General Updates and News

[bartekci]

Originally Posted by Keith P.

He loves publicity a bit too much. He is slippery and glib, working both sides of an issue in public while being very much of a different mind in reality. He torpedoed the proposed 1000 units of student housing on Inglis next to Saint Mary’s because some of his old-money south-end supporters didn’t want it. He fought many low-to-mid rise proposals for ludicrous “too tall” reasons. He was a champion of the seriously flawed Centre Plan and thinks he is an expert on things about which he is clueless. He is arrogant and smug. He needs to go.

Thanks. This seems aligned with many other more educated comments about Waye.

Gloria McClusky

Why is Dartmouth consistently cooler than Halifax?

[Drybrain]

Originally Posted by fatscat

We may need a thread for the upcoming election, something tells me.

I'm both not and am surprised by the vitrol surrounding Mason. I don't have the history some people do (I've only lived in Halifax for 4 years) but he seems like a councillor who is highly communicative, gets his hands dirty, makes compromise (a large part of politics) and has provided a mixture of incremental and strong progress for the city. Yup, has his faults especially for the high-rise loving crowds of this forum (me included ) but I overall feel like he's done a great job as councillor, at least from observing his most recent term.

I think because of the way he's involved, he gets more hate than he deserves. Surely better to have someone like him in the council seat than someone who never speaks up, stays quiet, and tows the line. Edit: Waye did comment in a reddit thread he's not interested in a mayor seat.

I don't have a strong opinion on Savage. He doesn't feel like a strong mayor but I also don't seem to get much of him on my radar. I do feel like it'd be nice to see a new mayor at this time. Rumours have it that Fillmore may be one of the race constestants.

I can see certainly see voting for Mason, depending on who the other contenders are, but I do think he has a tendency to condescend, and has skewed too NIMBY in the past—ha has historically been very keen to defend increasingly old-fashioned planning dogma around “protecting” established neighbourhoods. And while I’m broadly aligned with him on what we might call progressive urbanism—bike lanes, traffic calming, heritage protection, etc.—I find he often defaults to being overly accepting of sloooowww progress on exactly those things. Rather than champion more and faster improvements, he takes a very slow and steady approach that is ill-suited to the city today. And he can get rather testy when challenged on that.

Savage is fine. We could do way, way worse. But same as Mason: while I find he’s generally supportive of the kind of city-building efforts I’d like to see more of, there’s a lack of urgency and ambition in his leadership. We need someone with a little more fire. Having said that I’d certainly take Savage over someone actively harmful.

[OldDartmouthMark]

Originally Posted by fatscat

Why is Dartmouth consistently cooler than Halifax?

It just is...

[JET]

Originally Posted by OldDartmouthMark

I thought we were talking about 15 Prince Albert Road?

https://maps.app.goo.gl/xGQGhg3fxX3r8YCN7

I don't know about that house in particular, but that area of town had some nice houses, built by people who were associated with Starr Manufacturing and other prominent Dartmouth businesses in the late 19th, early 20th centuries. For some reason I always thought that this house had been associated with the church, but I'm not sure where that idea came from (it was a long time ago). The murderous denturist (or his parents) wasn't even a blip on the radar then (may his soul rot in hell).

I've been in Dartmouth since 1992, I always thought that 15 Prince Albert Rd was the manse for the church. Next to the church is also the church community hall, and then an empty lot, and then the dental property. joining 15 Prince Albert to the old dental clinic property would make an odd lot. There is also a change in elevation that could complicate things.

[IanWatson]

Originally Posted by OldDartmouthMark

I thought we were talking about 15 Prince Albert Road?

https://maps.app.goo.gl/xGQGhg3fxX3r8YCN7

Sorry, yes! The lot actually has frontage on both Prince Albert and Portland, but it is 15 Prince Albert for the house.

[IanWatson]

Originally Posted by Dmajackson

Thanks!

So the name clearly implies it's owned by the same company that developed 222 Portland Street next door, Westbury Rentals. I'm not really optimistic looking at their portfolio.

AllNS reports today that there is a sale pending for this assembly of properties - buyer unknown. So while Harbourvista Apartments is the current registered owner they won't be the eventual developer.

[JET]

Originally Posted by IanWatson

Sorry, yes! The lot actually has frontage on both Prince Albert and Portland, but it is 15 Prince Albert for the house.

What is the Portland St frontage?

[eastcoastal]

Originally Posted by OldDartmouthMark

Many years ago, while I was a summer student working for the city, Gloria, as a councilor was feared by many city employees. Her reputation was such that if she got involved in a dispute on behalf of a resident, she would always win... so don't even try.

Gloria could also be petty and, at least on one occasion, act counter to her oath as Councilor.

Years ago there was a development, I don't remember what or where, that she considered detrimental to the neighbourhood... except, it wasn't her district. She was angry about some developments that were approved for Dartmouth that she was fighting (too tall!) and so she voted FOR this other development in another district as "payback" for having what she felt were undesirable developments in HER district. Which... is counter to the oath all the Councilors take to act in the best interest of the municipality. The idiotic thing is that she took an interview with the press and admitted she voted for it out of spite. LOL. Of course, no one did anything about her flagrant disdain for her fiduciary duty, so business continued as usual.

[JET]

Originally Posted by eastcoastal

Gloria could also be petty and, at least on one occasion, act counter to her oath as Councilor.

Years ago there was a development, I don't remember what or where, that she considered detrimental to the neighbourhood... except, it wasn't her district. She was angry about some developments that were approved for Dartmouth that she was fighting (too tall!) and so she voted FOR this other development in another district as "payback" for having what she felt were undesirable developments in HER district. Which... is counter to the oath all the Councilors take to act in the best interest of the municipality. The idiotic thing is that she took an interview with the press and admitted she voted for it out of spite. LOL. Of course, no one did anything about her flagrant disdain for her fiduciary duty, so business continued as usual.

and she was no doubt re-elected.

[kzt79]

Originally Posted by eastcoastal

Gloria could also be petty and, at least on one occasion, act counter to her oath as Councilor.

Years ago there was a development, I don't remember what or where, that she considered detrimental to the neighbourhood... except, it wasn't her district. She was angry about some developments that were approved for Dartmouth that she was fighting (too tall!) and so she voted FOR this other development in another district as "payback" for having what she felt were undesirable developments in HER district. Which... is counter to the oath all the Councilors take to act in the best interest of the municipality. The idiotic thing is that she took an interview with the press and admitted she voted for it out of spite. LOL. Of course, no one did anything about her flagrant disdain for her fiduciary duty, so business continued as usual.

Haha I remember that. I think it was the Gorsebrook which actually turned out quite nicely (although could be taller!) and of course was vigorously opposed by Waye et al.

[Drybrain]

Originally Posted by kzt79

Haha I remember that. I think it was the Gorsebrook which actually turned out quite nicely (although of course could be taller!) and of course was vigorously opposed by Waye et al.

It was, which was ludicrous. The idea was that it was out of character for the area, despite being shorter than the two buildings immediately to the north.

It also looks great.

[Musquodoboit County]

That white building in the above picture to the left.
What is that? Is that the ugliest building in all of HRM?

[kzt79]

Originally Posted by Musquodoboit County

That white building in the above picture to the left.
What is that? Is that the ugliest building in all of HRM?

I guess there was a time when those "round" buildings were in vogue. Probably dates to the same era as the one recently torn down on Willett. The top floor recently sold for $2M.

Edit: I realize now you're referring to the even uglier building further off to the left. Agree, it's brutal!

[MastClimberPro]

Originally Posted by Musquodoboit County

That white building in the above picture to the left.
What is that? Is that the ugliest building in all of HRM?

Its in the top 5 for sure. Ownership has been issuing refacing tenders over the past few years but numbers haven't come in a range they deem afrodable, apparently and the work has not as yet been awarded.

[JET]

Originally Posted by kzt79

I guess there was a time when those "round" buildings were in vogue. Probably dates to the same era as the one recently torn down on Willett. The top floor recently sold for $2M.

Edit: I realize now you're referring to the even uglier building further off to the left. Agree, it's brutal!

Student family accommodation. Similar to what Fenwick used to be,

https://skyscraperpage.com/cities/?buildingID=54026

[OldDartmouthMark]

Originally Posted by eastcoastal

Gloria could also be petty and, at least on one occasion, act counter to her oath as Councilor.

Years ago there was a development, I don't remember what or where, that she considered detrimental to the neighbourhood... except, it wasn't her district. She was angry about some developments that were approved for Dartmouth that she was fighting (too tall!) and so she voted FOR this other development in another district as "payback" for having what she felt were undesirable developments in HER district. Which... is counter to the oath all the Councilors take to act in the best interest of the municipality. The idiotic thing is that she took an interview with the press and admitted she voted for it out of spite. LOL. Of course, no one did anything about her flagrant disdain for her fiduciary duty, so business continued as usual.

I've never had any 1:1 dealings with Gloria, nor do I have any involvement with council, so I can't speak to that. I will say, as a former resident of Dartmouth that she seemed to run a tight ship as mayor. Seems to me that when her job was ended due to amalgamation, Dartmouth's finances were in good shape, and I always noted that Dartmouth seemed to have better services than Halifax, when they were separate cities. Things like how well the streets were cleaned in Dartmouth after a snowstorm, and then driving across the bridge to find the roads in bad shape. This seemed to be a fairly common occurrence, as one example.

So at least on a superficial level, I always had a good impression of her abilities to run a city. On a side note, the incident mentioned above seems pretty benign compared to much the nonsense that has been happening in the city in recent years. While I like Mayor Mike overall, council seems like a hot mess that has done little to nothing to improve the city, but instead wasting all their time (and our money) running around trying to please angry groups with chips on their shoulders. Some days it really seems like we need to replace a large portion of them and get some adults in the room.

[Keith P.]

I can’t be too hard on Gloria despite her foibles as a Council member because she despised Mason and a few other self-important loose cannons. Of course she could be one herself at times. You didn’t want to get on her bad side.

[someone123]

Originally Posted by OldDartmouthMark

Seems to me that when her job was ended due to amalgamation, Dartmouth's finances were in good shape, and I always noted that Dartmouth seemed to have better services than Halifax, when they were separate cities. Things like how well the streets were cleaned in Dartmouth after a snowstorm, and then driving across the bridge to find the roads in bad shape. This seemed to be a fairly common occurrence, as one example.

I wonder how much of this was deferred maintenance and the basic dynamics of running a newer growing suburb compared to a core municipality. Many metros even with struggling core municipalities have successful suburban municipalities. Often they start to struggle if they become fully developed and have to start coping with infrastructure maintenance without the development fee ponzi scheme.

[Dartguard]

Originally Posted by someone123

I wonder how much of this was deferred maintenance and the basic dynamics of running a newer growing suburb compared to a core municipality. Many metros even with struggling core municipalities have successful suburban municipalities. Often they start to struggle if they become fully developed and have to start coping with infrastructure maintenance without the development fee ponzi scheme.

Dartmouth however had the Golden ticket in Burnside. Section by section almost completely self financed and still an important Economic engine for all of Nova Scotia.

Dartmouth also led the way at Amalgamation for all City employees as in for example Fire Fighters. The Dartmouth service was the best paid of the three Services. The County, Bedford and Halifax Fire fighters took the few early 2000's to catch up.

[Colin May]

Originally Posted by teddifax

Waye Mason is not reoffering, running for Mayor, I hope Savage runs again.
CityNews Halifax
@CityNewsHFX
NEW: Councillors Lindell Smith and Waye Mason won't reoffer in 2024 election, while Mason weighs mayoral run

A Senate seat in Nova Scotia will be vacant on December 8 2024 and I presume Mayor Savage is locked in for the seat unless the federal Liberals decide to call an election this year, and they will be wiped out and then the Conservatives would then fill the vacant seat. I suspect that Savage has quietly told a few people that he is not running, although he has said that he has not yet made a decision. We need a new Mayor and I can think of at least two very good women who have all the credentials for the change we need at City hall - the spendthrifts need to turfed.