[Image-1] El Jones, Halifax’s poet laureate for the last two years, announced today she’ll be leaving Nova Scotia for a writer-in-residence program at the University of Iowa. It’s a big blow to the city’s social justice and arts community. It also brings up the question of who’s going to replace Jones as HRM’s new poet […]
City Council
Posted inNews + Opinion
This Halifax/Dartmouth branding war will destroy us all
[Image-1] A regional municipality divided against itself cannot stand. But that’s exactly what HRM is dealing with as a chorus of Dartmouth citizens raise their voices and take to the Internet in protest against some flags and a couple signs. Dartmouth—a former city across the harbour that Matt Mays sung about—has always been one of […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Snow clearing contracts could increase by $6 million
[Image-1] Forget the summer heat, the municipality’s winter operations superintendent is asking council to spend some cold hard cash on four snow clearing tenders. The contracts for snow and ice removal in several HRM communities will be discussed by the Audit and Finance committee on Wednesday, along with an accompanying staff report by winter operations’ […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Halifax hires Amanda Whitewood as new chief financial officer
[Image-1] Halifax has finally found a replacement for dearly retired Greg Keefe, announcing today it has hired former Capital Health vice-president Amanda Whitewood as HRM’s new chief financial officer. Whitewood will take over the position of director finance/ICT and CFO starting on July 27. For the last several years Whitewood served as CFO and vice […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
The long, winding road to getting a bike lane built in Halifax
[Image-1] Bikeway planning in the Halifax region sometimes rolls on smoothly, but getting an actual path built in this town can be a bumpy experience. Blueprints are drawn, the public is consulted, plans might get tweaked, projects are approved, anti-cycling outrage is duly noted, project cash is earmarked—and then bike trails are occasionally subject to […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Everything Scotiabank got for buying the Metro Centre’s name
[Image-1] How long ago last summer seems. Twelve months past, it was all the news could talk about when Scotiabank bought up the naming rights for what we then called the Halifax Metro Centre. It was a 10-year, $6.5-million agreement with HRM which will help fund major capital upgrades. Six months after being announced, the […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Welcome to the summer of the Khyber
[Image-1] Last summer, friends of the historic Khyber Building on Barrington Street came together with artists, musicians, members of the queer community and heritage-loving Haligonians to save the Khyber from being forever lost. It didn’t really work. True, 1588 Barrington Street was removed from the city’s surplus property list and more study was done looking […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Let’s take a look at Halifax council’s expenses
[Image-1] A month after the city’s auditor general presented a compliance review of expenses for city councillors and staff, The Coast finally got a copy of all those travel claims. Local travel is broken down by financial years, but we’ve only counted expenses since the November 2012 election (when several new councillors took office). Unsurprisingly, […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Council approves Irving tax deal, grumbling all the while
[Image-1] Yesterday, city council approved a hotly-debated property tax deal with Irving Shipbuilding. It did not pass without criticism. The Irving shipyard had previously been paying $1.6 million a year on their waterfront facility. The new 25-year agreement (with a possible 10 year extension) drops Irving’s payment down to $563,000 with an annual one percent […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Tuesday’s 7 things you need to know
1 Shell Canada has received the go-ahead to start exploratory oil drilling in the Shelburne Basin. Environment minister Leona Aglukkaq’s environmental assessment claims the nearly $1 billion energy project doesn’t pose a significant environmental threat. Milage on “significant” will vary. As John Davis points out in the Shelburne County Coast Guard, Stantec’s environmental assessment of […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
13 things you need to know Friday
1 Dalhousie’s report into the sexually violent Facebook page created by fourth-year dentistry students was released today. If somehow you missed the scandal, refresh yourself with our coverage on the Facebook posts, subsequent suspensions and Dal’s general public relations nightmare. All of the men involved in the group can now graduate, according to the report. […]
Posted inArts + Music
Halifax wants you on its new arts advisory committee.
[Image-1] If the last few weeks of budget protests have shown anything, it’s that this town has some powerful advocates for the arts. Which is great, since Halifax is looking for citizens to participate on the newly-formed ArtsHalifax advisory committee. Approved at council’s May 12 meeting, ArtsHalifax will be composed of eight artistic minds appointed […]
