and disgusted it makes me) goes like this: At some point in the not-so-distant future, everything that makes Halifax livable, lovable and distinct (common lands, public spaces, historic buildings, heritage neighbourhoods) has been razed and replaced […]
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Councillor wants Halifax in control of old Spring Garden Road library’s fate
The area councillor says it’s time for HRM to take back control of the old Spring Garden Road Memorial Library. At the next meeting of Regional Council, Waye Mason will request a staff report looking at formally withdrawing HRM’s offer to return the old library back to the province. “My feeling is a lot of […]
