Author’s note: Since this story ran, I’ve received feedback about the accuracy of my reporting. There is a porta potty at the Geary Street site; I’ve been told it was there when I was there a week ago. I did not see it then but I have since found it. Unfortunately as is the way […]
HRM
Posted inNews + Opinion
Halifax results and ridings in the 2021 Nova Scotia election
Happy post-election, Nova Scotia. After an interesting 31-day campaign dominated by talk of health care, rent control and sexism—not to mention a federal election call arriving at the tail end of the provincial campaign—the province elected a Progressive Conservative government. Tim Houston will be Nova Scotia’s next premier. For the best look at election results […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
The Halifax paradox of Nova Scotia politics
S ometime this summer, Halifax became, maybe, the best city in the world. Earlier this year, Halifax came in at the top of Maclean’s annual ranking of the best communities in the country, up from 131st place in 2020. The editors at Maclean’s haven’t fallen in love with donairs, watery Keith’s and “Barrett’s Privateers” singalongs. […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Halifax’s indoor skatepark movement is just getting started
Tayvon Clarke’s best trick on his skateboard is a backside heel flip. To do it he combines a backside 180—which is already a combo of an ollie and a 180-degree turn—and a heelflip, where the heel hits the board and causes it to spin 360 degrees lengthwise. It requires—like all parts of skateboarding—hours and hours […]
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Pour one out for the Halifax renters left behind
Light a candle for the hundreds of Halifax renters who had to move in the last few years because their rent increased by 10 or 15 or 22 or 33 or 45 percent when it came time for lease renewal. The increase notice, delivered in writing, at least four months before the renewal date, fell […]
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Halifax’s board of police commissioners OKs committee to look at reimagining policing
With a proposal that insists on all kinds of community engagement—even from those wholly opposed to the idea— Halifax’s board of police commissioners moved the process for community consultation on defunding the police forward this week. After a messy start, the board’s request for a committee made up of community stakeholders to look at a […]
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Take Halifax’s budget survey and have your say on how money’s spent
Every year, Halifax Regional Municipality presents a proposed budget to councillors, and councillors then vote on that budget. And every year HRM works to make citizen engagement a bigger part of that process. From now until December 14, a survey that wants to know what you think Halifax does well—and what it does poorly—is live […]
Posted inBest of Halifax
We love how the Trellis Collective brings pedal power to the pandemic
What was the nicest thing you saw during the pandemic? “My neighbour started fixing up a bunch of bikes for kids in the complex to ride! So many kids are zooming around now.” That neighbour was Grade 11 Citadel High student Mohammad Aljenadi who, with the help of his friend Sam Kamminga, is part […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
The Black Lives Matter sign on Gottingen Street is a form of resistance
On the east side of Gottingen Street, between Uniacke Street and the Halifax North Memorial Library, an eight-by-16-foot Black Lives Matter banner was hung at the beginning of August. It was put there after a string of gatherings, protests and vigils took place in Halifax on the heels of the killing of George Floyd by […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
In all but two of HRM’s business units, women are underrepresented among top-earners
About one in five Halifax Regional Municipal employees were paid over $100,000 in salary and compensation in the 2019-20 fiscal year, landing them a spot on the publically released Statement of Compensation (AKA Halifax’s sunshine list). The point of the sunshine list is to increase transparency within HRM and its work—and it becomes especially relevant […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Half of the city’s highest-paid staff work for Halifax Regional Police
Calls are being made across North America to reduce or redirect police budgets in the wake of another killing of an African-American man by police in the US. But the crime against George Floyd is far from the only reason citizens are ready to change the status quo—here in the Maritimes, a police officer responding […]
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All the things the library has done for Halifax residents since shutting its doors for COVID-19
Since Halifax Public Libraries had to close its doors to the public on March 16 thanks to the coronavirus, its staff has worked to come up with creative and innovative ways to uphold the ever-expanding responsibilities libraries hold in our communities. HPL chief librarian and CEO Åsa Kachan appeared before regional council on Wednesday, in […]