Editor’s Note: I’m trying something new this week to see how it pans out: I’m writing the first part of this article based on the information attached to the CBRM council agenda for Tuesday’s meeting. I will then write the second part based on what actually unfolds during the meeting.Read More

Welcome back, Bettens It’s taken me weeks to confirm this item, but Mark Bettens, formerly CBRM Mayor Cecil Clarke’s executive assistant, has returned to the CBRM Fire and Emergency Services Department from whence he came. As you will recall, when Cecil Clarke became mayor in 2012, he created two newRead More

I think this issue should have been called “The Things That Make You Go Hmmmm” edition, because that’s what all my stories seem to be about this week. Take this one, for instance. It started when a reader contacted me to ask about a parking lot that has appeared at…Read...

This, I have decided, is a story about how difficult it can be for citizens to have their voices heard in the Cape Breton Regional Municipality. It begins in August 2019, when the province announced its intention to move the NSCC Marconi Campus to the Sydney waterfront. The land earmarkedRead More

My attention span has an inverse relationship with the temperature, so I’m just going to highlight a few items that have caught my eye on the local scene of late, one of which reminded me to send a FOIPOP, most of which just caused me to go “hmmmm.”   MarconiRead More

Exhibit A: “The fire department (both administration and frontline personnel), and the community should all have input and come to an agreement on where to place any new fire stations within the jurisdiction.” — IAFF report on location of new Sydney Central Fire Station.   Exhibit B: “For this particular…Read...

“The only thing harder than moving a fire station out of a neighborhood is to build a fire station in a neighborhood” is a fire service truism. Evaluate the community concerns of a prospective site’s neighborhood. Community outreach efforts are well worth the effort and demonstrating the fire service’s goodRead More

The 2016 Fire Services Organizational Review, prepared for the CBRM by Manitou Incorporated, a consultancy based in New York State, is an incredibly informative document, and that’s high praise coming from someone like me who, as you know, is no fan of the Consultocracy. There are two factors that, inRead More