Days after calling Indigenous protestors “hotheads on the warpath,” Halifax Regional councillor David Hendsbee privately joked with his council colleagues about smoking a “peace pipe” and expressed surprise that the tarp the municipality used to cover the statue of Cornwallis wasn’t red. The comments were made this past summer after hundreds of protesters gathered in […]
HRM
Posted inNews + Opinion
Halifax’s Amazon bid to be repackaged for other potential investors
The municipality’s pitch for Amazon’s second headquarters will be used to influence other potential investors—and even Haligonians themselves—should the bid prove unsuccessful. But the details of what’s in that offer aren’t being released to the public. A glimpse into that submission was released Friday in the form of a declassified council report. The in-camera document broadly […]
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Halifax councillor calls for municipal lobbyist registry
At the next meeting of Regional Council, councillor Shawn Cleary will ask for a staff report on the creation and maintenance of a municipal lobbyist registry to keep track of the people and businesses trying to influence HRM. Currently, there’s no record of the consultants, business owners, property developers or special interest groups who bend […]
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Cloudy sales for Solar City
The sun isn’t shining as brightly on Solar City these days. Phase two of Halifax’s solar energy financing project has a budget of $13 million for the next three years, but in its first six months has only managed to spend $311,257. It’s not as bad as it seems, though, cautions HRM manager Shannon Miedema. […]
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Cornwallis panel needs to proceed slowly, cautions HRM councillors
It’s been over a week since Halifax Regional Council voted for an expert panel to examine how the city commemorates its problematic founder, but there’s still no word on who will take part. Officially, HRM has four names selected. Those individuals are being contacted by city staff for confirmation. Another four names will be selected […]
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David Hendsbee wants HRM to cover his pension regrets
After 20 years of public service, councillor David Hendsbee has just now decided he wants in on the municipality’s pension plan. But he needs some help to pay for it. At the next meeting of Regional Council, Hendsbee will ask for a staff report on pension options for councillors past and present who “did not […]
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A nightmare of evocation as Halifax falls to the wrecking ball
One of my dystopian nightmares (I know that term is redundant but I want to emphasize just how scared and disgusted it makes me) goes like this: At some point in the not-so-distant future, everything that makes Halifax livable, lovable and distinct (common lands, public spaces, historic buildings, heritage neighbourhoods) has been razed and replaced […]
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Why Fairview is paying for Glen Arbour’s poor planning
The more some neighbourhoods cost HRM to maintain, the less tax revenue those same communities are generating. So says a new analysis of the correlation between road length and density in cities across the country that found some dense urban communities in Halifax are subsidizing their affluent suburban neighbours. Urban planners Tristan Cleveland and Paul […]
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Six Second Streets and 11 Maples
When metro’s four municipalities merged in 1996, one of the crucial public-safety issues city hall officials grappled with was the duplication of street names. There was a long list of them. There still is. Emergency crews during metro’s infancy needed to know exactly where they were going when a call for help was made. Temporary […]
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Shawn Cleary continues push for changes to HRM’s snow plans
The snow may be gone from Halifax—knock on wood—but Shawn Cleary still has winter on his mind. The councillor for Halifax West Armdale will be asking for two new staff reports at the next meeting of Regional Council that would allow residents to opt out of sidewalk snow clearing, and bring all of HRM’s sidewalk snow […]
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Historical designation sought for Great Beech Hill
When Jane Zathey first moved to Great Beech Hill 12 years ago, she became fascinated by its history. “I consider myself a steward of the area,” she says. “I’ve been, I don’t know if you’d call it talking, or praying, or meditating on that path pretty much ever day for 12 years.” But now she’s […]
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Evidence out-of-control: a provincial inquiry is needed into HRP’s drug exhibit audit
Last summer The Coast revealed that an internal audit conducted by the Halifax Regional Police had found widespread problems with the security and record keeping inside the HRP’s Drug Vault—the storage area that holds evidence seized in drug crimes—including missing drugs and cash. Now it turns out the problems have existed for much longer and […]