Halifax’s Heritage Advisory Committee voted this week to move forward with a third-party application for preserving the historic Dennis Building, going against the wishes of the property’s owner—the province. Paul Armstrong, on behalf of the Maritime Institute for Civil Society, has applied for HRM to include the location at 1740 Granville Street as a municipal […]
Halifax
Posted inNews + Opinion
I’d like to tell you about my gang-bang
Most people keep their kinks, fetishes, and fantasies private. Understandably! It’s socially taboo to be loud and proud about one’s sexual appetite. If I fantasized about finding the perfect coconut cream pie I might visit different restaurants, write reviews or write a blog. I’d enlist the support of my peers asking if they’d ever had […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Still vacant after all these years
Bernie Smith didn’t want to see 5517 Spring Garden Road demolished. More than 10 years ago, the former executive director of the Spring Garden Area Business Association came up with a plan to try and save the last Victorian house on Halifax’s busiest retail street. “My gosh, that old house would make a lovely tea […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Province relaxes oversight of Halifax Convention Centre
New legislation introduced on Friday will expand the powers of Events East to operate the Halifax Convention Centre with far less oversight from the city and province. The Crown Corporation, which manages the Argyle Street enterprise, will see its spending limit without prior written government approval increase from $250,000 to $500,000. The proposed changes to the […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Delay in addressing workplace racism a “slap in the face,” says councillor
It shouldn’t be taking this long. This week at council, staff presented a progress update on efforts to address widespread racism within city hall’s workforce, as documented in the 2016 Employment Systems Review. The update on that external consultant’s report comes more than two years since its completion and nine months after Peninsula North councillor Lindell […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Halifax: The biggest small town you’ll ever live in
It happens to all of us sooner or later: After a few years of living in HRM, you realize everyone knows everyone and this city of 400,000 starts to feel awfully small. (Small-town-Halifax syndrome extends to journalism as well, so this is the requisite disclaimer that I’m previously acquainted with some of the following interview […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
A monument for the Maroons
One walks in vain through the public spaces of Halifax to see a plaque or any other sort of memorialization to the Black presence in the city. Take the waterfront, for example. This was a site to and from which different collectivities of African-descended people—including enslaved Africans, free and enslaved Black Loyalists, self-emancipated Blacks on […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Portrait of the sakyong as a fallen man
Correction: This story originally stated the Shambhala School is owned by Shambhala International. While the two organizations share a name, they are not affiliated. The story has been updated to reflect this. Rhonda Newcombe can’t look her guru in the eye. There are a couple reasons for that, chief among them the allegations against Sakyong […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Affordable housing musical chairs
Within a two-block radius of my home in the north end of Halifax, there are six condo buildings in various stages of development. This, of course, doesn’t include the four adjacent lots at the end of my street that are being sold as a package for its tear-down value of $2 million. Who gains and […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Auditor general says HRM’s planning department too slow, inefficient
Halifax’s Planning and Development lacks clear policy guidelines and consistently fails to meet Charter-mandated timelines for processing new building applications. That’s the conclusion from a new report by HRM’s Office of the Auditor General that was presented Wednesday to council’s audit and finance committee. Among other issues, the OAG says Halifax’s planning staff have no […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Halifax police at high risk of cybersecurity threats
Attention hackers and bored teenagers: the Halifax Regional Police computer systems are woefully insecure and the department has done little to fix the problem over the past 18 months. Auditor general Evangeline Colman-Sadd outlined her office’s concerns about HRP’s cybersecurity in a letter sent July 6 to the Board of Police Commissioners. In the now-public […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
25 for 25: episode 1998
It was #MeToo moment decades before #MeToo even existed. Gerald Regan, former Nova Scotian premier and Liberal party statesman, brought to court on eight charges of sexual assault against victims as young as 14. Journalist Stephen Kimber was there watching the trial in 1998 when Regan was eventually acquitted. He wrote about the story for The Coast […]
