Ben MacLeod 馬志斌

Fun fact: bridge toll removal and 1% HST reduction cost us appx $300 million.

All of the devastating cuts in the current budget?

$300 million.

Is your 1% HST cut worth the loss of tourism, arts & culture, educational quality and wildlife conservation in NS?

How important are local government housing policies?

They’re crucial.

Saanich and Oak Bay exist in the same economy as Victoria and Esquimalt. There’s no shortage of housing need.

The only reason they built so much less housing is because local policies prevented it

An Open Letter to Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston and Hants East MLA John A. MacDonald - Halifax Examiner Your actions in the form of these budget cuts are mean and hateful and tell African Nova Scotians that we do not matter in the eyes of your government.

À scathing indictment of these budget cuts from a former colleague. An Open Letter to Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston and Hants East MLA John A. MacDonald www.halifaxexaminer.ca/commentary/a...

Letter of the day: Let's clear the air on respiratory infections "Handwashing helps prevent gastrointestinal infections but will not protect your child and you from leaving the emergency department with influenza or COVID."

Great letter from Dr. Filiatrault on clean air and need for respiratory protection in hospitals.
montrealgazette.com/opinion/lett...

There used to be a guy on Harvard Street who regularly pelted the surrounding houses with potatoes and fruit. that's the last time I saw the neighbourhood in such disharmony.

An early 3D render of the proposed Harvard-Allan street diagonal diverter in Halifax, with a small traffic island in the middle of the intersection. There is a traffic sign (and bollards) within the island.

I think your initial assumption is correct. I believe those plastic bollards are already the emergency vehicle friendly design, in that emergency vehicles can just drive over them if needed.

The original design had a fixed island in the middle:

Not that I know of. But if this continues, I think the Cycling Lobby™ should ask the city to augment the diverter in such a way that it can't be driven over, as was originally intended:

The people who took HRM to court cited supposed delays for emergency vehicles as the "most detrimental" consequence of the proposed diverter. They lost, but the city redesigned the diverter to allow for emergency vehicle passage anyway, and this is the result.

Halifax pauses pilot project that turned Spring Garden Road to bus-only street | Watch News Videos Online Watch Halifax pauses pilot project that turned Spring Garden Road to bus-only street Video Online, on GlobalNews.ca

We taught Halifax drivers that they need only ignore the rules and the city will back down from anything that challenges the dominance of cars.

People keep trashing Halifax's first diagonal diverter at Harvard and Allan streets. My friend encountered the same thing yesterday:

While all these cuts are horrifying, I want to be clear that, at the moment, these are PROPOSED cuts. There’s still time to your voice heard. Call or email your MLA. Call or email Tim Houston’s office. Call or email the Ministers related to the cuts you’re most angry about. See below for contacts.

"What we see here is the natural instinct of municipal government finance: pull up the ladder and gouge the young. Anything to avoid raising property taxes."

Advocacy group expresses concerns about Nova Scotia Health chatbot

"I think that we’re going through a real hype cycle of ‘We’ll just slap a chatbot interface in the corner.’ And I don’t think that’s necessary, and I think that more care should be given,” Sabrina Gannon told me in an interview.

Free parking, remove tolls, back to work orders, remove student transit passes.

What... what would you do differently if you were the province and wanted to create the maximum amount of traffic humanly possible?

Advocacy group expresses concerns about Nova Scotia Health chatbot - Halifax Examiner Protect Our Province Nova Scotia (PoPNS) said members are concerned about use of artificial intelligence (AI) to deliver health information, propensity for large language model (LLM) chatbots to “hall...

Sigh...

Advocacy group expresses concerns about Nova Scotia Health chatbot

reported by @dentremy.bsky.social

PoPNS Protect Our Province Nova Scotia (PoPNS) is a community care initiative focused on reducing COVID transmission through evidence-based mitigation methods.

Please read our statement on the PoPNS homepage:

Thank you to @nbcovidinfo.bsky.social for bringing Nova Scotia Health's AI chatbot to our attention a while back, and to @dentremy.bsky.social for this comprehensive story:

"Handyside questioned why HRM appears to be doing nothing to hold the developer accountable."

so, they couldn't put a bike lane on Morris because of "concerns" about emergency vehicle access yet no one's doing anything about this?

HRM allows developer Francis Fares to flout occupancy rule at King's Wharf - Halifax Examiner Fares is required to install a second ‘above grade’ crossing so fire trucks, ambulances, and police can get in and out while a freight train is using the crossing. Until Fares meets that condition, th...

HRM allows developer Francis Fares to flout occupancy rule at King’s Wharf

reported by Jennifer Henderson, @dartjenhen.bsky.social

A 1970s report on a desk. The yellow-green cover has an illustration of a proposed development on a hillside in Halifax, Canada, comprising numerous terraces of townhouses and a few apartment towers. The report is titled "Cowie Hill: A report on planning and engineering design considerations related to proposed residential subdivision". The bottom of the cover says: "for Centennial Properties Halifax. Research Planning Consulants, 100 Oxford Street Toronto 2b. Marshall Macklin Monaghan. 1480 Don Mills Road. Don Mills, Ontario."

A 1970s illustration of townhouses and a rectilinear apartment tower in the proposed Cowie Hill development in Halifax, Canada. It shows attractively landscaped pedestrian ways meandering through the townhouse blocks.

I love old report covers. I came across this one at the municipal archives yesterday.

I pointed out the former location of Reflections when Rodney and I walked past it (on Sackville St). It seems to be a parking garage entrance now.

“My answer to that debate is tax the hell out of me”
Nice job, @sydhaines.bsky.social!!

You know I think I liked it better when the mayor was vacationing in the Caribbean during budget season.

"It's not going to accomplish a goal. It is just irresponsible and damaging to our staff [...] if you put something forward like this that might take months to do and think it can be done in a few days it shows a total lack of understanding of what this municipality is and what we do here"

Councillor Morse: "This particular motion is the worst motion I have ever seen – in terms of the repercussions for our staff and the fact that it is so thoughtless, so reckless, so disrespectful [...] and basically lazy."

Yes!

A few transit-related items on a table including a sticker of an Ion light rail train in pride livery, a pin meant to resemble the tile walls of Davisville subway station in Toronto, and a pin showing a Viva bus of York Region, Ontario.

thank you for the Ontario transit swag

Ben Hammer and Rodney pose in a pizza shop in downtown Halifax. Rodney is holding a Halifax-style donair.

Ben H, Ben M, and Rodney pose on a walkway in the atrium of the Halifax Central Library

A map laid out on a table of designated future transportation routes in the Halifax area, part of the Subdivision By-law

The five-storey atrium of the modern Halifax Central Library in the evening, near closing time. A few people are sitting around reading and working.

Everyone welcome @chanface.bsky.social to Halifax :)

Last year:

I bothered Halifax council about the same issue for the third year in a row. Thank you Terri for live-posting through a very long meeting!

Here are my remarks from this afternoon: