Budget 2018: For the last few months Council has been working through the 2018/2019 budget process and in our last Budget Committee we got our first look at the whole picture. The municipal budget is complicated in the details and impacts, but in a very basic way, it’s similar to how …
Lake Banook Pollution Study: The most important piece on Council’s agenda for District 5 was the Lake Banook Pollution Study. The proposed study has come out of a motion I made back in September in response to the significant increase in beach closures at Birch Cove over the last three …
Cornwallis Statue: It was looking like a fairly quiet agenda for Council until Friday afternoon when the Assembly of First Nation’s Chiefs announced they were pulling out of the committee that was being formed to examine the commemoration of Cornwallis and Mi’kmaq history. I’m personally very disappointed that the Committee that …
Plastic Bags: The item that captured the headlines on Tuesday’s agenda was the report on curtailing the use of plastic shopping bags. The original recommendation was for HRM to ask for a Province-wide approach while also consulting the retail industry and experts on ways to reduce or eliminate plastic usage. …
It was a double Council week. In addition to our regular bi-weekly Tuesday meeting, Council met to set the starting point for the 2018 budget. You can read the staff report and presentations here. The gist of it is there are some pressures due to unexpected costs (mainly labour for …
Free Transit for People on Income-Assistance: The best item on Council’s agenda Tuesday was actually in camera. I would normally not be able to talk about it, but, luckily for me, the Province made the official announcement today so that limitation is now gone. Sometimes it pays to be a …
Library Facilities Master Plan: The first thing on Council’s agenda on Tuesday was a presentation by Halifax Public Libraries CEO, Asa Kachan, on the Library’s upcoming facilities plan. Halifax Public Libraries is facing the same challenges that libraries are facing throughout the world as they shift from places that were …
Road Train: On Tuesday’s agenda, the grant request for the Halifax Community Road Train was back at Council. The Road Train is the creation of Ambassatours (Murphy’s) and operates in Downtown Halifax on a donation basis. The Road Train was at Council because Ambassatours asked Council for a grant to …
Traffic Calming: The highlight for me on yesterday’s agenda was changes to the Traffic Calming Administrative Order. The existing Admin Order sets out the process that HRM undertakes to assess whether to implement traffic calming measures on residential streets. A request for an assessment can come from residents or from …
Cornwallis: The main item at Council’s October 3 meeting (agenda here) was the creation of a special advisory committee on Cornwallis and commemorating Mi’kmaq history in HRM. Setting up an expert panel isn’t an unusual approach in dealing with these sorts of issues. The staff report notes that several US …
