[Image-1] Halifax Peninsula North councillor Jennifer Watts already has a gig lined up for after October’s municipal election. Watts will join the Immigrant Services Association of Nova Scotia (ISANS) as its new director of settlement and integration in November. “I always said I was looking for work,” says the two-term councillor (who is not re-offering). […]
City Council
Posted inNews + Opinion
Democracy’s other Bernie
[Image-1] Bernie White knows municipal elections. He should—the man spent decades working in municipal government before retiring in 2014 as clerk of the Cape Breton Regional Municipality. Now, the 59-year-old from New Waterford is working a three-year term as this province’s municipal elections officer. Part of White’s duties involve training local returning officers and trying […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Blue Mountain-Birch Cove Lakes a “sham of a process”
[Image-1] Hundreds of people crammed into a tiny meeting room at the Lacewood Future Inns on Monday evening to hear a presentation on the proposed plans for the Blue Mountain-Birch Cove Lakes wilderness area. It did not go well. The crowd—which filled the conference room and spilled into the hallway and lobby of the hotel—was […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Bruce Holland uses his community newspaper to announce campaign for city council
[Image-1] There are five candidates currently running for a council seat in Timberlea-Beechville-Clayton Park-Wedgewood, but only one is buying ink by the barrel. Parkview News publisher Bruce Holland recently used a front-page editorial in his own community newspaper to announce his candidacy for city council, and if that’s not journalistically unethical, it definitely strikes ones […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Green Lantern building gets the green light from council
[Image-1] Bright days are ahead for one of the downtown’s most iconic heritage properties. Halifax approved substantial alterations to 1581-89 Barrington Street—otherwise known as the Green Lantern building—at Tuesday’s meeting of regional council. The motion was moved “with great happiness” by downtown councillor Waye Mason. “This is a huge thing for downtown Halifax and the […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Backyard burning ban voted down by regional council
[Image-1] Halifax regional council has extinguished any plans to prohibit open-air, wood burning fires in urban areas of HRM. The idea was proposed by Halifax Regional Fire and Emergency as a way to end the hundreds of nuisance 911 calls firefighters respond to every year. A staff report before council recommended bylaw amendments that would […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Council to look at banning backyard fires in urban areas
Some summertime fun could be extinguished by new bylaw amendments that would ban open air burning in Halifax’s urban core. A staff report headed to Regional Council is recommending HRM prohibit open air burning on any residential properties that are within 50 feet of another structure and without a septic system. The proposed regulations would […]
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HRM accidentally outlawed bees (but is going to fix it)
[Image-1] A staff report going before Regional Council next week recommends amending the municipality’s animal control bylaws so that bees are exempt from the list of prohibited insects and allowed to roam freely as nature intended. Council approved HRM’s bylaw A-700 (“Respecting Animals and Responsible Pet Ownership”) last fall, leading to howls of criticism from […]
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It’s a banner year for Halifax Bike Week
[Image-1] The weather’s been a little damp, but that hasn’t stopped cycling advocates from gaining some political momentum during Halifax Bike Week. On Wednesday the Halifax Cycling Coalition received $4,400 in capital funds from District 8’s participatory budgeting to install an on-street bicycle counter on Agricola Street. The counter will be used for a “public […]
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Matt Whitman’s big mouth keeps getting him into trouble
[Image-1] Despite his claims to the contrary, not all of Matt Whitman’s constituents are happy with how he conducts himself online. The deputy mayor and councillor for Hammonds Plains—St. Margarets has made a habit out of saying things he probably shouldn’t. He’s casually mentioned confidential information over the radio, cracked jokes maligning residents and been […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Low-income bus passes arriving in HRM by September
[Image-1] A new low-income bus pass program could be ready by September, as regional council gives first reading to a new bylaw that also offers free Halifax Transit service to refugees. Council originally asked for a low-income transit pass program in 2014, but it was delayed for over two years due to some bylaw red […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Sue Uteck to battle Waye Mason for Halifax South Downtown
[Image-1] The race for District 7 is starting to heat up. Sue Uteck confirms to The Coast she’ll be running in October’s municipal election—trying to unseat the man who took away her job after 13 years at City Hall. “I’ve received a lot of encouragement, and to be quite honest I miss the diversity of […]
