I’ve gotten so used to this, I haven’t even commented lately on it: Another long weekend and another bigger-than-usual head start for Halifax regional council over the public. That’s because city hall watchers interested in municipal happenings at regional council on Tuesday must wait for the release of agenda documents until that day. Due to […]
City Council
Posted inNews + Opinion
Council’s disaster tourism
Last Friday, city officials gave reporters a tour of the Halifax Wastewater Treatment Plant. It was the first public look at the plant since if failed the morning of January 14. The tour was led by mayor Peter Kelly, Carl Yates of the Water Commission and plant manager Rory MacNeil (pictured above). Councillor Jerry Blumenthal […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Concerts rouse a city on the Common
They sacrificed a VirginFest last Saturday. When The Tragically Hip pulled out of the outdoor music festival due to a family crisis, concert promoters offered a free show instead. In a summer conspicuous for its abundance of both rain and big concerts, the free-ticket offering seemed sure to at least guarantee a full house. But […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Peter Kelly wears the sewage disaster
[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.] “It’s a frustration,” allows Peter Kelly. Throughout a half-hour interview in his City Hall office, Kelly seems genuinely pained by the course of events related to Halifax’s failed sewage treatment […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Halifax council’s secret sewer fixes
The electronics used to run council meetings—microphones, the computer that queues up speakers, the overhead “Elmo” projector, etc.—haven’t worked properly for at least two years, and the system has been ridiculously broken over the past month or so, with some mics not working at all, councillors dropped on and off the speaker system randomly, etc. […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
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, […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
City Council Report Card 2009
It’s the end of the school year, so once again, it’s time for The Coast’s annual city council report card. This is a thankless chore—city councillors hate me for it, readers troll up the comments section on thecoast.ca with words like “douchebag” and “idiot,” my few remaining friends shake their heads in dismay. But hey, […]
Posted inLifestyle
Commonwealth Games Investigation part one: Halifax 2014 big plans
Seven months after Halifax’s Commonwealth Games bid collapsed, there still hasn’t been full disclosure of the records of the Halifax 2014 Bid Society, the non-governmental organization put together to pursue the Commonwealth Games. Neither has there been public discussion of the decision-making process that led to the demise of Halifax’s bid. So how are we […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
2007 City Council Report Card
The last time this happened, Peter Kelly was exciting. No, it’s true. The last time The Coast published a City Council Report Card, which came in the spring of 2000, Bedford rep Peter Kelly had all the qualities of an ass-kicking/name-taking municipal councillor. He fought hard for his district. He was the most active participant […]