At today’s Halifax Regional Council committee of the whole meeting, councillors and mayor Savage went for round three of batting around the C19-revised budget. Today Brad Anguish, top boss of transportation and public works, was back on the line, answering questions about the difference between a prune (fruit) and pruning (the act of trimming back […]
HRM
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The Coast’s first TikTok: Regional council votes to look at looking at changes for pedestrians and cyclists during COVID-19
@tikcoast Our first Tik Tok: here’s what happened at regional council today ##halifax ##hrm ##covid ##cycling ##politics ##newspaper ##news ##novascotia ##fyp ##autotune ♬ original sound – tikcoast There was a nothing-but-pleasantries discussion about pedestrians, cycling and what to do about tiny sidewalks during the COVID-19 pandemic. Please enjoy our first ever TikTok to learn what […]
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The Halifax Common: the grass is lava
The park closure saga is becoming Halifax’s smoking ban 2.0. For the most part, Nova Scotians have embraced the provincial orders that shut down parks and trails in an effort to limit the spread of COVID-19 via public interaction. “Stay the blazes home,” we scream with delight into the ether. But HRM and the province’s […]
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Halifax Regional Council approves pedway over Summer Street for QEII redevelopment project
Halifax Regional Council met today for its second virtual meeting since COVID-19, and if this story was being written in the “before times,” it’d be dabbled with budget deliberation, likely someone’s meandering thoughts on the morality of supporting developers over renters and certainly, someone standing to say “I don’t have a question, but I […]
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Nova Scotia reports first official COVID-19 death
A press release from the Nova Scotia department of health and wellness says a woman in her 70s died yesterday due to the novel coronavirus, the first in our province—but the 324th nationwide. The release says the woman died in hospital in the Eastern Zone (Guysborough, Sherbrooke, Antigonish and Cape Breton area.) “This virus is […]
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Voice of the city: Making the case for play
For many adults, the pressure is on since children are out of school—and will be until at least May 1. The absence of a structured environment that includes bells signalling the next activity or timed eating and recess, is no longer part of a child’s day. Afterschool sport and recreation programs have stopped. The result […]
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Keeping up with Halifax’s changing city scape
The Coast is rounding up the buildings and projects so you can know about them before they’re towering over your backyard. Ben’s Bakery redevelopment An eight-storey plus a penthouse mixed-use building with apartments and street-front businesses, townhouses and a six-storey Berkeley assisted-living residence are planned for the 10,000-square-metre lot between Quinpool Road, Pepperell, Preston and […]
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Less than a quarter of candidates vying for a seat on Halifax regional council have been women
Before Lisa Blackburn became deputy mayor of Halifax, she was elected as District 14 councillor on regional council. And before that, she was knocking on doors in Beaverbank, Upper Sackville, Middle Sackville and Lucasville, telling people the myriad reasons why they should elect her to represent them at Halifax’s decision-making table. Before that, she was […]
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Halifax regional council’s new rules for sidewalk obstruction hope to curb hassle for pedestrians
Mitigation of development and construction impacts, the rules surrounding shutting down sidewalks and streets for construction, have been updated to protect pedestrians as the importance of new developments continues to grow across HRM. The old guidelines allowed construction sites to temporarily close or use only a portion of the street and area adjacent to the […]
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HRM’s budget committee settles on tax rate and extra spending for 2020/21
Halifax Regional Council’s budget committee settled on a tax rate and some extra spending for the 2020/21 year this week. The way the budget process unfolds in Halifax is set up to increase clarity and create more space for filtering out wants versus needs. The result, if given final approval from council, will be a […]
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Ridesharing companies are getting uber-close to their Halifax debut
Ridesharing services like Uber and Lyft are one step closer to hitting the streets of Halifax now that new regulations for vehicles-for-hire have passed through regional council, but concerns about safety are still on the table. Council passed a motion during Tuesday’s meeting to allow several new changes to HRM by-laws surrounding licensing for both […]
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Winter is here, are HRM’s sidewalk clearing contractors ready for it?
S now has officially fallen on the streets of Halifax. Chances are a lot more of it is coming this winter. And with great snow comes great responsibility. That is—the responsibility of keeping sidewalks clear. This season, that responsibility falls on four companies that have been awarded new, four-year contracts by HRM. Excel Property Maintenance […]