Forget about the fast ferry to Bedford. Forget about an airport bus. Make the Barrington Street and Spring Garden Road shopping districts car-free so more buses can use those streets, but cut the already paltry bus service to Dartmouth Crossing. Increase transit use by 18 percent in five years, by spending $93 million on new […]
City Council
Posted inNews + Opinion
How councillors voted on making appointments in public
Here’s how Halifax councillors voted on Linda Mosher’s motion which would have changed council policy such that appointments would be made in public: Adams: Yes Barkhouse: No Blumenthal: No Dalrymple: No Fisher: Yes Harvey: No Hendsbee: No Hum: Absent johns: No Karsten: No Kelly: Yes Lund: No McCluskey: Yes Mosher: Yes Nicoll: Yes Outhit: No […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Council sticks to secret appointments
At Halifax council’s Tuesday meeting, councillor Linda Mosher brought forward a proposal to change existing policy, such that in the future all council appointments to boards and commissions are made in public. Supporters of the status quo maintained that holding council discussion of applicants’ qualifications in public would be an invasion of those applicants’ privacy. […]
Posted inLove the Way We Bitch/Love
All parks?? Really?
It’s pretty awesome that under the guise of protecting the youth more fascist legislature is being passed every few weeks in this crummy province. We can now be harassed for sitting at the commons or the beach well away from any kids for smoking. I’m sure people who use the skatepark in the evening will […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Rail to trail project gets OK
Halifax council last week agreed to spend $2.7 million to purchase the Chester Spur Line, a rail corridor that winds its way from Fairview, around the Fairmount neighbourhood and out to the Lakeside Industrial Park. CN stopped running trains on the line some years ago, and last year put it up for sale with a […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
City hires auditor
Hoping to allay criticism that it is unwisely spending taxpayer money, Halifax council has hired an auditor general to inspect the city’s books. The decision was made in a secret council session last Tuesday, and no substantial information has been released to the public—we don’t yet know the name of the person hired, the person’s […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Tax reform — the economists speak
In today’s editorial, I condemn the effort to change Halifax’s taxation system from a assessment-based property tax to a fee-for-service based system. I quote three economists in the editorial, but for space reasons I was unable to provide supporting documentation that two of the economists had given me. I’ll do so here. First, Lars Osberg […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
How the sewage plant broke
[Editor’s note: this story is one of five Coast articles selected as finalists for the 2010 Atlantic Journalism Awards. All five stories are collected here.] Halifax’s new sewage treatment plant was turned on in February 2008, and it seemed to fulfill its promised intentions immediately. All you had to know was that parts of the […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Tax Reform Committee’s shoddy work
Halifax council was scheduled Tuesday to discuss “tax reform,” which is the attempt on some councillors’ part to switch from the time-honoured system of assessment-based property taxes to a “service-based” system that would charge residents receiving similar city services the same fee, regardless of the value of the property being serviced. Specifically, the Tax Reform […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Will Council rework Council?
This week Halifax councillors decided to look at tweaking HRM’s electoral districts, reducing the number of councillors, changing the relationship between rural and urban districts and increasing the power of community councils. The approved council motion sets out a tight timeline: By February 24, 2010, a committee will bring back “appropriate alternatives” for HRM’s governing […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Sloane wants more garden time
Halifax councillor Dawn Sloane wants the Public Gardens to be more public. At Tuesday’s council meeting she asked that the city consider lengthening the season for the park. “I understand it can’t be open when there’s three feet of snow on the path,” she says. “But there’s no reason we can’t keep it open until […]
