My problem this week, as I got back to my regular publication schedule, was that my story ideas were all too big to turn around in time for this week’s edition. I don’t like scratching the surface of things, but while I dust off my shovel and get ready toRead More

Pick a lane? I live in the North End of Sydney and on a day a week or so ago when there were three cruise ships in port, I had a sudden vision of the area as a pedestrian-only district. It sounds crazy, I know, because at the moment, theRead More

I am an easily distracted human being who almost didn’t get beyond the second page of CBRM’s 2022 active transportation (AT) plan because it contained this quote:   I can’t remember whether I discovered the British writer and critic Leigh Hunt the summer I was obsessed with Victorian poetry (blameRead...

Editor’s Note: CBRM resident Guy LaFosse wonders why the municipality is not burying the power lines as part of its $10 million Charlotte Street makeover. He shared his letter to councilors with the Spectator.   Good afternoon Councilors, I am writing to you out of a growing concern that aRead...

CBRM Council’s regular meeting began last night with the usual mishmash of proclamations that left us with a “Maritime Kids Health Day” (September 14), a “Medic Monday” (September 26),  a “Cape Breton Classic Cruisers Fall Classic Show & Shine Weekend” (September 16-18), a Fire Prevention Week (October 9-15) and anRead More

There was—even cynical old me has to admit it—good news on the CBRM Central Library file during last night’s CBRM council meeting. In a memo to Council and staff, Mayor Amanda McDougall explained that the old Cape Breton County Courthouse in Sydney’s Wentworth Park (otherwise known as 70 Crescent Street)Read More

Spectator readers often have great ideas: case in point, Bill Roberts’ suggestion (contained in this August 24 Letter to the Editor) that it would be interesting to know how much the Halifax Regional Municipality (HRM) paid to bury utility lines as part of its revamp of Spring Garden Road. Roberts’Read More

I could barely listen to consultant Aileen Murray as she shared her Economic Development Strategy with CBRM council on Tuesday because I’d read the presentation as I drank my morning coffee and spent the next few hours in a slough of despond over having chosen the wrong career. Why didRead More

Why do we in Sydney have to settle for second best? We have consultations on projects but recommendations are ignored without much, if any, published analysis. Outrageously exaggerated costs are often quoted to justify inaction. Take the costs of installing buried power lines on Charlotte Street. I have not seenRead More

As the temperature hit 41° C (with the humidex) on Sunday, I found myself thinking of CBU poli-sci Prof Tom Urbaniak’s recent Post opinion piece about our municipality’s woefully inadequate preparations for extreme heat: Severe, extended heat waves were previously rare around here. But our changing climate is changing ourRead More