1945 Civic Planning Commission calls for harbour bridges and arterial roads to raise tax income. 1955 The Angus L. Macdonald Bridge opens, increasing traffic to the downtown. 1962 Fourteen acres of land in the newly created Central Redevelopment Area (what was then Jacob and Market Streets) are expropriated and the properties bulldozed. 1967 Construction begins […]
Fix this city
Posted inNews + Opinion
Somewhere over the Interchange…
Wake up, Halifax. A new day, a new year is dawning, bringing with it a fresh opportunity to bulldoze the mistakes of the past and plan a better future. Time to turn dreams into reality. Finally, after almost five decades clogging up the gateway to downtown Halifax, the Cogswell Interchange is coming down. Later this […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Low-income bus passes long overdue
[Image-1] Terry Wilson relies completely on Halifax Transit to leave his Albro Lake Road home. The 62-year-old walks with a cane due to arthritis and two deteriorating discs in his back. The Department of Community Services used to give him a monthly pass, but he was one of many cut from the program in headline-making […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Ambulance fees cause heavy damage to the sick and injured
[Image-1] Gavin Baumbach was one of the last first-year students at King’s College to get the flu in 2014. But when he finally got sick, it was all the worse for waiting. “It actually induced heart attack- and stroke-like symptoms,” he says “I kind of panicked because I didn’t know what to do.” Baumbach, who […]
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Outrage over the province’s $697 jaywalking fine
[Image-1] When he remembers being hit by a car last year, Joe Pepper just feels ashamed. The University of King’s College student admits he had been drinking that night. He jogged across the dimly lit Coburg Road, just miscalculating how much time he had to miss an oncoming car. “I guess I was feeling gutsy,” […]
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Righting a wrong with the Cogswell Interchange
[Image-1] The $64-million Cogswell Interchange redevelopment will radically change the shape of Halifax’s downtown over the next several years. How that will be accomplished is John Spinelli’s job. The HRM native previously managed such large-scale construction projects as the $440-million Suncor Voyageur complex in Alberta, and the recent $1.8-billion revitalization of Union Station in Toronto. […]
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Why can’t Halifax Transit build more bus shelters?
[Image-1] Transit woes are a perennial problem, but Halifax Transit does seem to be working on that. The new Lacewood Terminal opened last year, and sometime in 2016 buses should finally start being tracked in real time. This year will also see schedules and routes rebuilt via the Moving Forward Together plan. While it’s looking […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Forensic lab closure a blow to justice
[Image-1] Halifax’s RCMP forensic lab is closing in March—a move that will either make our clogged justice system more efficient, or delay it further. Forensic labs in Regina and Winnipeg already closed in March 2014, and the Halifax lab will be the final closure of the nationwide consolidation process. Local crime investigators will now ship […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Transit services fall short on accessibility
[Image-1] On a blistering winter evening at the Halifax Shopping Centre, wheelchair user Gerry Post makes his way to a bus stop. It is snowing at 9pm during the Christmas bustle of shoppers—Post just wants to get home. When the bus arrives, all able-bodied passengers pile in. But the driver says he cannot let Post […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
How to fix the city 2015
Criticism, as Winston Churchill said, may not be agreeable but it is necessary. It calls attention to an unhealthy state of things. Yet every time some persnickety pundit highlights a civic flaw they’re dismissed as putting the “No” in “Nova Scotia.” It’s ironic, how negatively many folks view negative thinking. Quite juvenile, as well, to […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Streetlight scarcity casts risky shadows
[Image-1] Old, ineffective streetlights across downtown Halifax leave streets ill-lit after dusk. For those who commute every day in a city with a higher-than-national assault rate, the darkness around them is an issue of concern. “As soon as it’s dim out—not even dark—I’m always thinking ‘What’s the lighting like? Where am I? How big is […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Halifax Transit has a cost problem
[Image-1] Halifax Transit has a cost problem. Costs have increased dramatically, but ridership has not. Service hours went up 19 percent since 2007, but ridership grew just three percent. Between 2009 and 2012, the cost to transport one rider increased from $3.04 to $4.03. This month, Halifax Transit will release a draft of the new […]