I just watched last week’s CBRM general committee debate over funding for the new central library and heard Mayor Cecil Clarke declare the project “dead” because the federal government has not come through with its share of the funding (either for a programming and internal operations study or for theRead More

I have been trying to determine how, exactly, we decided to locate the new CBRM central library on the Sydney waterfront and as best I can figure, it happened like this:   Architectural & Facility Planning In June 2011, the Cape Breton Regional Library (CBRL) Board initiated a study toRead More

Now that Business Cape Breton (BCB) has been consigned to the ash heap of history, it’s time to meet the CBRM’s new sidekick in economic development — the Cape Breton Partnership. Because it seems there is to be a Cape Breton Regional Municipality Regional Enterprise Network (REN) and the CapeRead More

CBRM Council met for 18 hours last night (okay, not 18 hours, but it felt like 18 hours, I don’t know how they do it). Here are some quick hits from the agenda:   Library Once again, I was left wondering what exactly is the relationship between businessman Martin Chernin’sRead More

John Phalen, manager of economic development and major projects for the CBRM, went to council on Tuesday morning with a request for clarity on the municipality’s planned contribution to a new central library. His sudden need for clarity was driven not by the need for a new central library (althoughRead More

Poll vaunting There’s been a lot of hand-wringing this past week or so over that New Dawn Enterprises-commissioned poll asking, among other things, about possible successors to Cecil Clarke as CBRM mayor. I saw one impassioned critique that insisted the big problem with the whole thing was that Cecil Clarke’sRead More

On the waterfront “$150M development for Sydney waterfront moves one step closer,” the CBC assured us on Wednesday, after local developer Martin Chernin was granted exclusive rights by the CBRM Council to develop said waterfront into something resembling the Shangri-La-Dee-Da version of it generated in 2014 by the magical computersRead More

Mayor Clarke I have been critical of CBRM Mayor Cecil Clarke’s high-handed style of governing, his penchant for secrecy and his preference for springing deals on council at the last minute, forcing them to digest reams of information and vote on important motions without adequate time for deliberation. I haveRead More

The CBRM has received one response to its call for expressions of interest in developing the Sydney waterfront and, perhaps unsurprisingly, the only interest expressed came from a man who has been attempting to develop something on the Sydney waterfront for years. Sydney businessman Martin Chernin’s Harbour Royale Development LimitedRead More