Halifax’s chief administrative officer is missing from City Hall, and the reason why might be related to a confidential motion passed earlier this week by city council. Jacques Dubé has been “out of the office dealing with a personal issue” for the past two weeks according to HRM spokesperson Brendan Elliott, and that’s basically everything […]
HRM
Posted inNews + Opinion
Communications strategy needed for Halifax Transit’s Moving Forward Together plan
Think of it as a municipality-wide bus announcement system. A request for proposals sent out Friday morning by Halifax asks for a communication and marketing strategy to help Halifax Transit inform the public of upcoming service changes caused by Moving Forward Together. According to the RFP, the goal of the communication plan is to educate […]
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Overhaul in procurement policy for HRM
On Tuesday council voted to alter HRM’s procurement policy, streamlining how tenders are awarded by city hall while also greatly expanding the CAO office’s authority to approve purchases. Previously, the chief administrative officer could approve awarding any tender under $500,000 without city council’s approval. That limit has now increased to $1.25 million. City hall directors […]
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Jalana Lewis cares about her community
[Image-1] His victory confirmed, Lindell Smith thanked a cheering crowd that had gathered last October at Alteregos. Beaming, he then offered praise for the woman who’d managed the campaign that saw him become the first African Nova Scotian to win a Halifax city council seat in nearly 20 years. “Like me, Jalana is embedded in […]
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Alderney Drive not an appealing stroll
[Image-1] A research project examining how Alderney Drive affects walking in downtown Dartmouth concludes it’s not a very appealing spot for pedestrians. Adam Fine, a graduate student at Dalhousie University’s School of Planning, has asked walkers about their usual routes in Dartmouth’s compact downtown. People who did his survey last fall (Disclosure: I was one […]
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All-you-can-build buffet in the urban core
[Image-1] Think of it as a really, really, really expensive Christmas craft fair. On Wednesday proposals for 18 developments in the urban centre will be presented en masse to the public at two planning information meetings (held from 12-2pm and 6-8pm) in the Atlantica hotel. It’s a way for HRM’s planning department to tie off loose […]
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Struggling to understand HRM’s gun violence
[Image-1] Solving a homicide is, to some degree, quite simple. You just need to find the hand that pulled the trigger. Understanding why that person picked up a gun in the first place isn’t so cut and dry. As Halifax reflects on what’s been a violent 2016, the police department and the municipality are trying […]
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Fire chief Doug Trussler to retire next summer
[Image-1] Halifax Regional Fire and Emergency Services chief Doug Trussler will retire next summer. The municipality posted a request for proposals online Monday to recruit a replacement. The fire chief’s contract was set to end this December, but according to municipal spokesperson Brendan Elliott he’s negotiated a six-month extension to stay on until July, 2017. […]
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Halifexit? Survey says nearly half of HRM residents want to split city from county
[Image-1] Twenty years after amalgamation, some residents of the Halifax Regional Municipality are still in favour of bringing back the county. That’s according to a new survey from Corporate Research Associates, which found nearly half of the 401 HRM residents surveyed supported splitting the municipality into an urban city and rural county. Overall results of […]
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No one really knows how to get more women to run for council
[Image-1] Lisa Blackburn, one of Halifax’s recently-elected councillors, is also one of the only women. She’s disappointed by that. “There’s so much missing when we have so few women,” says Blackburn. “We think about things differently; we process things differently; we’re just wired differently.” This year’s municipal election brought five new people to Halifax Regional […]
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Some asshole keeps making bomb threats
[Image-1] Someone with nothing better to do keeps phoning in fake bomb threats to Halifax police, inciting more weary annoyance from the population than panicked terror. Around 1:30am Sunday morning, Halifax RCMP were called by someone saying he was in the parking lot of Cole Harbour Place with bombs and a hunting rifle. Police surrounded […]
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Halifax’s housing costs remain (relatively) affordable
[Image-1] In today’s age of inflated housing prices and looming bubbles, shadow selling, house flipping and trading, the real estate supply in Canada is beginning to look and act a whole lot more like precious metals than necessary dwellings for you and your family. “Parts of the HRM are certainly still affordable with an average […]