Post Tagged with: "housing"

Power to the People! (Part I)

Power to the People! (Part I)

June 6, 2023 at 11:15 am

…revolution is, in fact, always unimaginable. R.F. Kuang, Babel   Part I: We Can’t Go On Like This!   In March 1985, a 54-year-old Mikhail Gorbachev realized he was likely to become the next general secretary of the Communist Party of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), and thusRead More

Fast & Curious: Short Takes on Random Things

Fast & Curious: Short Takes on Random Things

May 12, 2023 at 11:39 am

Growth Back in 2021, the CBRM went looking for a consultant to: …complete a new Municipal Planning Strategy (MPS), Economic Development Strategy, Land Use By-law (LUB), and other related enabling by-laws including the Subdivision By-law. The contract, worth $217,391.30, was awarded to Dillon Consulting which subcontracted two additional consultants—David Campbell ofRead...

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 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

Okay CBU, Stop

Okay CBU, Stop

January 11, 2023 at 11:51 am

On December 17, a fire broke out in the Ashby neighborhood of Sydney in a Park Street duplex that was home to eight people, all international students at Cape Breton University (CBU). One of the eight, identified by the CBC as 33-year-old business analytics student Rajesh Kumar Gollapudi, died inRead More

Houses by Juniper Littlefield via the Affordable Housing Association of Nova Scotia https://www.ahans.ca/

Still Thinking About Affordable Housing…

October 12, 2022 at 12:06 pm

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

Fast & Curious: Short Takes on Random Things

Fast & Curious: Short Takes on Random Things

October 1, 2021 at 10:30 am

Housing for the People? I want to write about the recent referendum on expropriating major landlords in Berlin, but before I do, I have to take you back in time, so you’ll better understand the context in which this referendum — which passed by a vote of 56.4% to 39%Read More

Meet the Candidates: Sydney-Membertou

Meet the Candidates: Sydney-Membertou

August 11, 2021 at 1:05 pm

In 2012, the provincial electoral boundaries commission took 79% of Cape Breton Nova and 59% of Cape Breton South and created Sydney-Whitney Pier. The 2019 commission lopped off the Pier and added some Sydney River-Mira-Louisbourg territory and — voila! — Sydney-Membertou was born. I’m going to do some electoral genealogyRead More

Fast & Curious: Short Takes on Random Things

Fast & Curious: Short Takes on Random Things

July 28, 2021 at 2:04 pm

Bridging Update In case you’re wondering what’s happening with Bridging Finance Inc (BFI), the private debt firm that lent Membertou First Nation $6.8 million to buy a stake in Albert Barbusci’s Novaporte container terminal project, here’s the latest: David Sharpe, the founder and former CEO of BFI, who was firedRead More

All REIT: An Intro To Financialized Housing

All REIT: An Intro To Financialized Housing

June 30, 2021 at 12:32 pm

I’m going to start this week’s article on the financialization of housing by reproducing a graphic from the recent report from the Nova Scotia Affordable Housing Commission — a graphic I just can’t get enough of because it really does say it all:   The man on the right sideRead More