Municipal

What Part of ‘Rapid Housing’ Don’t You Understand?

What Part of ‘Rapid Housing’ Don’t You Understand?

March 15, 2023 at 10:50 am

Last Friday’s “emergency” CBRM council meeting has been well covered in the local media, leaving me with one angle—secrecy—that I still feel has not been adequately explored. But first, let’s recap recent affordable housing history: 2020 October 27: The federal government launches the Rapid Housing Initiative (RHI) delivered by theRead...

CBRM Council: We HEART Rinks

CBRM Council: We HEART Rinks

March 15, 2023 at 10:49 am

I can’t be the only CBRM resident struck by the contrast between our council discussing supportive housing and our council discussing rinks, as they did during last night’s meeting. They are so much happier talking about rinks, they don’t even mind doing it in public. They just relate more toRead...

CBRM Council: Easements, Wastewater & Rules of Engagement

CBRM Council: Easements, Wastewater & Rules of Engagement

March 15, 2023 at 10:47 am

èI tuned into last night’s CBRM council meeting just in time for the singing of the national anthem (done a capella, I presume due to technical difficulties) and so missed the roll call and am not sure why Mayor Amanda McDougall-Merrill was not present—I know only that it was DeputyRead...

Dr StrangeJob: Thoughts on a $5M Debacle

Dr StrangeJob: Thoughts on a $5M Debacle

March 15, 2023 at 10:45 am

It was very disappointing to hear CBRM placing blame rather than taking accountability for their flawed actions, only to reverse course due to public pressure—Acting Municipal Affairs Minister Colton LeBlanc   While I don’t support Tory politics, Minister LeBlanc’s comments summarize my view on the five-million-dollar CBRM affordable housing debacle.Read...

Fast & Curious: Short Takes on Random Things

Fast & Curious: Short Takes on Random Things

March 10, 2023 at 8:15 am

Transparency 101 Amid the blowback from CBRM council’s rejection of a staff recommendation it fund a New Dawn/Ally Centre project with the $5 million it received under the federal government’s Rapid Housing Initiative (RHI), District 2 Councilor Earlene MacMullin took to Facebook to explain why she’d voted against the project,Read More

Rapid Med Schools But Not Housing

Rapid Med Schools But Not Housing

March 8, 2023 at 12:53 pm

We’re supposed to be celebrating yesterday’s announcement that Cape Breton University has received $58.9 million from the provincial government to establish a medical school that will solve Nova Scotia’s healthcare crisis but I can’t drag my eyes away from the spectacle of CBRM council refusing the $5 million it wasRead More

Photo by CEphoto, Uwe Aranas via Wikimedia Commons

Taxi By-law Brouhaha

March 8, 2023 at 12:51 pm

I watched the (rather heated) debate that took place on February 28 during a Public Hearing on the municipality’s proposed new Passenger Vehicle for Hire By-law, intended to replace the existing Taxi By-law. I want to do three things this week: consider the issue that has some taxi owners allRead More

Photo by Petar Milošević, CC BY-SA 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

Taxi By-law Timeline

March 8, 2023 at 12:49 pm

I am well aware that only the wonkiest of wonks (a category in which I place myself) will be interested in this detailed time-line of the CBRM Taxi By-law or as we are now calling it, the Passenger Vehicle for Hire By-law, but I find making a timeline helpful inRead More

Charlotte Street: The Renos Continue

Charlotte Street: The Renos Continue

March 8, 2023 at 12:47 pm

I was perusing the Nova Scotia tenders portal this morning, as one does, and noticed the CBRM has called for bids for the next stage of the Charlotte Street re-design. Before I focused on the actual details I got distracted imagining a sort of municipal version of Trading Spaces whereRead More

Conduct Unbecoming

Conduct Unbecoming

March 1, 2023 at 1:53 pm

I have a sister just a year younger than me and when we were kids, while we mostly got along, we sometimes, being human beings, fought. When we did it within earshot of our father, he would immediately break into a chorus of the most annoying song ever written. ItRead More