I learned a few things from the discussion of my 2015 FOIPOP application during last night’s CBRM council meeting. I learned that Jim Gogan of Breton Law Group handled my initial request in 2015 and is now handling the review. Regional solicitor Demetri Kachafanas revealed this in response to aRead More

The first episode of the new season of CBRM Council was three hours long, featured a bunch of new characters and offered up at least one new twist in an old plot. It seems to have been filmed in a black light theater although, sadly, none of the councilors tookRead More

District 5 encompasses a big chunk of the former city of Sydney, including Boulderwood, the Shipyard, the Downtown and the North End. It also includes Membertou First Nation and part of Mira Road. It is shaped like an ankle boot or a duck’s head, depending, I guess, on what floatsRead More

Debate debacle I tried to watch the Ripple FX TV mayoral debate (by which I mean, the video of it the morning after the actual debate) but couldn’t get past the first few minutes during which both Mayor Cecil Clarke and candidate Chris Abbass were KICKED OUT. Clarke, who wantedRead More

Tax deferment The tax deferment program discussed earlier this month by council has been fleshed out by CBRM staff and approved by council. The CBRM has adopted the framework developed by the Federation of Nova Scotia Municipalities (FNSM) and the Association of Municipal Administrators of Nova Scotia (AMANS), tailored ever-so-slightlyRead...

Briefing There was no press briefing today (they’ve been reduced to Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays) but press releases sent out over the weekend noted some grim statistics: eight additional COVID-19-related deaths at the Northwood long-term-care facility (LTCF) in Halifax (two announced Saturday, six on Sunday) plus another death announced onRead More

“Alarums and excursions” is an Elizabethan-era stage direction, which Merriam-Webster defines as either “martial sounds and the movement of soldiers across the stage” or “clamor, excitement, and feverish or disordered activity.” I thought of it this week as I was reading about the CBRM’s decision to locate the new SydneyRead More

I watched yesterday’s CBRM General Committee meeting in its entirety and would like to give you a few highlights:   New Central Library First thought when I saw this item on the agenda: John Phelan is no longer on the library file. The former economic development manager (who returned toRead More

Something amazing almost happened during Tuesday afternoon’s (ir)regular monthly meeting of the CBRM council. As I predicted (call me Kreskin), Martin Chernin and Jim Wooder of Harbour Royale Development Limited (HRDL) asked for an 18-month extension to their exclusive agreement to develop the Sydney waterfront — a development that includesRead More

During last night’s CBRM council meeting, Jim Mountain and Robert Pajot of the National Trust for Canada reported on the results of a two-year pilot program to regenerate Sydney’s downtown. Mountain described the Trust to council as a “small charity based in Ottawa” that has been involved with main streetRead More