🗞️ HRM defers decision to make road safety mistake

Good morning Halifax! 

The Halifax Wanderers kicked off their season with a 3-1 loss to Atlético Ottawa on Saturday, a true bummer. But they are back on their grounds Thursday for the first round of the Canadian Championships. At stake? A chance to take on MLS powerhouse Toronto FC. 

If you’re a fan of the Wanderers (and who isn’t?), you absolutely must subscribe to the Wanderer Grounds Podcast. Tune in after every game as The Coast’s own Matt and Martin bring you all of the action, analysis and LOLs you can handle. You will not be disappointed.

Hope the week is off to a good start!

– Julie

🌡️ Traffic & Weather

Today: 🌤️ 8°

Tomorrow: ☀️ 14°

Next Day: 🌤️ ° 16

7-day forecast

🚗 Driving, biking or busing today? Check out the current traffic conditions and ongoing road closures.

CITY HALL

HRM defers abandoning the 2018 Road Safety Framework

On Friday, Halifax’s Transportation Standing Committee deferred the decision to make a mistake. The Halifax Regional Municipality Road Safety Strategy was on the agenda. Halifax’s new tactical plan to decrease road violence. If passed as written, it will replace the HRM’s 2018 strategic plan to decrease road violence.

After a brief update from Halifax Transit and its third-quarter performance, the discussion switched to the new Road Safety Framework and specifically, the plan's vision, goal and section 4.1 that claims this new strategy is evidence-based.

Peter Zimmer, a member of the Halifax Cycling Coalition and one of the municipal stakeholders who was supposed to be consulted for this plan, asked the committee to defer a decision on this plan in the (likely vain) hope that city staff would reconsider the goal of this new strategy after more consultations with stakeholders like Zimmer.

The Coast’s Matt Stickland breaks down the Road Safety Strategy and explains how the plan ignores evidence while losing sight of the city’s long-term goal.

🤔 Need To Know

🚨 Halifax police have charged a third teenager with second-degree murder in the death of a 16-year-old outside of the Halifax Shopping Centre last week. The accused, also 16, appeared in court Monday afternoon.

⛴️ Halifax Transit cancelled dozens of trips on the Alderney ferry Monday morning due to staff shortages.

🎉 Get ready! On Saturday, May 11, local businesses around the Halifax peninsula and downtown Dartmouth areas will be rolling out their welcome mats for Open City.*

⛵ Support4Culture is a proud supporter of the African Nova Scotian Seafaring Project and other important cultural initiatives. See the impact Support4Culture makes here.*

*Sponsored Post

ARTS AND CULTURE

Everything you need to know about Mayworks Festival’s 2024 lineup

Halifax’s longest-running workers’ movement festival is back for its 16th year. Starting tomorrow, the Mayworks Festival will bring visual artists, poets, emcees, actors, quilters and labour organizers together for a 12-day lineup of shows, panels and exhibitions that promises a little bit of everything—and a whole lot to reflect on. The annual festival was founded in 2009 to “use art to explore themes of justice, solidarity and liberation.” That doesn’t mean it’s all folk tunes and banjos or “white men in hard hats and overalls,” festival director Sébastien Labelle tells The Coast.

“One of the missions that I've had as festival director … has been to kind of challenge stereotypes of what ‘the working class’ is,” Labelle says. “[It’s] much more diverse than that.”

This year, Mayworks offers everything from “Working Class Heritage Tours” of the waterfront to a hip hop showcase led by activist/rapper General Khan to the bilingual Bread & Roses: Can You See Us?, a combined spoken word and live art performance that “tackles topics of invisibilized labour, union work, collective liberation and the importance of solidarity in the face of intersecting social crises.”

The Coast’s Martin Bauman has you covered with all the Mayworks happenings starting tomorrow.

🗞️ In Other News

🎒 Students at Halifax West High School were dismissed early as police investigated a threatening message written on a bathroom stall.

🚨 A 55-year-old Halifax man is being treated for life-threatening injuries after being stabbed in his home early Monday morning. 

🥀 “He was known for his affection and gentle demeanour”—friends and family gathered for a vigil for 16-year-old Ahmad Al Marrach Sunday in downtown Halifax. 

🥍 The season is officially over for the Halifax Thunderbirds after losing 9-3 to the Albany Firewolves.

🗓️ Things To Do

Looking for something to do this week? Check out these Coast picks:

🗓 Watch Fall at the Halifax Central Library: Catch a free screening of the 2022 drama about two best friend climbers who find themselves trapped at the top of a 2,000-foot radio tower. | Apr. 30 | 2-4pm | Free

🗓 Tevon Tynes Trio: Head to The Carleton on Friday for a night of live music and dance covers, ranging from pop to neo-soul to R&B. | May 3 | 9pm-midnight | No cover

🗓 Geekquinox: This two-day event at the Mayflower Curling Club focuses on all things gaming, cosplay, comics and art. | May 4-5 | all day | $10-15

Have an event to share? Let us know at [email protected].

🍴 Where To Eat & Drink

🐔 Tuesday night is wing night at The Split Crow. Get a basket of wings (chicken or cauliflower) and a pint for $10.

🍻 The Good Robot shop on the commons is officially open for business.

👀 In Case You Missed It

🍻 The sun is shining, the birds are singing and that can mean only one thing in Halifax—patio season! Martin Bauman has everything you need to know right now about when Halifax’s beer gardens are back for 2024, starting with the earliest arrivals.

🎧 In The Coast’s latest Wanderer Grounds episode, Matt and Martin break down the Halifax Wanderers’ 3-1 home opener loss to Atlético Ottawa—and why, despite the loss, it wasn’t all bad for the Wanderers.

That’s it!

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