Halifax Politics dot ca - Latest Comments

Re: HRM Neighbourhood Map Project

af — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 20:20:56 -0000

Just noticed that someone has called the area around Larry O'Connell field "Armcrescent". Perhaps this area would be east of Quinn. I have generally regarded the area west of Quinn as Flynn Park....but once again, not Westmount.

Re: OPENFILE: St Pat’s decision reveals ethics deficit at HRM

Hugo Dann — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 19:18:01 -0000

A great post, Waye. And an equally good comment from Mr. Sommerhalder. I would only add that an additional effect of Council's discarding its policy is that all future public/community consultation on such sales will be at the whim of either HRM staff or, even less likely, of the developers.

Re: OPENFILE: St Pat’s decision reveals ethics deficit at HRM

Brenden Sommerhalder — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 06:52:47 -0000

A while ago, HRM decided that it can't be a social service provider due to cost and inefficiency. One can argue for or against that rationale all day, so let's put that debate aside just for a moment.

Let us take it as a given that HRM is not a "social service provider". That does NOT mean it shouldn't take into account *helping those who do provide social services thrive in their work*. Indeed, a socially responsible municipality truly must make decisions with this in mind.

Finally, we don't even have to get into the "HRM as a social service provider" debate in this particular instance. HRM took community property, privatized it, and sold it away, putting the revenue from that sale into general revenue (*cough* stadium *cough*). That's tantamount to stealing from the community.

If a community space becomes surplus in the function it is currently serving in, that does not mean it is surplus as community space. Indeed, there's no such thing. That property shouldn't have gone to sale (especially without community consultation) when there was clearly community interest in retaining it.

Re: HRM Neighbourhood Map Project

bill mont — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 19:23:09 -0000

i lived in greenbank can recal lots of stuff re all the south end inglis down to pt pleasant park including the park my playgrounds bill mont 8303732 ph

Re: OPENFILE: Peter Kelly, Newsmaker of 2011

Kjallen — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 16:16:55 -0000

Just heard you on CBC's mainstreet. Mostly agreed. However I feel the recent council decision to sell the St. Pat's Alexander school on Maitland St. in the Gottingen neighbourhood without any public consultation illustrates most clearly the downright negligence of the entire council. Council should not have the right to sell that "public" property for demolition while the community expresses its need for important community purposes. Even the good dentist complained about this decision - he and his firm who planned to donate dental care and equipment for those who needed it and could not access it for love nor money.

Ugly and unjust. Sold to the highest bidder. Maybe, maybe not. Nobody really knows.

Re: OPENFILE: NSCADs gotta know when to hold ‘em

Waye Mason — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 06:27:04 -0000

Obviously, Dave and Kaley, we are not going to agree. The key take away of this article is there is no more money.... and NSCAD, all of it, has to deal with the current problems within that context. And in that context, if they get sidetracked into a ideological conversation, and don't make steps to balance the budget, then April 1 will role around and the government will place the college under trusteeship and start making cuts for them, whether they like it or not.

Further, rolling back NSCADs staff complement and course offerings to the level they were at before this unfunded expansion is unfortunate but it is hardly the death of the institution, especially if it is done in a way to accommodate currently enrolled students as much as is possible. You seem to feel very passionately that these decisions 'that staff and students were not a part of' are also so important that they cannot be reversed, which is an interesting contradiction.

Re: OPENFILE: NSCADs gotta know when to hold ‘em

Kaley Kennedy — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 18:05:40 -0000

But part of the problem is that people who are going to be impacted by the financial decisions, cannot meaningfully participate in them.

For example, what if students said that they think the university should get rid of the university relations department in order to save academic programs, or downsize the administration - those decision CANNOT be made because the administration (the highest paid staff at the university), have more control over the governance.

This is a political issue - what gets cut is political, how revenue is raised is also political. The university is a public institution - all it's decisions are political.

Re: OPENFILE: NSCADs gotta know when to hold ‘em

David — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 17:01:07 -0000

"DAEL has already made their political decision." - does that mean everyone should pick up their ball and go home? No! That is why you fight, to change political decisions. God knows there are countless decisions of governments deciding something and people saying "no, that is not right" and agitating for change, for what is right.

Re: OPENFILE: NSCADs gotta know when to hold ‘em

David — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 16:38:46 -0000

Waye I feel like you are not helping because you are trying to divorce the issue from politics (which is impossible - and very much a political position) Doing that sidelines the voices of the students and staff and forecloses the possibility of changing the political narrative through public pressure and direct action. Waye you couldn't be more wrong on an issue! Budgets are political. And yes the place was mismanaged. That is the point. Cutting or throwing money at NSCAD is a superficial change. What is needed is a structural change - giving more power to students and staff - Maybe instead of telling NSCAD what it should do - CUT- you should actually listen to the staff and students at NSCAD...

Re: OPENFILE: NSCADs gotta know when to hold ‘em

Waye Mason — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 15:39:29 -0000

1 - DAEL has already made their political decision. The Minister announced it the day that Windsor's report came down. 2- the fact that the decision making structure at NSAD currently does not conform to your political views of how it should be is immaterial, the institution as it stands right now is in deep financial trouble and needs to address those issues.

I don't feel you and others are helping the issue by trying to turn it into a political process debate to serve your political and social change agendas.

Re: OPENFILE: NSCADs gotta know when to hold ‘em

Kaley — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 13:38:44 -0000

Waye, I think that the point is that management made mistakes, but management isn't being asked to sacrifice. There is a problem that students, staff, and faculty do not have adequate power to stop bad decisions, but when bad decisions are made, they are expected to pay the cost.

If NSCAD as a whole is supposed to be wholly responsible, then there should be a redistribution of power at the institution - something the province would have to do because NSCAD's BOG membership is defined by legislation.

These aren't internal issues - they are political ones for the Department of Advanced Education and Labour.

Re: OPENFILE: NSCADs gotta know when to hold ‘em

Waye Mason — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 10:41:50 -0000

Those are internal issues of NSCAD as an institution. It doesn't change the fact that the institution has only so much money to work with and one way or the other has to live within that budget. I hope that as an institution you can overcome these issues and come out stronger on the other side, but realistically, the challenge now for NSCAD, all of its component parts, is to make it work with the money you have.

Re: OPENFILE: NSCADs gotta know when to hold ‘em

Elise Boudreau Graham — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 10:07:49 -0000

I am
currently a NSCAD student. I don't have a gambling problem. My
peers don't have a gambling problem. My faculty does not have a gambling
problem.

So I ask if
it is fair for students, faculty, and staff to take the brunt of these cuts?

It isn't my
"damn fault" that post-secondary education in Nova Scotia and Canada
is seriously underfunded. Don't tell me that the money is not available. We
have billions of dollars to spend on prisons and declining crime rates. We
have hundreds of thousands to spend on sunset industries like paper mills. It’s about priorities.

It isn't my
"damn fault" that our university has been seriously mismanaged under
the governance of David B. Smith.

That our
senior administration and Board of Governors has an aversion to transparency.

That they
are not in touch with the demands of students, staff, and faculty.

That there
is no appropriate venue for me to adequately participate in the decisions being
made which affect my education and institution.

Who has a
gambling problem? Not NSCAD. Students, faculty and staff are NSCAD.

It’s the senior
administration and Board of Governors who are gambling with the future of an independent
NSCAD and the provincial government who are gambling the future of arts and
culture in Nova Scotia.

Re: OccupyNS Eviction Coverage and Opinion – A Summary

Mike Price — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 16:01:24 -0000

I think this upcoming Security Summit was a consideration in getting the protesters evicted when they did. Surely Occupy NS would have come up among the organizers- look at all the 1% interests. http://halifaxtheforum.org/

Re: From the Facebook page of Peter Kelly, Mayor

Nicolas James — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 12:42:27 -0000

A short documentary covering the eviction: http://vimeo.com/32096258.

Re: Defence of the Status Quo nothing new in “Slackers”

Paul W Bennett — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 10:23:17 -0000

I admire your pluck and determination, Waye. We need more Haligonians like you to stand up and be counted on matters of principle.

The Contrarian (Parker Donham) was first off-the mark condemning the forced eviction as an excessive and unnecessary abuse of power. It took "The Contrarian" to break the silence and suggest that defending the "Status Quo" in Halifax means "wallowing in mediocrity."

What's going on inside Mayor Kelly's head? Today's Halifax Chronicle Herald interview with
Halifax Mayor Peter Kelly shows the master of concealment at his best.
The Peter Pan side (serving cookies, chatting up the ladies) is clearly
at war with deeply ingrained Machiavellian instincts. http://thechronicleherald.ca/m...

I'm a strong supporter of CBC News but yesterday "CBC News at Six" completely dropped the ball. That fawning interview with Peter Kelly gave him free license to spin. It was not the Network's finest 10 minutes.

Thankfully, CTV national reporter Todd Battis (CTV National News) produced a credible, balanced news report on the eviction. Without OpenFile Halifax and Twitter, the CBC-TV News ( at 5 pm and 10:55 pm) might actually have succeeded in burying the story.

Re: HRM Neighbourhood Map Project

S. — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 10:20:27 -0000

I think the part of the area marked as "Westwood and the Pubs" that's south of Bayer's Rd is the 2nd phase of Westmount. The survey of my property calls it. "New Westmount." I've never really heard it called Westwood (but I've only been here for 5 years), and if I say I live in Westmount, people assume I live east of Halifax Shopping Centre.

Re: HRM Neighbourhood Map Project

af — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 21:24:36 -0000

Westmount School is north of Chebucto and the subdivision in which the school exists is one of two phases of the "Westmount subdivision". The other phase was the Romans Ave area next to the Halifax Shopping Centre. I'm not sure what the people south of Chebucto call their area.

Re: HRM Neighbourhood Map Project

Jacob Chard — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 11:04:59 -0000

I'd lean towards Hawthorn(e) - it's always confused me that the street and school spell it differently - over Prince Albert too, but I don't really have a strong opinion on that one.

Good point on Greenbank vs Africville. As much I don't like to see a historic part of the city fade from memory (just see how hard it is to find any references to Greenbank on the internet), I'm willing to concede that it probably doesn't make sense to identify a neighbourhood of which there isn't a single visible trace; it would just be confusing.

Re: HRM Neighbourhood Map Project

Waye Mason — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 09:16:29 -0000

Sorry for the delay... have a look and tell me if I got it right! Thanks.

Re: HRM Neighbourhood Map Project

Waye Mason — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 09:08:18 -0000

Interesting! I use to have Dartmouth Cove... Hazelhurst is on the planning documents for downtown, but I agree, I don't think anyone uses it. I grew up in Dartmouth too, and I think that the other one that might change is "Prince Albert." That might be the historic planning name but I think when I was a kid it was generally called "the Hawthorn neighbourhood" because of the street and school.

As for Greenbank - I dunno. There is a sign that says Africville... and a church. The Greenbank site was up a hill that is no longer there, where the railway cut is now. I think that would be too historical for a current use map. But I am always open to debate!

Re: HRM Neighbourhood Map Project

Jacob Chard — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 08:56:35 -0000

I think that "Hazelhurst" would be more appropriately named "Dartmouth Cove." I grew up in the area and have never heard it referred to as Hazelhurst, which as far as I know is only the name of a fairly insignificant street within the neighbourhood and has no greater significance.

Another thought is that given that Africville is included - as it should be - so too should Greenbank (which is now a portion of the south-end container terminal).

Re: HRM Neighbourhood Map Project

Brennan McCracken — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 21:38:50 -0000

First of all, great project!

A few Bedford notes:Navigation Way (which is off of Moirs Mill Road in Bedford) and the six courts that surround it are known in Bedford as Torrington. The area was developed separately from Moirs Mill in the 90's.
Also, Everything south of Moirs Mill Road (except for Navigation Way and Baha Court) is commonly know as either Oceanview or Crestview. Architecturally, the area is very different from the developments to the north of Moirs Mill.

Re: HRM District Proposals – the good, the bad, the ugly.

Matt Corkum — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 14:34:56 -0000

I agree - scenario 2 is the lesser of the two evils.

Looking at scenario 1, my area (Timberlea), would be included in Clayton Park West. The two areas are very different and have very different needs. At least scenario 2 puts BLT with Hubley.

Other than that, it's a tough call. The downtown breakdowns aren't ideal with either solution.

Re: HRM District Proposals – the good, the bad, the ugly.

Jeff Pinhey — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 14:04:23 -0000

I cannot support either scenario. There needs to be more than one councillor representing downtown Halifax, and Dartmouth respectively. The way it is shown (and kinda the way it is now) all that business activity and the subsequent huge tax base is represented by one person whose votes come mostly from a part of the city that is more in favour of the status quo than any.

Have a boundary right down Sackville Street and another right down Ochterloney to the harbour. That way 4 councillors end up with a part of the downtown in their district. 25% of the votes on council. The problem is, that part of HRM is so valuable to us all, but not that many people actually live there, though they work and play there.

Some of the boundaries shown in the burbs make me wonder if they know what happens next - lines drawn at the end of existing new development that will ultimately continue on outside that boundary (i.e. Westwood Hills).