Halifax Municipal Elections
 

I think it's about time we have proper thread for the upcoming municipal election this fall. This post will have updated information as needed.

Mayor - Mike Savage (?) (i)
District 1 - Waverley/Fall River/Musquodoboit Valley -
District 2 - Preston/Chezzetcook/Eastern Shore - David Hendsbee (?) (i)
District 3 - Dartmouth South/Eastern Passage - Bill Karsten (?) (i)
District 4 - Cole Harbour/Westphal - Lorelei Nicoll (?) (i)
District 5 - Dartmouth Centre - Sam Austin
District 6 - Harbourview/Burnside/Dartmouth East - Tony Mancini (?) (i)
District 7 - Halifax South Downtown - Dominick Desjardins, Waye Mason (i)
District 8 - Halifax Peninsula North -
District 9 - Halifax West Armdale - Linda Mosher (?) (i)
District 10 - Halifax Bedford Basin West - Russell Walker (?) (i)
District 11 - Spryfield/Sambro Loop/Prospect Road - Stephen Adams (?) (i)
District 12 - Timberlea/Beechville/Clayton Park West - Reg Rankin (?) (i)
District 13 - Hammonds Plains/St Margarets - Matt Whitman (?) (i)
District 14 - Middle/Upper Sackville/Beaverbank/Lucasville - Brad Johns (?) (i)
District 15 - Lower Sackville - Steve Craig (?) (i)
District 16 - Bedford/Wentworth - Tim Outhit (?) (i)

I have found official sources for McCluskey, Watts, and Dalrymple all not re-offering but can't find any for Rankin who is also rumoured to be leaving.

Councillor Mason has announced the start of his re-election campaign.

http://thechronicleherald.ca/novasco...ion-in-halifax

Mason I look forward to seeing you across the A.T.A.C. table in six months time! :tup:

Sue Uteck has announced that she is running against Mason.

There is no shortage of candidates for Watts' open seat. Brenden Sommerhalder, Anthony Kawalski, Virginia Hinch and Lindell Smith have all offered in the last few months.

If I could write Bulldog Sue a cheque for a million dollars, I would.

Are any of them reasonable people or are they all out-there like Sommerhalder?

agree or disagree with his positions; Mason is a far more competent councilor then Uteck ever was. He actually grasps the issues.

I once sat at a table next to uteck on the patio at the Heart and thistle. she kept leaning over and was drunkenly babbling with some tourists or newcomers to town about how she was a city Councillor.

My uncle Doug Melanson may also run but I haven't heard anything yet. He came second in the last election and has a lot of support up in the North End.

I'm scratching my head trying to figure out if you would do that to support her campaign or send her on a year trip around the world. :shrug:

What has Sommerhalder said or done that's "out there"?

He's a junior Waye Mason with even less common sense if that's possible. All about the bike lanes and impeding traffic and commerce. He organized a totally worthless petition opposing the plans of Colonial Honda to improve their surroundings. Seems like strange positions to take by someone employed by the Downtown Business Commission.

Study after study says cyclists and pedestrians bring more business then cars.
It sounds like a reasonable position to me.

Lets make the entire peninsula a car-free zone and see how much business it gets.

That is a patently ridiculous statement and I am surprised to see it coming from you.

How is it patently ridiculous to say that those studies exist? They do.

:shrug:

I definitely would not be in favour of making the Peninsula car-free - very few people out there are actually suggesting that. It's important to maintain a balance - there will always be people who need to drive, transportation of goods, etc.

Car free peninsula no - but heres the thing, if i drive downtown to get something, (5 min stop) ill usually illegally park, run in, get whatever it is, and get out of dodge. If im walking, i do tend to hang around, shop, probably spend more at the location because i take the time to browse etc.

Anyway a quick google found 4 studies.
Toronto http://www.torontocycling.org/upload...ecember_10.pdf
Vancouver http://council.vancouver.ca/20110728...ntecReport.pdf
Manhatten NY http://www.treehugger.com/bikes/more...-business.html
Ottawa http://ottawa.ca/cs/groups/content/@.../con056212.pdf

basically claiming bike lanes hurt business is the equivalent of opposing tall buildings because Wind, shadow, viewplanes and traffic.

FWIW i drive an SUV and haven't ridden a bike since i got my drivers license 18 years ago..

Studies done by or funded by advocacy/lobby groups are not worth the paper they are printed on. Do you really think they would release studies showing that bike lanes are despised by the majority of businesses and that the loss of parking harms those businesses? Of course not.

See, when having a reasonable discussion, you can't invent straw-man positions for your opponents and then cite them as examples of how wrong they are.

No one said anything about making the peninsula car-free. We're talking about rebalancing the transportation system to put more priority on other modes of transport, and yeah, a little less on cars. And there's food evidence that on streets like Gottingen, that can end up being beneficial to some small business.

A flat statement was made and I quote: "cyclists and pedestrians bring more business then cars". That is patently ridiculous. Perhaps it is true in third-world places but certainly not here. I realize that planning theory is all about anti-car measures that hearken back to the 19th century but that does not give a pass to repeal economic reality. All one hears about is the lack of convenient parking for customers downtown that keeps business away. Whether or not that is actually true is beside the point - it is a perception and the results are quite clear. If the so-called studies were true the Hollis St bike lane would be teeming with cyclists and businesses would be popping up along it like mushrooms. The reality is that it is a boondoggle of the first order, almost completely unused and a total waste of public funds after years of whining for it by the cycling lobby. The cycling hipster class is very much a minority in Halifax - a loud and persistent minority but not one packing any kind of economic punch unless you are selling overpriced haircuts, plaid shirts or craft beer. Go to Bayers Lake or Dartmouth Xing today and see how much business they are getting, and how many bikes you see.

The only valid response would be to quote studies that say the opposite. Repeating a belief that they are untrue does not further your arguement. You also haven't even provided anecdotal evidence that they don't work.

I do think you have an arguement that the Hollis / lower water lanes were badly implemented but that is not evidence that bike lanes are bad.

Fundamentally I want counsellors who will read reports, ask valid questions to clarify the reports or argue the methodology is wrong and base thier vote on that over someone who will vote to stay in office or out of spite

The list is missing a lot of announced candidates.

Jacob Boon has been keeping track of them and you can find it here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets...3PE/edit#gid=0