The Grand Parade

In this week’s episode of The Grand Parade podcast, Coast reporters Matt Stickland and Martin Bauman chat with economist Deny Sullivan about Halifax’s HAF blunders and why a labour shortage isn’t to blame for the city’s housing crisis. Plus, they delve into Halifax’s deferred plans to abandon its Strategic Road Safety Framework in favour of a new plan that is worse than the old one.

In this edition of the Grand Parade Matt tells Martin all about his interview with Halifax's CAO Cathie O'Toole and director of the Department of Public Works Brad Anguish. Matt explains why this interview left him feeling a bit like a Philadelphia 76ers fan circa 2013. After a break, Matt gives each councillor a rating for their performance during Halifax's budget season

In this episode of the Grand Parade the boys take a break from the budget as Matt grapples with learning new information about the city's transportation planning.

In this episode Coast reporters Matt Stickland and Martin Bauman give 110% as they reach into their bag of sports metaphors to talk about municipal politics in a podcast of two halves. In the first half, Matt gives Martin the lowdown on the civil unrest growing in rural parts of the HRM. Also a look into the frustrating parts of municipal planning. Not to be all doom and gloom, in the second half, Martin learns about all the genuinely good things taking shape for Halifax's future.

In this episode Matt and Martin talk about public safety: the JustFOOD program and police reform. This show notes are abridged due to budget season.

In this episode of the Grand Parade Matt and Martin talk about stories Matt is working on. The Macdonald bike connection is moving forward, but there are some issues with the design, and how the design came to be in the first place. After the ad break, Matt pitches a test for local government to see if they're ready to respond to the climate emergency.

The New Year always comes with the worst hangovers, doesn’t it? When HRM council resumes on Tuesday, Jan. 9, Halifax’s councillors will be confronted once again with a thorny problem: How to dig the region out of a $68.7 million deficit that no-one on council seems to know how to wriggle out from under. (That is, without taking a popularity hit by raising taxes or cutting key services.) In this week’s episode of The Grand Parade, Coast city hall reporter Matt Stickland presents two paths for council to consider—both of which would add millions back to the city’s coffers, he argues, if only councillors could stomach the blowback they’d face. Coast reporter Martin Bauman wonders if the same issues plaguing Canada’s inability to build high-speed rail are what hinders the HRM from making meaningful—and swift—strides toward its goals. And what’s a New Year without a sprinkling of hope? The two talk about why the HRM has real reason for optimism—and what platform priorities they’ll be paying attention to in the next municipal election.

In this episode, Coast reporters Matt Stickland and Martin Bauman talk about Halifax's budget crunch, why Trish Purdy wants to cut back on the HRM's annual spending on vehicles and why the region is broke. The police budget looks like it'll resemble last year's—what does that mean? Also: Matt gushes about trains.

In this episode, Matt and Martin meet In Halifax Central Library to discuss what the city's budget process will look like this year. Thanks to a motion from councillor Tim Outhit this budget might be the first budget that the city passes in line with its strategic priorities. Also covered in this meeting, the potential of the Board of Police Commissioner's new budget process. Martin also asks Matt about the new study he's one of the authors of, and Matt discovers Martin rode his bike really, really far one time.

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 in the latest episode of The Grand Parade, plus detour into the Board of Police Commissioners’ latest meeting, why the HRM is broke and what the region would look like if it was run by US marines.

In this episode, Matt and Martin talk at great length about Otego Drive (https://maps.app.goo.gl/4VNHawhGx99YwVrr6) and what that little street can teach us about the dangers presented to us by our local government in the face of this climate emergency.

In this Grand Parade episode, Coast reporters Matt Stickland and Martin Bauman dive into the HRM's Integrated Mobility Plan and what it secretly not-so-secretly suggests: Maybe Halifax would've been better off had the province not amalgamated the region in 1996? Matt fills Martin in on why John Lohr's housing power play is a recipe for abuse—if not by the current housing minister, then by his eventual successor. Also, the two discuss one of the biggest cracks in the foundation of the HRM's governance: Really bad minutes. That's right: Minutes.

In this week’s episode of The Grand Parade, Coast reporters Matt Stickland and Martin Bauman discuss Halifax’s Integrated Mobility Plan, and Matt convinces Martin that it’s already dead. Why? Because of the way the HRM sets its budget. Plus, the two detour onto the subjects of roads, and whether the provincial government’s plans to spend more than $1 billion to expand its highways* should qualify as an investment. (It shouldn’t. And it’s making Nova Scotia poorer.) Three cheers for the sunk-cost fallacy!*Yes, the money is also earmarked for bridges and ferry services. But mostly roads.

TKSHOWNOTES

Halifax Wanderers CEO Derek Martin has dreams of a permanent 8,500-seat stadium in Halifax's downtown. Last week, the Canadian Premier League soccer club founder made his pitch to the HRM's Community Planning and Economic Development Standing Committee to overhaul the municipally-owned Wanderers Grounds—where his club plays—in favour of an all-purpose venue. The cost? An estimated $40-million, according to Martin. The Wanderers CEO has pledged that his club would be prepared to contribute "substantially" to the costs of building such a permanent stadium. To that end, he has also proposed a 30-year tenancy agreement with the HRM to help cover the expenses. He sees the future Wanderers Grounds as a venue that can attract outdoor concerts, host international sports competitions and also be used by the Citadel High School's sports teams. What does "substantially" mean? And how might a new stadium satisfy the mandate of remaining a public good? In this week's crossover episode of The Grand Parade and The Wanderer Grounds, Coast reporters Matt Stickland and Martin Bauman put their burning questions straight to Wanderers CEO Derek Martin for answers.

Matt and Martin are back to walk through the council's antics from last Tuesday's meeting. Was council's reaction just theatrics? Do they bear more responsibility than they know? Matt thinks so. There's also discussion about the end of the pizza wars, some transit critiques and building in flood zones. Unlike your boss, sometimes we even give you a bonus! Warning to Wanderer Ground listeners who (like me) get annoyed at hearing the same thing over again, Matt (also me) repeats an anecdote, that lasts about a minute. Sorry!

In this epidsode of the Grand Parade Matt catches Martin up on all of things that have and have not been happening at city hall over the summer. The two talk about last week's council meeting where Shawn Cleary tried to make the housing crisis worse, and Dave Reage's lack of answers on tap pay. All that and more in this week's episode

During the live Grand Parade recording, two listeners asked what Matt thought Olivia Chow's election as mayor of Toronto would mean for the city. The answers on the day of the live show were lacking, so we went and found an expert. In this episode of The Grand Parade, host Matt brings on a fellow City Hall reporter named Matt—Matt Elliott of City Hall Watcher in Toronto. The two Matts spend an hour in the weeds of municipal politics comparing their respective city halls. One Matt explains how his city is getting tap-pay for transit in a few days, and the other Matt explains how his city forces parking into areas that are zoned without parking minimums. You can find Matt Elliot's reporting over at cityhallwatcher.com

TK SHOWNOTES

This episode of the Wanderer Grounds is a crossover episode! Last week the Friends of the Commons local advocacy group put a post on their website letting everyone know that they are suing the city over the privatization of the Wanderer’s Grounds. The reason, according to the legal letter linked above, is they believe the Wanderer’s Grounds have been defacto privatized without public consultation, which goes against rules dating as back as far as the Crown grants from the 1700s. Their argument is that since the 1700s, this land has been public, and more recently and specifically, the commitment to make the Wanderer’s Grounds public has been codified in law as recently as the 1990s. So, they argue, this land is supposed to be public. They also argue that this land, even though it is, in theory, public there are a lot of restrictions as to who can actually, practically, use the land. So many restrictions that it is defacto private, and the only beneficiary is the Wanderer’s ownership. This privatization was done without public consultation and extended (in the new lease) without public consultation. This breaks more rules, and so the Friends of the Commons are planning on suing the city to make them follow the rules they are supposed to follow in the Charter and demanding all operations cease on the Grounds. In this crossover episode of The Wanderer Grounds/The Grand Parade, Matt and Martin take a deep dive into the weeds and imagine a future where the Wanderer’s Grounds plays an integral role in forming a community, all the while being a public good in the beating heart of a Wonderful city. Also covered: the game that happened on the weekend.