Completely agree. There's some pretty vacant parking lots and spaces for some great mid-density developments. Fill in the South End, and it helps biz both in Barrington/Historic properties area as well as SGR.

You are conflating a couple of issues. I can't speak to anything else you are writing about that happened in the past, except for what I saw at the public hearing.

The rules neither say that the public can or cannot present images or power points. My reading is that it is up to the Chair (ie the Mayor) whether it will be allowed or not. Mike allowed it when the Bedford West follow presented.

But the Clerk has consistently said a citizen cannot have more than 3 images and at one hearing you attended this year Alan Ruffman was told he could not leave an image on the screen as he spoke. ( the hearing into the street closure for Nova Centre ?) And when the Seagate proposal was first before HRM council I asked the Clerk on a day prior to the hearing if I could use a device to display photos to better explain my points. I was told I could use up to 3 photos which staff would place on the projector.
Procedural fairness implies that if an applicant can use use an unlimited number of images then so can a person speaking to the issue. The Admin order has no mention of images.
As a councillor you are sitting there in a quasi-judicial proceeding. The council is supposed to be an unbiased group. Neither the applicant nor the citizens are allowed to privately lobby the council prior to or during the hearing.
I never call, write or speak to a councillor on any development proposal once it has been advertised, not even before a public information meeting.
You are supposed to allow the applicant and the citizens the opportunity to speak to the application, a citizen has 5 minutes. A hearing is as much a visual exercise as it is verbal. Read the Admin order again, words are important.
It is not up to the Mayor to decide how to proceed, he is required to follow the process laid out in the Admin order.
And you wrongly imply the gentleman from Bedford easily illustrated his position. One image fell off the projector and the clerk took another document and placed it on the projector.

After Councillor Watts asked a question about what I had said the Mayor asked the Clerk for a response. The solicitor was next to the mayor and as far as I am aware a solicitor is far more qualified to respond to a procedural issue than a clerk who is not a lawyer.
Let me boil this down to a simple question :
" If a citizen uses the permitted 5 minutes at a Public Hearing why does it matter if she/he uses a powerpoint presentation in the same manner as city staff and the applicant "

Was that the STV group's image of Nova Centre as Godzilla, singlehandedly wrecking the entire downtown?

I don't know - I saw it on Channel 10.
I thought it was hilarious, the first speaker went off on a rant against Nova Centre when the issue was road closure and Savage didn't rein him in soon enough and then when Savage did ask him to stick to the issue the guy just carried on reading his script and then in the background Adams butted in and it descended into farce before the guy walked out in a huff.
Ruffman wanted to put up a picture/photo/image and asked the clerk to leave it up while he explained his position on the issue. He was calm and respectful - several others chose to ramble on about the economics of Nova Centre.
To his credit Mayor Savage politely laid out the rules before opening the floor and asked presenters to stick to the issue at hand and to do so with decorum and in a respectful manner.
Obviously some people don't understand the English language, didn't listen to Mayor Savage, didn't hear Mayor Savage or decided to ignore Mayor Savage.
Allowing power point presentations is much easier and a more sensible course of action, provided the 5 minute rule is observed. The applicant gets 10 minutes and the staff have no limit.

As a practising planner out west - I somewhat disagree with you on your last point about allowing paragraphs. We are going through the budget debate and I've had it on in my office and some of the folks who presented (using power point) were out to lunch. One have one guy...he makes the Alan Ruffman, STV and the guy who ranted on the Nova Centre look like angels (seriously - when I'm home for Christmas I'll show you this guy's twitter feed - priceless).

People who have an agenda and are on the brighter side of 'nut job' are going to get up there and shoot themselves in the foot all the time, that you can bet on.

I will say that as a planner who is part of our professional practice, there should be a local body in NS that if the planning staff are members off you can file complaints with. I'm part of the Alberta body (actually elected to the board too) so I know we have a discipline committee.

Demolition is now done, phtos from yesterday and a couple days before:

https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8591/...c37c917a_b.jpg
https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7506/...c98cabb2_b.jpg
https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7542/...23f81879_b.jpg

Let the progress begin...

No Photo due to rain, But when i walked by last night there is a hole dug and possibly a crane base poured. (there is poured concrete at the bottom, couldnt tell what it was though)

Yep, Crane base.
Crane is going in today.
http://40.media.tumblr.com/c25cc101a...slyo1_1280.jpg

http://41.media.tumblr.com/b07aa4f27...slyo3_1280.jpg

Footings on the south side are poured. This is officially started.

From yesterday.

https://40.media.tumblr.com/8e6e819c...8kjeo1_540.jpg

The Southport is progressing quickly - http://urbanhalifax.tumblr.com/image/112397153750

There are several other project updates by Dmajackson at http://urbanhalifax.tumblr.com/

Funny how the last few photos are separated only by a few weeks, but they look like they were taken in completely different seasons.

I'm happy to see this one progress quickly because I'm interesting to see how the building will turn out compared to the rendering. I think this part of the city has a lot of potential because of its opportunity sites, landmarks, proximity to downtown, etc. It is pretty hit and miss today but I could see it being a great neighbourhood in a few years.

There are parts from another much larger blue crane on-site today when i drove by... Didn't think this project was that big that 2 cranes were needed...

This formwork company seems to like getting the project started with a small crane, then bringing a bigger one in shortly after. They did it on Salter's Gate (which I've seen photos of with both cranes, but can't seem to find them at the moment).

That's the kind of winter we've had. Almost no winter weather up through most of January, then "BAM" several cycles of snow-rain-snow-deepfreeze. Now we're all encased in ice until the spring thaw.

That's what I get for bragging to friends living elsewhere about still seeing grass in January. I love winter in Nova Scotia... ;)

The base for the second crane has been installed. I will try and get a picture soon.

The yellow crane has been taken down completely.

New crane tower half way up today.

https://40.media.tumblr.com/066daf07...8kjeo1_540.jpg