🗞 Is value engineering causing climate change?

Happy Thursday, Halifax!

To help you prep for the weekend, lower down in the newsletter we’ve put together an event planner for you. Whether you’re in the mood for laughing at a comedy show or checking out Neptune Theatre’s current productions, there’s no shortage of happenings going on around the city. Enjoy!

– Alyssa

🌡️ Traffic & Weather

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🚗 Driving today? Check out the current traffic conditions and ongoing road closures.

HRM BUDGET

Halifax uses value engineering to cause climate change

On Wednesday Jan. 24, the city’s Budget Committee met for its inaugural meeting of the 2024 Budget Season. In this meeting, councillor Sam Austin got a more fulsome explanation about the hard work the Department of Public Works is doing to ensure that history will not be kind to this cohort of councillors. The DPW’s implementation of an evaluation metric called “value engineering" is being used to justify causing the climate emergency, congestion, road injuries and road deaths. And worse than all of that, the Department of Public Works is also using value engineering to save money due to the unsustainable maintenance burden of DPW’s roads, which are slowly but surely bankrupting the city. But before council could start talking about how exactly value engineering is eviscerating the longterm health of the city, the Budget Committee needed to do some admin.

Read Matt Stickland’s full meeting recap at The Coast

🤔 Need to know

🛏️ According to a new Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation report, rent in Halifax increased by almost 12% in 2023. The average 2-bedroom apartment in the city now costs $1,628/month. 

👧 Using the most recent data available, the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives estimates child poverty is at 20.5% in Nova Scotia.

🖼️ Support4Culture is a proud supporter of the Black Loyalist Heritage Center and other NS museums. See the impact Support4Culture makes here.*

*Sponsored Post

🗞️ In Other News

🚨 The players from Team Canada’s 2018 junior hockey team accused of sexual assault have been revealed. 

🏒 The 2024 Telus Cup is coming to Membertou from April 22 to 28. 

🔌 Struggling to afford electricity these days? You’re not alone: 40% of Nova Scotia households struggle to make their electricity bill payments each month. 

🎵 East coast musicians have started a movement with the help of the East Coast Music Association to detangle the music industry from alcohol. 

🏠 The Nova Scotia Association of Realtors is reporting a 17.2% decrease in home sales in 2023 compared to 2022. 

📄 The final report of the inquiry into the deaths of Aaliyah, Shanna, Brenda and Lionel Desmond has been released. 

☕️ Java Blend workers in Halifax who were recently laid off claim their dismissal was due to unionization efforts. 

🚑 A Porters Lake accident between a school bus and a Honda Pilot sent one man to hospital with serious injuries. 

❄️ We’ve all tried to catch a snowflake on our tongues before, but is eating snow safe? Environmental science professor Dr. Linda Campbell has the answer. 

🗓️ Things To Do: Weekend Planner

Looking for something to do over the next few days? Check out these Coast picks:

Thursday, February 1

🗓 Six Star Revue: Dance the night away at 2037 Gottingen with live music from Ross Burns, Leith Fleming-Smith, Matt Gallant, Andrew Mackelvie, Luke Arsenault and Andrew Jackson | Feb. 1 | 8pm | Free cover

🗓 Lobster Crawl: The annual Nova Scotia Lobster Crawl kicks off along the South Shore this week. Enjoy a variety of lobster classics and other lobster-infused dishes while also engaging with lobster lore | Feb. 1-29

🗓️ Dine Around Halifax: Explore the local food scene this month with special menus—taste the city without breaking the bank | Feb. 1 - 29 | $10-$60

Friday, February 2 

🗓 Magnificent Mozart: Symphony Nova Scotia will take the stage at Alderney Landing, led by conductor Barbara Dragan, for a repertoire celebrating Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart | Feb. 2 | 7:30pm | $40-$45

🗓The Homecoming: Custio Clayton returns to Halifax for his first professional boxing match at the Scotiabank Centre | Feb. 2 | 7pm | $32.50-81.75

🗓 Stand Up Comedy Night: Steele Wheels is hosting its very first Stand Up Comedy Night with alt comedy troupe Big Funny, Brandon Michael and This Hour has 22 Minutes head writer Jordan Foisy | Feb. 2 | 7pm-9pm | $17.31-$20

Saturday, February 3

🗓 Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead!: Neptune’s newest stage hit opened this week! Synopsis: Hamlet is turned topsy-turvy in this brilliant modern comedic masterpiece that thrusts Shakespeare’s two minor characters to the forefront with no rules except one: they are destined to die. Reality and illusion mix as bewildered Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are trapped in a universe where their lives are left to chance with the flip of a coin | Until February 25 | $42-$105.63

🗓 Y2K Night: The Loft Halifax is hosting a night filled with iconic 2010s throwback hits. Get your tickets at Showpass.com | Feb. 3 | 11pm | $11.30

🗓️ Black History Month Celebration: Kick off Black History Month with the Saint Thomas Ladies Auxiliary in North Preston this weekend for its 16th annual celebration at St. Thomas Baptist Church | Feb. 3 | 6pm | Free

Sunday. February 4

🗓 Scotia Thrift Market: Propeller Tap Room is hosting a Scotia Thrift Market stocked with vintage finds this weekend | Feb. 4 | 11am-4pm | Free admission

🗓 Life Left: Vibe to some live music with Life Left, Record Year and Synths You’ve Been Gone at Radstorm this Sunday | Feb. 4 | 6pm | $10/PWYC

Find more Halifax events in The Coast listings

👀 In Case You Missed It

• In this week’s harbour report Martin Bauman digests the year’s first container ship derby and more.

• It’s the wonderful time of the year! The Coast's annual Sex & Dating Survey is live. Make sure to take the anonymous survey before it closes on February 6.

That’s it!

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