🗞 Fixing the city's road safety problems

THE GRAND PARADE

How to fix the HRM’s road safety problems, starting today

Municipal engineer Paul Young has a vision for a “major behavioural change” within Halifax: Converting all urban speed limits in the HRM to 30 kilometres per hour. The reason? Not just to lower the likelihood of deadly collisions, which findings resoundingly show drop off significantly compared to 50km/h, but to cut back on things like traffic noise and pollution while promoting healthier, less costly alternatives. On Thursday, Nov. 16, Young gave his “Slow the Blazes Down” presentation to the HRM’s Active Transportation Advisory Committee, of which he is a member. The bummer, as Coast city hall reporter Matt Stickland tells fellow Coast reporter Martin Bauman, is that as good—and necessary—as Young’s traffic suggestion is, the political will to make it a reality appears to be about as hard to find in Halifax as a bike lane on Quinpool Road. Or Chebucto. Or Connaught. Or Robie. Or… well, you get the point.

Why is it so hard for the HRM to implement the kinds of changes it purports to want? What do John Lohr and Bill 137 have to do with it? Should we be more like Wales? And is Matt still thinking about Otago Drive?

Matt and Martin discuss all the above and more in the latest episode of The Grand Parade podcast.

Need to know

🌉 Reminder: The MacKay Bridge will close today for maintenance at 7pm and won’t reopen until 5:30am on Monday.

🏥 More long-term care rooms are coming to Truro. The Mira nursing home will become an entirely new facility by 2032 and another new facility, Townsview Estates, will open in 2031.

⛸️ Registration for winter recreational programs in the HRM kicks off on December 6 & 7.

🚌 Starting November 20 Halifax Transit is introducing new service to Bayers Lake, Burnside and Dartmouth Crossing, and bringing back 55 trips on 26 routes, 12 of which will be returning to full service!*

*Sponsored Post

SPONSORED BY CROWTHER & BRAYLEY

Crowther & Brayley - Online auction

Auction bidding closes on Thursday November 30 at 6pm (7pm NS Time)

Alex Colville, Maud Lewis, Elizabeth Cann, Mabel Day, Helen Weld, Jack Gray, Arthur Lloy, Anthony Law, Brian Porter, Lewis Smith, Dusan Kadlec. Jewellery-Rolex watch, diamond, sterling, rugs, Lorenzen mushrooms, Inuit, maps, chronometers, Jonathan Otter furniture, decorative items, oriental carpets, items from the Estate of Alan Deveau.

On The Coast

SPONSORED BY LIVE ART DANCE

Give the Gift of Dance

With presentations ranging from electric hip-hop shows to contemporary ballet, Live Art Dance has a show for every dance lover. Tickets for a night out with Live Art Dance make a fantastic gift for you and your loved ones to share together. Check out Ballet Edmonton on March 22nd, 2024!

In other news

👮 The public was heavily against the proposed police budget at this week’s Halifax Board of Police Commissioners meeting. Stay tuned for a full recap of the meeting in the newsletter next week.

💥 Everyseeker Festival is looking for experienced noise makers. All “experimental, weird, freaky sound and/or multi-disciplinary creatives and collaborators” are encouraged to apply. Applications close on December 22.

💲 The province’s Income Assistance Disability Supplement will soon offer $300 more a month for individuals not registered in the Disability Support Program. Read more here.

🐄 Halifax dairy data company SomaDetect has been named a winner at the Cornell University agriculture competition GROW NY.

😲 After months with no application updates, Bedford small business owners were just made aware that a flood relief program they applied for earlier in the year never existed and was posted online by accident.

🌎 $2.4 million from the Sustainable Communities Challenge Fund will be used to help protect communities in the province from climate change.

SPONSORED BY TRANSAT

Save up to $1,500 with Transat

This year, Transat is going big for Black Friday. You can save up to $1,500 per couple on South vacation packages from Halifax Stanfield International airport. But hurry — you can only enjoy this deal if you book by November 26!

ICYMI

Every big show happening in Halifax (and beyond) in December 2023

Winter is fast approaching, and with it comes a full slate of holiday shows. But that’s far from the only thing on offer in December, with a star-studded lineup including last year’s JUNO winner for Artist of the Year, and a pair of sold-out shows by former Hey Rosetta! frontman Tim Baker.

As always, The Coast has you covered.