City bureaucrats have no idea how many Halifax Transit users are subjected to racist attacks. People who call 311 to report a racist incident may well end up dealing with an argumentative operator who raises doubts about the veracity of the caller. Just two things that came to light during a panel discussion on the increase of racist attacks on Halifax Transit users.
Scott Neigh of Talking Radical interviews Liane Tessier and Judy Haiven on the remarkable success of Equity Watch, the workplace anti-bullying organization that is making a real difference.
Martyn Williams: “The accident near 350 Pleasant Street marks the fifth pedestrian fatality in our municipality in just over a year, and the fifth hit and run involving a pedestrian in just two months. We need to know that addressing the danger and death on our roads is a priority for all our levels of government, not just in words, but also in the city’s budget.”
Halifax Council’s intention to limit this year’s property tax increase to 1.9% will lead to a sizeable reduction in staff, Halifax head librarian and CEO Åsa Kachan told the Council’s budget committee on Friday. That inevitably means programs and services will be impacted, she said. Councillors will make a decision later this month. Maybe it’s time to give your councillor a call.
Martyn Williams weighs in on Halifax Council’s budget deliberations: “We already know that our roads cannot be made safe simply by asking people to take more care. However incidents can be reduced by introducing proven infrastructure safety countermeasures that ensure the protection of vulnerable road users is our first and foremost priority on our roads.”
Paul Vienneau is getting tired off using back doors at City Hall and Province House. “I’m going to go out on a limb here and make a statement I haven’t heard anyone make before: The front entrances of Halifax City Hall and of the Legislature should be modified to include ramps,” he writes.
Howard Epstein’s letter to Halifax Council, written on behalf of the Friends of the Halifax Common, about the mega-development of four towers of 30, 26, 20 and 16 storeys proposed for the block formed by Spring Garden Road and College, Carlton and Robie streets.
“Metro councilors play a game. They warn if we want improved snow and ice clearing we all must pay more taxes. Fair enough. But out of a different pocket, we are now collectively paying through our taxes for the strains on Emergency rooms and the health care system. So we all pay one way or another,” writes Judy Haiven.
The most recent pedestrian fatality, at Gottingen Street, the fourth of this year, involves once again unforgiving infrastructure for those on foot which should have been mitigated during recent efforts to remodel it, writes Martyn Williams.
Larry Haiven on a proposed development at Spring Garden and Robie, an impressive facade failing to hide four towers of 30, 26, 20 and 16 storeys on a single city block. “Using a bit of heritage as the fig leaf for rampant and unheeding development is becoming the latest shell game in Halifax,” writes Haiven.