HRM Name Change?

[someone123]

Not sure if this will happen, but it should have happened long ago. The bickering is petty and, outside of the Maritimes, nobody cares about Sackville or Dartmouth and that is not going to change anytime soon. The "HRM" moniker is pointless and confusing. McCluskey needs to get a grip.

HRM name change proposed Breaking News print this article
BY STEPHANE MASSINON
The Daily News

HRM should be known as the City of Halifax, a couple of councillors said Tuesday at City Hall.

During a debate on a proposed municipal charter, Lower Sackville Coun. Bob Harvey made the proposition.

He said that since Spryfield and Rockingham were annexed by the former City of Halifax, people still know where they are.

“The communities will be just as strong, have just as much identity and will be just as proud having 200 communities within our municipality — except that we will accept the brand name that we’re known by everywhere in the world except here,” Harvey said.

Downtown Halifax Coun. Dawn Sloane said that the Chamber of Commerce supports the name change.

“If we don’t act as one being known as Halifax, then we are acting separately and we are not helping our business community,” Sloane said.

“It would show that we are united and willing to go forward,” Sloane said.

Dartmouth Centre Coun. Gloria McCluskey, and former mayor of Dartmouth, was quick in her opposition

“I disagree with that 100 per cent,” McCluskey said.

(For full story, see Wednesday's edition of The Daily News.)

[hfx_chris]

I agree the naming in Halifax is confusing, and almost nobody outside of Nova Scotia refers to us as HRM.
However, as someone who still proudly claims to be a resident of Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, I'm not sure how convinced I am at saying I live in the City of Halifax. Nor would someone living in Musquodoboit Harbour.

Then again, I've never been particularly fond of amalgamation...

[someone123]

The HRM has no control over what people individually call the town they're in or even how place names are written in addresses. This is a separate issue and has more to do with branding outside of the region.

[keninhalifax]

I personally feel this issue to be somewhat trivial; only those who refer to the sociopolitical entity known as the 'HRM' need to use that name, and it is perfectly appropriate in describing exactly what the political body is: a municipal government overseeing the Halifax region.

Colloquially, people still refer to Halifax as 'Halifax', Dartmouth as 'Dartmouth', and Bedford as 'Bedford'.

[Wishblade]

I'm from Dartmouth, but I refer to myself being from Halifax most of the time because I talk with a lot of people from outside the maritimes, and am actually more proud of being from the Halifax area than Dartmouth (sorry hfx_chris )

But in all honesty, using the name Halifax is much better than this 'HRM' thing. I don't recall any other cities refering to themselves my their municipal area.

[hfx_chris]

Originally Posted by Wishblade

and am actually more proud of being from the Halifax area than Dartmouth (sorry hfx_chris )

[someone123]

Originally Posted by keninhalifax

I personally feel this issue to be somewhat trivial; only those who refer to the sociopolitical entity known as the 'HRM' need to use that name, and it is perfectly appropriate in describing exactly what the political body is: a municipal government overseeing the Halifax region.

You are right, but politicians here (particularly the mayor) have a way of referring to the actual city as "HRM" (without a "the", no less). It has made its way into promotional material ("come live in HRM!") and is both awkward and confusing. From a branding perspective it's terrible, and the political correctness of it is annoying. I personally think that the fact that it upsets Gloria McCluskey and farmers out in Musquodoboit is a plus.

[hfx_chris]

Not a fan of Gloria McCluskey, or Musquodoboit farmers, eh?

[SSLL]

City of Halifax just sounds better. HRM sounds artificial.

[hfx_chris]

HRM would be just fine for a legal name.

But the public brand name needs to be Halifax, or City of Halifax. Anything with the place name or logo which the general public sees should say Halifax, not HRM
Save HRM for the legal documents.

[mylesmalley]

There is an article about this in the Moncton Times and Transcript today.

[hfx_chris]

Is that online?

[Wishblade]

Originally Posted by hfx_chris

Is that online?

Yep, but it doesn't say much at all:

http://timestranscript.canadaeast.co.../article/80373

[Haliguy]

Originally Posted by Wishblade

Yep, but it doesn't say much at all:

http://timestranscript.canadaeast.co.../article/80373

the Town Council???

[hfx_chris]

Well, I watched the fun tonight at regional council.. I liked what Councillors Hendsbee and Streatch said, and what I've said before as well: leave the legal name Halifax Regional Municipality, but use simply Halifax as our marketing name for the world and our residents to use. Some examples were given, and the best in my opinion is the Bank of Nova Scotia. How many people say they're going to the Bank of Nova Scotia? I need to find a Bank of Nova Scotia bank machine. You don't say that, you say you're trying to find a Scotiabank banking machine, because Scotiabank is the marketing name the Bank of Nova Scotia uses on their storefronts, on their letterheads, on their business cards, on their bank cards, etc. But if you look at any legal documents regarding Scotiabank, they refer to themselves as their legal name, the Bank of Nova Scotia.
Hendsbee used another good example by referring to Councillor Harvey who put this motion to council as Robert Paton Harvey. This is his legal name, but does he use it when referring to himself? No, he's Bob Harvey, and I'm sure sometimes just calls himself Bob.
Councillor Hendsbee said that by leaving Halifax Regional Municipality as the legal name but using Halifax for marketing would only require a change to the administrative orders, or something like that... I find him difficult to understand at times.

And of course Dawn Sloane got up and started saying something about getting a warm feeling inside when you use Halifax instead of Halifax Regional Municipality, and I stopped listening to her.

[Keith P.]

Listening to Sloane lecturing them about the "brand" of Halifax -- something she apparently picked up at a conference last week, so she's suddenly an expert on branding -- was yet another example of how embarassing she is. She doesn't have a clue, and in fact she is the best representation of the Halifax brand -- a bumblin', stumblin', fumblin' bunch of nincompoops.

[someone123]

Apparently that wasn't the lowest point of Sloane's commentary: http://www.thechronicleherald.ca/Metro/898785.html

Don't widen Hammonds Plains Road, just provide better bus service. If you have ever lived in Hammonds Plains or taken the bus service there, as I have, or even vaguely know about the place and have some ability to reason it's painfully obvious why this is not a viable option.

It's kind of surprising that highway 113 is still ~9 years from happening. That means 10,000-15,000 more people in this area before it's built.

[hfx_chris]

Ha. That was actually the one thing Dawn said that made sense to me.
Widening roads in favor of enhanced public transit seems like a step in the wrong direction to me, personally.

[someone123]

The problem is that people conflate a lot of issues. First there is overall growth and demand and then there is the balance between private vehicles and transit.

The bottom line is that the Hammonds Plains area has grown tremendously. It has a population of 21,000 people today which is up from almost nothing 20 years ago. In 20 years it will probably have a population of 50,000+. A two-lane road is just becoming inappropriate, as a two-lane road into downtown Halifax would be today. Even if there were better bus service in Hammonds Plains the road would still be inadequate, and there is no train service nor will there be anytime soon.

Transit is much more complicated. Realistically demand is never going to be high in the Hammonds Plains area unless people are "pushed" to use it somehow. The large lot developments are just not densely populated enough to support convenient transit. Park and ride might work but that is still going to place additional strain on the existing main road.

People need to move away from the "roads vs transit" mentality and simply look at what makes the most sense from a cost and convenience perspective. The city is not going to work without roads. It's similar to the heritage issue where people get caught up in dilemmas that make very little sense in reality.

[Wishblade]

Yes. In a city that is growing, we need both expanded transit and wider roads. because not all new residents are going to take the bus obviously. Most probably wont. So really, to deny either is a step in the wrong direction.