Are NIMBYs really taking over?

 

 

 

 

By JIM MEEK
Sat. Mar 8 - 6:44 AM

I COULD WRITE a column about our “genius for getting to no” in my sleep. (Not a good sign, I admit.)

My somnambulistic – or sleepwalking – view is that we’re beating ourselves to death when it comes to economic activity.

A quarry on Digby Neck?

Oppose it, sure, but don’t take five years to run the sponsoring company out of town.

Clean, green, necessary windmills near Anne Murray’s cottage on the Northumberland Strait?

C’mon Anne – spread your tiny wings and fly away.

And do we really have to mount and man the barricades because some hapless promoter wants to bring Celine Dion to the Halifax Commons?

The Chronicle Herald takes a look at these issues (starting today) in a three-day series called Citizens Against Virtually Everything?

I first heard the acronym CAVE while interviewing a trio of people from the mining industry.

They were clearly upset with the decision rejecting the Digby Neck quarry, and worried about the “chill” they say this sends through the investment community.

I know, I know. To some people, this sounds like sabre-rattling or fear-mongering.

But in my past life as a consultant, I watched companies leave town in a rush after taking a close, hard look at the political and public opinion environment here.

In one case, this meant taking a billion-dollar investment out of Nova Scotia and parking it in a safer place.

This is the kind of economic loss that’s invisible to the public eye.

Still, a part of me says good riddance and Godspeed to these dearly departed companies.

If they don’t want to work in a way that respects our values, why let ‘em stay here and work against us?

That seemed to be one fundamental idea underlying the decision rejecting the Digby Neck quarry proposal.

Bob Fournier, the Dalhousie professor who chaired the review panel, says “core community values” are at the heart of government policy in Nova Scotia.

This idea, that you promote “sustainable” development based on core values, sounds good.

But who gets to wave the flag and mount the podium on behalf of those values?

In the case of the Digby Neck quarry, the local residents who wanted the project to go ahead – and to create some jobs – say their voices went unheard.

That is, they were drowned out by people with more money, more education, more time and second homes in some other part of the globe.

Well, you can see how quickly this CAVE? debate can get ugly.

In each of the three main stories we did for this series, the Come From Away (CFA) question reared its head.

An opponent of a real estate development had moved to Mahone Bay from Ontario.

Cottage people or year-round newcomers often lead the fight against wind power developments.

And more than one mining guy told me CFA landowners are more reluctant to let prospectors on their properties.

Sorry, guys, this is just too xenophobic for me.

Yes, non-native Nova Scotians do change the province and often import fresh ideas. (Thank God.)

In many cases, they’ve bought into the dream this province promotes – of a peaceable kingdom by the sea, where life is supposed to be slower, neighbours are said to be friendlier, and beauty is not a postcard but the view from the front porch.

That brings us to the tough underlying questions.

What kind of Nova Scotia do we want to build, anyway?

And how does rural Nova Scotia survive – pay its taxes, pave its roads, educate its young – in the face of outmigration and economic decline?

Frankly, this series poses these questions more than it answers them.

The trouble is, the more you know about the issues, the more elusive solutions seem to be.

From the tone and tenor of the public debate, for instance, it would seem that the NIMBYs are winning.

But government statistics – or estimates, more accurately – show most projects in rural Nova Scotia still gain regulatory seals of approval, especially if they work hard upfront to meet community and environmental standards.

So there you have it. These are complex issues, and I can’t round out this column with some ringing declaration of incontestable truth.

But at least I’m wide awake while writing this.

( jmeek@herald.ca)

Technorati Tags: Come From Aways,Meek,Development Aproval Process

Coalition sought on mental health

Advocates want patients’ needs higher on priority list
By SHERRI BORDEN COLLEY Staff Reporter
Tue. Mar 4 - 5:43 AM

Sheila Morrison and her husband James have been told too many times to step aside and keep silent when their mentally ill daughter could not speak for herself and give doctors her medical history.

“Too many times when staff shortages have been apparent, we have not been allowed to hold our daughter’s hand when she was terrified,” Ms. Morrison told a crowd of 200 Nova Scotians who gathered Monday in Halifax to discuss creating a mental health coalition.

“Too many times, a police or security officer or a doctor or a nurse have insisted they know best and moved too quickly to intervene in an inappropriate manner, leaving us to deal with the aftermath of her physical and psychological trauma for years to come.”

Among those attending Monday’s meeting at Dalhousie University were mental health patients, family members, health-care providers and representatives of community agencies who assist people with mental health issues.

Ms. Morrison’s daughter, now 34, developed a chronic mental illness when she was 18 or 19 and has been in and out of hospital over the last 15 years.

For privacy reasons, Ms. Morrison did not give her daughter’s name.

Ms. Morrison said a province wide coalition would provide a supportive community where people can speak on issues that affect mental health patients and work for change.

Her daughter spent time at the Abbie J. Lane Memorial Building of the Queen Elizabeth II Health Sciences Centre before she was transferred last September to an acute-care room at the Nova Scotia Hospital.

“She went to a very, very good unit and she’s had excellent care, and the reason it’s been good is because the staff there have been very open to having us included as part of the team, and that makes a huge difference,” Ms. Morrison told reporters.

“And the physician in charge was excellent in that regard as well, very, very, respectful of us. So it was a very pleasant few months. And now she’s home and about to move into her own place. . . .

“”We’re in the process of negotiating what she will need in order to live independently.”

Advocates of the proposed coalition want to put mental illness and mental health higher on the provincial health-care agenda. They also hope to push for improved mental health services.

“I think the time of working in isolation of one another as organizations, as government departments, as service-delivery individuals has come to an end,” Carol Tooton, executive director of the Nova Scotia division of the Canadian Mental Health Association, said in an interview.

“If we’re going to accomplish what we need to accomplish, we need to combine our efforts. . . . We need to increase our voices so people understand what the issues are and we can address them.”

Stephen Ayer, executive director of the Schizophrenia Society of Nova Scotia, said he also hopes the coalition will help the mentally ill in other ways by reducing the criminalization of those needing treatment, reducing poverty, addressing primary health-care needs, providing safe and affordable housing, and supporting cost-effective and evidence-based research into treatment for schizophrenia and psychosis. (sborden@herald.ca)

Technorati Tags: Mental health Coalition,Halifax

Oh, those nasty bumps in the road

Anyone with a car knows all about those awful potholes
By AMY PUGSLEY FRASER City Hall Reporter
Wed. Feb 20 - 7:05 AM

A car steers clear of a Windmill Road pothole, one of many that HRM residents have to increasingly navigate around, on Wednesday. (TIM KROCHAK / Staff)

If your commute each day in your car feels like a ride on a roller-coaster, you’re not alone.

It’s winter in Halifax and the streets are sprouting potholes.

“It’s awful!” Coun. Gloria McCluskey (Dartmouth Centre) said in an interview Tuesday.

Her district is home to some of the busiest streets in Dartmouth and they are showing winter’s wear and tear, she said.

“It’s been a terrible winter for us, it freezes and thaws and freezes and thaws,” she said.

And the effect on streets everywhere has been disastrous, Ms. McCluskey said.

“You have to be very careful — it’s almost like watching for deer and moose, watching for potholes,” she said.

“And for some people, it’s dangerous because they see (a pothole) and then they pull out to avoid it but there’s a car beside them.”

Drivers should be wary and try to avoid potholes if it’s possible and safe to do so, she said.

“You can really wreck your car.”

Ms. McCluskey said she hasn’t received too many calls about the sorry state of city streets but she sees herself that they’re getting worse by the day.

“I think people just say, ‘What’s the point of calling?’ ”

Even so, the city wants people to phone the corporate call centre at 490-4000 to report potholes.

Callers are urged to give a specific location of the pothole, including the civic address of the nearest house, if possible.

Ms. McCluskey is keen on the reporting system and has already made a few calls of her own. “I’m calling in because I want them to get repaired,” she said.

With almost two more months of winter left, we’re in for a rough ride, the councillor said.

“It will only get worse,” she said.

Once a pothole has been reported, a work order is issued and forwarded to eight repair crews for scheduling, the city explained in a release Tuesday.

Service standards state that once a pothole is reported, it will be inspected within three business days and repairs will be made within 14 days of the work order being issued — provided crews are able to respond, based on day-to-day weather conditions and whether they are required for snow and ice operations.

Often, potholes that have been repaired will reappear due to temperature fluctuations and snow and ice accumulation, the city said.

“I don’t think it works very well,” Ms. McCluskey said of the city’s repair process.

“But that’s all they can do in the winter, and it’s been a bad winter for potholes.”

( apugsley@herald.ca)

Technorati Tags: Pot Holes,Roads,Halifax

Aging roads, bridges worry Halifax

By MICHAEL LIGHTSTONE Staff Reporter
Wed. Feb 20 - 5:27 AM

City hall’s senior managers urged Halifax regional council Tuesday to make the municipality’s aging infrastructure a priority during budget talks this spring.

But perennial cost pressures will make it a challenge to focus on such things as city streets and overpasses and rural bridges, they said.

Dan English, the city’s chief administrative officer, told councillors during a fiscal planning session they should not only earmark a significant amount of money to cover crucial infrastructure projects but should also turn their attention to recruiting and keeping municipal staff.

“Our staff are our most important resource, and we face the same challenges as other employers as we struggle to attract and retain talent,” Mr. English said. “Not unlike our infrastructure, we have not made the kind of investments that we should have in our people.”

Mr. English said “progress has been made” on the personnel front — he cited planned pension improvements and modest pay increases — but these are “just a first step in our journey to becoming an employer of choice.”

He encouraged his political masters to consider staffing municipal departments with the future in mind.

“It will take a long-term commitment to making the kind of investment that is required to ensure we are more competitive” in the labour market, Mr. English said.

Canadian municipalities have long complained to Ottawa about crumbling infrastructure and the need to invest in improvements. Halifax city hall officials are hopeful the federal government will earmark considerable cash for projects in next week’s federal budget.

The city’s proposed 2008-09 budget is to be released in April. Mayor Peter Kelly asked municipal staff to explore tapping into new revenue sources, such as borrowing against a Halifax Regional Water Commission dividend fund, as a way to bankroll infrastructure work.

The mayor said boosting the city’s ability to pay for needed projects would help end the “Band-Aid” treatment of old infrastructure.

City staff presented council with a list of “priority (capital project) items” that haven’t been funded yet. These include Metro Transit’s Rural Express ($1.3 million), the expansion of the Woodlawn public library ($1.1 million), a retrofit for the Captain William Spry Centre in Spryfield ($1.4 million) and needed improvements around Lake Banook in Dartmouth for the 2009 world canoe championships ($1 million).

A couple of councillors noted the projects are missing in action and there “is a public expectation” that work that council authorizes will get done. Staff said the priority items can still be worked on, but the city can only do so much with the financial, and human, resources it has.

Staffing levels have steadily gone down recently, councillors were told.

This being a municipal election year, the subject of the city’s tax rate for homeowners and business operators reared its head at times during Tuesday’s money meeting. There were councillors who made a point of saying they wouldn’t support a rate increase, while others said it’s premature to rule out a hike.

The best way to handle the dilemma of funding capital projects, the meeting was told, would be to use a triage method of assigning priority to the various things that need to be done.

( mlightstone@herald.ca)

 

Technorati Tags: Halifax,Budget,Infastructure,Roads

Moncton mayor denies big-act rivalry

By AMY PUGSLEY FRASER City Hall Reporter
Fri. Feb 15 - 1:29 PM

If there’s a rivalry between Halifax and Moncton, the mayor of the New Brunswick city says he’s not aware of it.

The two cities have been jostling behind the scenes, each hoping to secure an Eagles concert for an outdoor venue this summer. The country-rock legends are rumoured to be playing Aug. 2 in Moncton, which also beat out Halifax last year in their battle to host the Tim McGraw-Faith Hill country concert.

But Moncton Mayor Lorne Mitton says there’s nothing personal against Halifax in his city’s bid to attract concerts.

“Some of the media reports say that we’re ‘outbidding’ one another, and that’s not quite true,” he said from Moncton city hall on Thursday.

“We’re not out there competing against anyone. Really, we’re out there selling our venue, not trying to outdo anybody.”

Halifax Mayor Peter Kelly told The Chronicle Herald on Wednesday that he had brought in a New York promoter to help the city secure big-name acts for outdoor shows this summer.

“It’s about trying to meet some of the public’s expectations when it comes to concerts, so we need to try some innovative and new and unique ways to do so,” Mr. Kelly said.

Mr. Mitton said Halifax has proven itself a capable host of numerous sports events.

“You’ve had big curling events in the Metro Centre, which can hold 10,000 people,” he said, noting that Moncton’s Coliseum seats only 7,000.

“And your big hockey event coming up, well, we’d love to have that,” he said, referring to the world hockey championship in May.

“So there are things that Halifax can do that Moncton can’t do, and we understand that.”

Meanwhile, Dartmouth promoter Harold MacKay said Moncton hasn’t actually won the latest concert war — yet. He said there’s still a chance the Eagles could fly to Halifax instead.

“It’s still not over yet,” he said.

“There’s nothing inked yet.”

Encouraging a band to come to town is an extremely long process, Mr. MacKay said. “You have to convince the agency, and then they have to convince the manager, who then has to convince the band.”

That might be difficult right now because an industry insider says all the concert commotion created in Halifax recently is stirring up bad feelings about the city, and the area in general.

“People read newspapers from cities they plan to play in,” the insider said.

Halifax found that out last fall when Celine Dion pulled out of a concert slated for next August on the Commons. Her husband, Rene Angelil, blamed negative public response and newspaper coverage for the cancellation.

“Even before the sale of 20,000 tickets, journalists have to write that it was a place for the Rolling Stones to rock, not Celine Dion,” Mr. Angelil told a French-language online newspaper. “So if we are not welcome in Halifax, we won’t come.”

That news spread in entertainment circles and cast a negative light on Halifax, the insider said.

“It doesn’t create a good environment for Halifax.”

Confusion in the marketplace over who is booking concerts for Halifax doesn’t help either, a regional councillor said.

That’s especially true now that the mayor has committed to a New York promoter after council had already secured Events Halifax to do the job, said Coun. Harry McInroy (Cole Harbour).

Last spring, council signed a memorandum of understanding with Events Halifax to have the provincial agency book up to three outdoor summer concerts.

“Now we have every Tom, Dick and Harry — but not this Harry — involved in this thing and it’s an absolute mess,” Mr. McInroy said. “We have too many cooks in the kitchen and most of them don’t know how to cook.

“I think council has to make it absolutely clear that nobody, including the mayor, negotiates on behalf of . . . council — that it’s Events Halifax or we make some other arrangement.”

At Province House, Premier Rodney MacDonald said the Country Rocks 2008 concert featuring Keith Urban on the Commons on Aug. 30 will be good for the city.

“That is going to be a significant draw from across the province,” Mr. MacDonald said.

The premier said work is being done to bring more events this way.

With Amy Smith, provincial reporter

( apugsley@herald.ca)

 

Technorati Tags: Rivalry,Moncton,Halifax,Music

Immigrants have right to be angry

By ROGER TAYLOR Business Columnist Fri. Feb 15 -6:54 AM

THE BUSINESS of trying to attract immigrants is a tough one for a small province like Nova Scotia.

It is widely recognized that Nova Scotia needs to attract plenty of talented immigrants to fill the gaps in the workforce as the population ages and retires.

Major cosmopolitan centres like Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver don’t have a problem attracting immigrants, mainly because those centres already have sizable immigrant populations.

Aside from the major cities, the general impression of Canada seems to be one of wilderness and open space. For Nova Scotia to attract talented individuals to come live here they must first be convinced that we have something more to offer beyond a quiet lifestyle.

And so Nova Scotia developed a mentorship program, which, for a fee, was supposed to help immigrants become integrated into Nova Scotia society.

All the qualified immigrants had to do was pay $130,500, which helped to speed them through the immigration process. The fee was supposed to finance a six-month placement with a Nova Scotia mentor, preferably in the immigrants’ area of expertise. While working with their mentors, the immigrants were to be paid a small salary.

The mentorship scheme, which was operated under the economic category of the province’s immigration program, was also supposed to acclimatize the newcomers to life in Nova Scotia.

Of the $130,500 the immigrant paid up front, $10,000 went to the program administrator, Cornwallis Financial Corp., $20,000 went to the immigration consultant or lawyer who helped the immigrant and $500 went to the province. The business mentor received $100,000 but was supposed to pay the immigrant a salary of at least $20,000 from that amount.

But the mentorship program had many flaws, and last October the provincial government pulled the plug. At that time the government offered to refund $100,000 to immigrants who were still living in Nova Scotia but hadn’t yet signed a contract with a would-be mentor.

Today, many of the immigrant investors who took part in the failed program feel they’ve been ripped off. Many could not find a business mentor that matched their field of expertise and therefore they felt they were required to sign on with someone less than suitable in order to comply with the rules.

Who could blame them for having hard feelings?

Instead of encouraging immigrants to come to Nova Scotia, the program left many with a bad taste in their mouths about the way they were treated and possibly rethinking their decision to start a new life here.

The program’s failure become public knowledge after the government pulled the plug and offered refunds to some of the people who signed up but never found a mentor.

Earlier this week, however, a group of upset immigrants, who had completed the program, told their individual stories of disappointment to the legislature’s public accounts committee. Most felt they should be given at least a partial refund.

But the government is sticking by its decision to offer $100,000 refunds to people who hadn’t yet signed a mentorship contract. That means about 200 of 800 immigrants under the economic category are not eligible for any kind of refund.

This has long-term implications for Nova Scotia. The government needs to treat those who played by the rules of the mentorship program at least as well as those who didn’t find a mentor.

( rtaylor@herald.ca)

Roger Taylor’s column appears Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday.

Technorati Tags: Cornwallis Financial,Steve Lockier,Immigrant Investors,Mess

Rec centre should have 3rd rink

 

Cole Harbour Place has ice-cleaning gear, space for another surface, councillor says
By MICHAEL LIGHTSTONE Staff Reporter
Thu. Feb 7 - 11:16 AM

Coun. Harry McInroy says Cole Harbour Place has the equipment and land needed for a third ice surface, but Bedford hockey dad Steve Warburton says it’s Bedford’s turn to get new rink facilities. (TIM KROCHAK / Staff)

COLE HARBOUR – If multiple hockey rinks are to be part of metro’s future, says Coun. Harry McInroy (Cole Harbour), the city should look into expanding the existing ice surfaces at Cole Harbour Place.

The city-owned recreational complex, which has two ice pads, could easily accommodate a third, he said last week.

“If it was only one ice surface that we’re going to be adding over the next number of years, then I would understand that Cole Harbour Place wouldn’t be the place to put it — in fairness to taxpayers and all the residents” of Halifax Regional Municipality, McInroy said.

But since city hall is considering more than one sports complex, and each centre would probably house multiple rinks, then Cole Harbour Place is a cost-effective place to add rink space.

“The final review of where (rinks are built) should at least include a serious look at Cole Harbour Place, because that one is going to be the cheapest one,” said McInroy. He said the city already has the land at the recreational centre and such support equipment as a Zamboni machine for ice cleaning.

As well, arena administrative costs, including those covering management, staffing and other equipment, would be minimized as an add-on to the existing operation.

Steve Warburton, a Bedford father of three hockey-playing boys, said Mr. McInroy’s suggestion of a third rink at Cole Harbour Place leaves him cold. He criticized the municipal politician for floating the idea past voters during an election year. (There’ll be a civic election in October.)

Warburton said Bedford is a fast-growing community lacking recreational amenities. He said the LeBrun Centre’s lone hockey rink is about 40 years old.

“It’s our turn,” Warburton said.

He said his eldest child, who’s 15 years old, has been playing hockey for 10 years and Bedford has been lacking rink space during that entire period.

“It is my greatest desire that my youngest (who is age eight) will be able to benefit” from new ice rinks in Bedford, Warburton said.

Halifax city hall is testing the waters on the potential for private-sector involvement in the construction and operation of recreational centres in metro. An advertisement that municipal staff placed in The Chronicle Herald in January says the city is inviting “qualified individuals or firms to express interest in entering a partnership to design, develop and operate an arena complex.”

Coun. Andrew Younger (East Dartmouth-The Lakes) said last month the sites could include up to four hockey rinks built at each place.

“This is obviously just the first step,” he said recently. “If all goes well, then we would get to a (formal) request for proposals later on.”

According to Younger, there appears to be a willingness in the development community to explore the possibility of building an arena complex with the city.

The deadline for the expression of interest is Feb. 15.

Technorati Tags: Cole Harbour,Rec Center,Ice Surface

Reprieve granted to metro schools

 

Technorati Tags: HRM School Board,Closing schools,Windsor,O’Shaughnessy

LOCAL NEWS
Post a comment | View comments (29) | View latest comment |
Proposals to eliminate half of peninsular Halifax and Dartmouth schools scrapped; now just a quarter to go
EDUCATION LINDSAY JONES The Daily News   Last updated at 7:00 AM on 07/02/08 

Prince Andrew High is one of the schools that could be affected when the Halifax Regional School Board reduces the number of schools in Halifax and Dartmouth. (Sandy Chase photo)

School-board consultants are withdrawing proposals that could have led to the closing of up to half the schools on the peninsula and in Dartmouth. The Halifax Regional School Board’s lead consultant said she’s focusing on keeping the current model of elementary, junior high and high schools in a proposal that will result in the closing of only about a quarter of schools, but add a high school to Eastern Passage.

“(It) results in smaller schools generally across the board at the P to 6 level and the junior-high level. And that’s important to everybody,” Maureen O’Shaughnessy said.

10-year project

The move follows a series of public meetings for communities to give input into the board’s 10-year capital-planning project, Imagine Our Schools. More details will be presented at next week’s final public consultations. O’Shaughnessy said the door is still open to have Grade Primary to 9 schools in some communities, such as Springvale and outlying parts of Dartmouth.

The more focused direction comes after participants at recent public meetings showed a lack of interest in two proposals - ones that would have resulted in the most school closings, she said. “(They) are not even worth pursuing anymore because people didn’t take up the idea and they pretty much talked about the things they were interested in,” O’Shaughnessy said.

Still in the running is a proposal that would see the peninsula go from 17 schools to 12 by 2018. Dartmouth would go from 44 schools to 34 by the same date. O’Shaughnessy said there will likely be even fewer closings when more specific details emerge. In most cases, the overall plan will recommend retaining, not rebuilding, existing schools, she added.
Any recommendation for closing would be subject to the province’s mandated year-long review.

O’Shaughnessy said she also plans to address Halifax parents’ discontent about the junior highs at next week’s meeting. At the last one, parents said they felt that two, 500-student junior highs serving the peninsula did not reflect their wishes for walkable, community-based schools. O’Shaughnessy said one more junior high will be added to the proposal.
“Three would deliver the program and respond to the desire for neighbourhood schools,” she said. “We could not recommend more than three in terms of (what’s) a feasible size of a junior high.”

The consultants will gather more feedback from the public at meetings Feb. 12 in Dartmouth and Feb. 13 in Halifax.
A master plan, which will include an implementation schedule and priority list, will come to the board for information Feb. 27.

HRM by Design compatibility

Some community members have raised questions about how in sync the proposals are with HRM by Design, the city’s redevelopment plan for the peninsula.

O’Shaughnessy said her group took those projections into account and the master plan will be “future proofed.” She said it will recommend keeping specific school sites in certain areas and reassessing development over the next five years.

Howard Windsor, the man in charge of the school board, is expected to make a decision on the master plan March 26.
ljones@hfxnews.ca

07/02/08

Comments:

Deb from NS writes: Education is probably the most important thing in a civilized society. This consultant wants to close down schools and make mega schools with hundreds of students, where outside the city limits maybe out by Dartmouth Crossing.OMG Will this mean an increase in bussing, a cut in teachers or an increase salary for administrators with less funding to the schools? I hope Howard Windsor knows what he is doing. A community is more than just residential.

Posted 07/02/2008 at 8:08 AM | Alert an Editor | Link to comment

Laura from Nova Scotia writes: Bigger is not always better. Halifax Regional School Board need to be more forward thinking. What will these mega schools do to students, should be the question not how it will help their bottom line. In bigger schools students get lost and there is less time for specialized instruction. Teachers get burned out and students spend god knows how many hours of waisted time on a bus. When will the focus of education shift back to students and the importance of their education. The public school system is a service not a business!

Posted 07/02/2008 at 8:17 AM | Alert an Editor | Link to comment

peter james from halifax, ns writes: i think a quote is on order
HRM by Design, the city’s redevelopment plan for the peninsula
key words here are the plan for the peninsula. when are these people going to realize that the HRM is more than just the peninsula. When are the rest of the people going to realize that the days of the neighbourhood school are over.
people want a school in every neighbourhood, better roads more police, more nurses, more doctors, etc,etc,etc.
its just that nobody wants to pay more taxes to fund them. then they d@mn the government for not being able to provide all their wants without raising taxes. Enrollments are declining and people are just going to have to get used to the idea of schools closing and consolidating. they have no choice. Laura, you are really reaching with your statements. do you want to pay more to keep these schools open?.

Posted 07/02/2008 at 8:42 AM | Alert an Editor | Link to comment

thinkfirst from ns writes: At a time when all we hear about is cutting down on emissions,the price of gas and how unhealthy are children are lets put more of them on buses . Look at all aspects before making decisions not like the lunch program which has no idea how or where they will find the lunch monitors to supervise or how to pay them.

Posted 07/02/2008 at 8:50 AM | Alert an Editor | Link to comment

JW from Halifax, NS writes: ‘results in smaller schools generally across the board at the P to 6 level and the junior-high level.’
Is this based on the same stellar logic that said if you take 1500 students from QEH, and 1000 from St Pats, you can take care of them with the 1200 student capacity of Citadel High? It’s a small school. Generally.
The problem with consultants is that they always feel they need to make some kind of major recommendation to justify their fees.

Posted 07/02/2008 at 9:16 AM | Alert an Editor | Link to comment

Heather from NS writes: I’d like to know where this HRM by Design committee was when they decided to open up 2 high schools next door to each other in Cole Harbour. How exactly do they propose that the only two high schools in Dartmouth (PA and DHS) are to combine, when both schools are above capacity as it is? One school to serve all of Dartmouth is foolishness. I sincerely hope they think this through!

Posted 07/02/2008 at 10:12 AM | Alert an Editor | Link to comment

Dan from Dartmouth, ns writes: The only place the Halifax Regional School Board worries about is Halifax

Posted 07/02/2008 at 10:38 AM | Alert an Editor | Link to comment

john from Nova Scotia writes: Peter,
I can’t take the defeat you believe in. Just as I can;t accept what these consultants and bureaucrats are saying. I am simply saying no - they are taking is the wrong direction. But you do have a good understanding about what the people want. We want community schools, better police , better teaching, better hospital services and a more beautiful, creative balanced community. And in the future we’re going to get them by doing two things:
1/ Radically refocusing our tax dollars away from desk sitting bureaucracies and put them toward highly valued street level services and assets.
2/ Ensuring that people in charge of key essential services, like education are directly and swiftly accountable to the people trough democratic process (unlike the consultants and the single man now running our school system).
Nothing is more important to our future than education and we can not afford to go about it this way.
But it’s not just about the future every child only has one chance for a good eduction, one chance to be in grade 7, one chance to learn math. Every citizen with a child in school today wants and needs change and they need it right now.

Posted 07/02/2008 at 10:38 AM | Alert an Editor | Link to comment

TimeTravler 2157.9 from NS writes: If there is anything to be closed its their jobs! Why do they always have to close things? Its no wonder people are moving out west. With these idiots ( & Yes I said Idiots ) running the show, they are slowly closing the curtain! WHY can’t they just leave it the way it is. Its not hurting nobody, but NO, oh NO time to screw it up! PLEASE, PLEASE bring on an election or something to clean house!

Posted 07/02/2008 at 10:47 AM | Alert an Editor | Link to comment

John from NS writes: City of Dartmouth school population :
1970/71 - 18,893
1984/85 - 11,823
2007/08 - 8,203
Don’t have the figures for peninsula Halifax but they probably have a similar decline.
Conclusion : Parents are having fewer children but demand smaller classrooms and mor programmes.
Outcome : Fewer schools in those areas
Solution : More babies needed in the inner cities, cheaper housing to encourage parents to live in inner cities.
Ask Sue Uteck and Sheila Fougere for their solutions to a complex issue.

Posted 07/02/2008 at 11:14 AM | Alert an Editor | Link to comment

Jeannette from Nova Scotia writes: thank you John for bringing some perspective to this article. I actually was flip flopping on every comment I was reading - I was for Laura’s then I was for Peter James, then I came to your article. You brought reality to the eyes of everyone here with the numbers.

Posted 07/02/2008 at 11:26 AM | Alert an Editor | Link to comment

Peter from Halifax, n.s. writes: These blogs. reflect the commonsense of HRM residents.
Bigger is not better, it is just cheaper and you get what you pay for and education quality is no exception.

Posted 07/02/2008 at 11:48 AM | Alert an Editor | Link to comment

John from NS writes: More numbers.
Halifax primary schools 2007/08
Inglis Steet - 181
Joseph Howe - 111 also has +4 program
leMarchant - 300
Charles Tupper - 258
Springvale - 243
St Catherine’s - 311
St Josephs - 235 also has +4 program
St Mary’s - 116
St Stephens - 217
Wesatmount - 316
For P-9 schools :
Oxford School - 347
St Pat’s Alexandra - 138
For those readers in their 30’s think back to primary & Jr High and think class size & portables. For readers in the suburbs read and dream !
For readers in peninsula Halifax get ready to spell CLOSURE.

Posted 07/02/2008 at 11:54 AM | Alert an Editor | Link to comment

d d from d, d writes: Recall the school board.

Posted 07/02/2008 at 12:01 PM | Alert an Editor | Link to comment

Angel from NS writes: Larger schools are the wrong way to go. Small schools and small class sizes are fundamental to the relationship of teacher to student. In larger schools the abilty to know the child and understand the his/her particular educational needs is lost in the shuffle. Secondly, with the number of qualified teachers unable to find work in Halifax/Dartmouth, this move recklessly ignores local employment needs.

Posted 07/02/2008 at 12:04 PM | Alert an Editor | Link to comment

John from NS writes: Just to put the numbers in some context.
The poulation of the former City of Dartmouth today is about 61,000 and we have 8,200 school chidren compared with 1971 when we had the same population and almost 19,000 school children. In the two cities we have a small number of children in unused schools and a lot of old people with unavailable care facilities. The Daily News could have done us all a favour by reporting the school numbers and then put them in the context of items such as a new VG hospital costing $500,000,000; replacing very old sewers, renovating old schools or building replacements and of course building recreation facilities. We are not Alberta !

Posted 07/02/2008 at 12:06 PM | Alert an Editor | Link to comment

John from NS writes: Jeanette & Paul go to the following link from HRSB Imagine documents. They have many other graphs with demographic data. http://www.hrsb.ns.ca/files/Downloads/pdf/imagine/Nov%2013%2014%20Community.pdf In 2003/04 the number of kids in Grade primary was 450 and 2007/08 it was down to 325. Info for other grades is all there.

Posted 07/02/2008 at 1:05 PM | Alert an Editor | Link to comment

Jay from Halifax writes: Age is an important factor here and I hope will be considered when building these super schools. The elementary aged students should have smaller classrooms and more teacher-student time. By the time they get to high school they should be capable of learning and excelling in a larger school with bigger classrooms. Think about the size of University classrooms! Give them the attention they need when their younger and we wont have to clean up a mess when their older.

Posted 07/02/2008 at 1:16 PM | Alert an Editor | Link to comment

Rick from Halifax, NS writes: Jay has hit the nail on the head with his post. I couldn’t agree more.

Posted 07/02/2008 at 1:56 PM | Alert an Editor | Link to comment

george from ns writes: another variable to consider in regards to the individual school numbers at the elementary and JH level is the number the fact that kids live in one area but go to school in another. For example, Oxford JH’s #s are skewed because most kids should be going to Highland Pk or St Pats JH. This is commonplace. The HRSB allows this.

Posted 07/02/2008 at 2:09 PM | Alert an Editor | Link to comment

John from NS writes: Jay, Rick, George : Small primary school is 12 classes with 25 kids (the maximum allwed by the province) total 300 kids.
Or you can have a Primary to Grade -9 school. Consider the savings - Principal, janitor, secretary, heat and utilities. And then put the savings back into the classroom. education is about children not buildings.
To see where kids live go to :
http://www.hrsb.ns.ca/files/Downloads/pdf/imagine/halifax-consult-jan-29.pdf and go to page 13

Posted 07/02/2008 at 3:36 PM | Alert an Editor | Link to comment

john from Nova Scotia writes: I take exactly the opposite form the numbers given. If, as given they are exactly accurate, static or part of a continuing trend it means we need to but that much MORE care into their education.
These kids are the future, they are the engine the heart and soul of our communities. We can’t look at education as something we used to do well in bulk and now can;t do. That is just not the case. Each and every single individual student is a gift and a ticket to our prosperity.
The smaller numbers, if correct, mean that we have a rare opportunity to do even better for them.
I’ll take your math, though it is not sourced, and point out that the population has grown by similar amounts in that time frame. More taxpayers paying more taxes with less demand (in number of students) implies to me that it should be an easy task to be increasing quality of education - not diminishing it.
If your numbers are correct, given the number of teachers out there, we should be able to afford and offer individual tutoring and specialized education for each and every student - not big box schools that every thinking person agrees do not work and are not what we want.
Something just doesn’t add up. Where are our taxes going? Where will our future success come from if not from these very special children?

Posted 07/02/2008 at 3:43 PM | Alert an Editor | Link to comment

Laura from Nova Scotia writes: No offense peter james from halifax but that is what I pay taxes for. I have no problem paying taxes when they go to the programs that we as Canadians and Nova Scotians like to pride ourselves on. Not to mention the money that has been cut from the education budget is discusting. If you don’t like paying taxes why don’t you move to the US, I can guarentee you’ll come crawling back in no time and be willing to pay the taxes you complain about now. Get a grip and wake up. If not when you are in a nursing home in your old age NS will be nothing because that is what will happen if the youth of the province do not get the education that they deserve and need to be productive citizens in the future!

Posted 07/02/2008 at 3:51 PM | Alert an Editor | Link to comment

from NS writes: Peter James : The data for enollment on the peninsula is from the HRSB 2007 enrollment figures. The historical data is from the same source and from the Dept of Education. I am not in the habit of dreaming up numbers. You can go to the HRSB website and access many documents for the Imagine schools project. Since when has a primary school of 300 been a ’super’ school. Resources are stretched and some kids are getting a better deal than others yet almost all p[eople talked about Equity at the meetings. The savings should be put to better quality education but you will have to get that commitment from the Province and HRM council.

Posted 07/02/2008 at 3:59 PM | Alert an Editor | Link to comment

john from Nova Scotia writes: The more I think about this the less it makes sense.
If we take all the figures as given:
for Dartmouth for example…
same tax paying population
higher taxes
half as many student
That should equal MORE money and resources per student. If it doesn’t then THAT is the mystery and the problem we have to fix. The schools opening and closing is a shell game Red Herring from the bureaucrats and consultants which distracts us form the real issues.

Posted 07/02/2008 at 5:15 PM | Alert an Editor | Link to comment

john from NS writes: To john from Nova Scotia : go read a school board buget. I do not say that lightly. The Dartmouth numbers are from Board and Dept of Educatiion documents and the older Dartmouth numbers are from a book called ‘Second to none - history of Dartmouth schools’ by Joan Payzant available at the library. My experience includes portable classrooms at Ellenvale Junior High. In 1976 the Liberals approved building a new 28 room High Scool opposite Penhorn Mall but the superintendent told them it was not needed. Go ask your councillor where all the money goes., hint INFLATION.

Posted 07/02/2008 at 5:37 PM | Alert an Editor | Link to comment

Brenda MacDonald from Dartmouth, NS writes: Is there anybody commenting here who went to the Imagine Our School meetings or actually studied the plans on the HRSB website-just wondering?

Posted 07/02/2008 at 8:07 PM | Alert an Editor | Link to comment

john from NS writes: I have been to several meetings. have talked one on one with several of the consultants and gone through different documents to get more details. I understand what the issues are and also the constraints. I also wonder where all the taxes collected in Dartmouth for education are spent. Ditto for Halifax. You should go to the meetings in Halifax and Dartmouth to get a better perspective.

Posted 07/02/2008 at 8:48 PM | Alert an Editor | Link to comment

Replacement plans for library moving at snail’s place

Click on Logo to go to the Herald

By MARILLA STEPHENSON
Tue. Feb 5 - 5:07 AM

IN THE beating heart of a modern city, one would typically expect to see a city hall, a court house, a police station, a museum, an art gallery, major commercial and retail centres — and, without question, a vibrant central library.

In Halifax, we have a decaying, overcrowded, outdated building that has been a target of replacement plans since the mid-1980s. That’s more than 20 years ago. And we are still planning.

A public meeting to draw input on the new central library is slated for 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Lord Nelson Hotel. This is part of a consultation process underway to develop a report to council that is not expected until June.

In the meantime, funding has been requested in this budget year for the design of a new library building. A site at the southeast corner of Spring Garden Road and Queen Street — a stone’s throw from the existing building — has been approved in principle, but is part of complicated land negotiations between the province and the city.

Leo McKenna, chairman of the Halifax Regional Library board, told me on Monday that outstanding issues in these negotiations may be “one of the reasons why this project is not moving at as rapid a pace as I would like to see.

“It’s fair to say that I’d be much happier if it was moving along more quickly, but in fairness to city council, it’s a big project and it’s competing with a lot of other projects and needs.

“At the same time, it’s not like we started this process this week.”

Yes, it’s a big project. The price tag, pegged at around $29 million a few years ago, is now pressing towards an estimated $35 million. Chief administrative officer Dan English pointed out, during budget deliberations two years ago, that “it’s not a small project.”

Coun. Bob Harvey said that after 10 years of talking about the need for a new central library, it was time to move. “Here we are in 2006, for heaven’s sakes, still where we were in 1996 . . . because we haven’t moved forward with this,” Harvey said at the time.

“We’ve done this for 10 years. We have to make this a priority this year . . . or we’re going to be here next year with the same discussion going on.”

How about next year, as well as the year after that?

I reached Coun. Sue Uteck — also a library board member — on Monday to ask her thoughts on the dragging process. “I don’t think it’s a priority of senior management, and council does not seem to have the political will” to make it happen, she said.

Much of the capital spending this year will focus on a pressing need to address piping issues that have deteriorated over the years, she said. “The No. 1 issue is going to be infrastructure, but it’s going to be infrastructure underground.”

Well, our pipes will always be with us. Besides, didn’t council ding taxpayers with another special user-pay pollution control fee on our water bills a few years back that was supposed to pay for maintenance of the sewer system?

McKenna told me that in his conversations with councillors around the region, there is a fair understanding of the importance of a central library and that, through its ability to rotate pieces of the large central collection, is a resource for every branch in the region — not just downtown library visitors.

“They understand that the central branch strengthens, rather than weakens, the regional library system.”

In the meantime, the newer Keshen Goodman branch in mainland north quickly hit capacity shortly after it opened.

“Keshen Goodman is probably a good example of what can happen when you build a nice, bright, airy, modern facility — people come. We are a victim of our own success.”

The central library project will always be a big-ticket item, even with a large portion of the budget expected to come from public fundraising.

That said, councillors can always find a reason to delay and defer approving the project in order to deal with various emergencies and priorities — pipe or otherwise — that will continue to arise. And as a society, we will be poorer for their choices.

( mstephenson@herald.ca)

Marilla Stephenson’s column appears Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.

Technorati Tags: Stephenson,Uteck,Harvey,Library,Capital Budget Issue

Crime: it’s not as bad as you might think

CITYTHINK
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Last updated at 3:10 PM on 03/10/07

 
CityThink is a wide-ranging poll conducted by Bristol Omnifacts Research for The Daily News to take the pulse of metro residents on six key issues that affect their daily lives. This week, we examine neighbourhood safety. Poll shows few metro residents ex
RICHARD DOOLEY
The Daily News

Police Chief Frank Beazley (left) discusses results of the Daily News/Bristol Omnifacts CityThink crime poll. (Daily News/Sabrena MacKenzie)

When Halifax Regional Police Chief Frank Beazley looks at the The Daily News/Bristol Omnifacts Research CityThink poll results on crime in metro, a smile crosses his face.
Beazley likes the numbers so much, he’s taken to using the data when talking to other journalists and his own cops.
In a way, seeing that most HRM residents feel safe in the city is a validation of the effort his department has put into crime-prevention programs, enhanced enforcement strategies and community policing.
So when the poll results show that most people in metro have never been the victim of a serious crime, Beazley feels he’s on the right track.
“I think the poll is pretty much right on,” Beazley said during an interview in his office at the Gottingen Street police headquarters. “It doesn’t surprise me that 83 per cent of people haven’t been a victim of crime.”
Pollster Layton Dorey said that in most cases, with a few exceptions broken out according to youth and gender, most people feel downtown Halifax is safe.
“It’s also probably to be expected that young people are more inclined to feel safe than older people,” Dorey said. “That’s probably a universal truth.”
Half of HRM residents consider downtown Halifax safe, with nine out of 10 people regarding it as “mostly safe.”
The perception of downtown safety closely correlates with age.
Younger people are more likely to regard the downtown area as safe, with two-thirds of people under the age of 35 supporting that claim.
Men (54 per cent) are more likely to consider downtown safe than women (46 per cent).
What’s surprising about that result is, when 600 HRM residents contacted for the poll were asked if they’ve personally been the victim of a serious crime, the highest category responding yes was in the 18 to 24 age range.
That could be because younger people are more apt to take risks than the older generation, Beazley said.
Police will tell you that on any given night in downtown Halifax, the vast majority of people in the bar areas in the younger group.
It doesn’t surprise Beazley that most of the people to report being victims of serious crimes are young.
“Every study will tell you that the great majority of victims are in a relatively small age range,” he said.
Statistics gathered by the police show that the majority of assaults they are called to deal with occur in a relatively small area of downtown Halifax, usually between 1 a.m. and 4 a.m. when the bars close.
Recognizing that, police got tough with drunks.
The philosophy was to get drunks off the street either before they became victims of crime, or before they did something to get them into trouble with the law.
Beazley said he doesn’t like to downplay the devastating impact being the victim of crime has on a person’s life.
But reviewing these poll results bolsters his long-held conviction that most people in HRM will never be the victim of a serious crime.
“Most people are relatively safe,” he said.
That message also emphasizes one of the key things Beazley has talked about during his tenure as chief.
It’s one thing to have more cops on patrol and to crack down hard on criminals, but it’s another thing to change the habits of ordinary citizens.
Ultimately, keeping the city safe is a shared responsibility between the justice system and the public.
“People need to think about what they do and how they do it,” Beazley said.
Police have certainly changed how they go about keeping the streets safe.
Two years ago, Halifax police began knocking on doors to keep track of accused and convicted criminals released on court-ordered conditions.
Since Operation Breach began in 2005, there’s been a marked decrease in the number of violent and property crimes, particularly thefts and robberies.
Police target offenders considered to be a high risk to re-offend while on conditions, and make sure they are abiding by the court orders.
rdooley@hfxnews.ca

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Bristol Omnifacts Research surveyed 600 people from Aug. 23 to Sept. 4 for the CityThink poll. The poll’s margin of error is +/- 4 per cent, 19 times out of 20.

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Total 600
Yes 76%
No 23
Don’t know 1
Which ones
Gottingen/Agricola/Uniacke Sq 37%
North end Halifax 32
Downtown/core Halifax 29
Dartmouth/other Dartmouth 21
Spryfield 18
Downtown Dartmouth 15
Cunard/Commons/Citadel Hill 12
Don’t know 8
North end Dartmouth 8
Centre Halifax 5
Barrington/Water/Waterfront 3
South end Halifax 2
Fairview 2
Refused 2
West end Halifax 1
Cole Harbour 1
Sackville 1
Preston area 1
Clayton Park 1
Herring Cove 0
University area (Robie, Inglis) 0
Point Pleasant Park 0
Bedford 0
Chocolate Lake 0
Armdale 0

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Total respondents 600
Yes 17%
No 83
Refused 0
Don’t know 0

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Total respondents 600
Yes 53%
No 46
Refused 0
Don’t know 0