MONCTON - Woman struck at intersection[Times & Transcript]
HALIFAX - Herring Cove Road bike lanes nixed by Halifax council [The Coast]
N.B. - Miramichi council gives road revamp green light [Times & Transript]
HALIFAX - No bridge toll relief for Metro Transit [the Coast]

CITY HALL

FREDERICTON - Hearing of objections planned [Daily Gleaner]
FREDERICTON - City alters meeting schedule again [Daily Gleaner]
N.B. - Making way for condo project [Telegraph Journal]

HALIFAX - Council puts brakes on bike lanes [Metro News]
SAINT JOHN - City lawyers look at move by Rothesay [Telegraph Journal]
FREDERICTON - Changing demographics will be the focus of meeting in Fredericton [Daily Gleaner]
HALIFAX - Council set to deal with downtown development [Metro News]

BUILT ENVIRONMENT

MONCTON - Riverview housing development grows [Times & Transcript]
FREDERICTON - Convention centre on track - director [Daily Gleaner]
N.B. - Memramcook studying bilingual signage policy [Times & Transcript]

TRANSPORTATION

N.B. - Traffic down to one lane each way on Paul Street, Dieppe [Times & Transcript]
FREDERICTON - Officials say traffic woes in neutral [Daily Gleaner]
P.E.I - Montague to get roundabout near new high school [The Guardian]

If coffee doesn't quite spark your brain on Mondays, get your juices flowing with Spacing Atlantic's musing of the week. We pose a question - you think, write, comment, share philosophies, facts, ideas or opinions. We will summarize the discussion and provide musings of our own. Don't be shy! Comment away ..

Were you first in line to see the Queen while she was in Halifax? Did you stay at home in protest? Did you dress up as her and parade in your own beautiful hat? Were you indifferent? Why is that so??

Photo by Clara Stewart-Robertson & Jennifer Pritchard

HALIFAX - "North End neighbours and all Haligonians alike - look out!" proclaims Ecology Action Centre's Community Environmental Educator, Kristen Rae Finley. That is, look out for the Neighbourhood Earth project launching this summer. Using art as a medium to learn about our landscape and urban ecology, Neighbourhood Earth is a free education program with a community focus. Initiated  by the EAC’s  Diversity Committee, this program hopes to grow the Centre's role as a friendly neighbour in the North End of Halifax. It is about "showing our passion for a healthy, happy and creative North End".

Delivering creativity, art and ecological education to unexpected spaces helps us all imagine possibilities for our neighbourhoods, our city. Such urban activism was described as "placemaking" by Michael Cook of City Repair in Portland, Oregon who recently hosted workshops at Halifax-based Arts Engage Symposium.  He highlighted how placemaking generates new relationships in a community by creating places to gather and animating public space with nature, art and people.

Some would say the product of placemaking is as important as the process. It is in collaborating, learning and sharing ideas that community…

If coffee doesn't quite spark your brain on Mondays, get your juices flowing with Spacing Atlantic's musing of the week. We pose a question - you think, write, comment, share philosophies, facts, ideas or opinions. We will summarize the discussion and provide musings of our own. Don't be shy! Comment away ..

Downtown Halifax has abundance of empty storefronts & spaces. How might we better use this space while it awaits development or more permanent occupancy?

photo by Hugh Pouliot

HALIFAX - The Downtown Halifax Business Commission (DHBC) recently launched a promotional campaign to "tell a better story" about your experiences downtown - that is, after you get out of your office/home/car to take advantage of the fun factory that our downtown can be. One ad tells the story of the great food I ate, the park I sat in, and the conversations I had during my lunch break - rather than "I ate at my desk today".

This positive approach piqued my interest, got me thinking about the downtown story I tell, and ultimately lured me to their annual general meeting last Wednesday evening. As I arrived Paul MacKinnon, Executive Director of DHBC, was delivering an entertaining tongue-in-cheek presentation on people's perceptions of the downtown, informed by their annual survey.

Overwhelmingly (yet not surprisingly) parking shortages emerged as the hot issue. I had to surpress myself as the city-design-geek in me physically cringed. Considering the plethora of challenges and opportunities we Haligonians could speak up about - why does parking always take centre stage? What a dull story: "I tried to go downtown but there wasn't enough pavement to sit my big auto on for an hour…

A Convention Centre is proposed to fill a void in the vibrant heart of downtown Halifax. What do you think is the best use of this land?

HALIFAX - We Haligonians have a unique opportunity. We live in a city so small that, with a little effort, we can keep our finger on its pulse. Being an opportunity seeker, lately I've frequented city council meetings and public hearings. I wonder why so few others take this time to speak their mind and help shape our future? If you find yourself talking about city issues at the bar or over the kitchen table, I extend an invitation to you to come to city council on Tuesday nights. You can see the agenda for each week here. It does matter.

Upon arrival at city hall this Tuesday I was directed to the 'overflow room' (ie. Halifax Hall) as council chambers were standing-room-only for a hearing on a Cedar St development, which was passed by council. Tiny speakers on the tiny television made it nearly impossible to hear what was happening. However, I was pleased to see people engaging in the public hearing and also enjoyed being in the presence of a Garry Neill Kennedy exhibition in Halifax Hall.

As city staff assured me, I made it into council chambers intime for Dexel Development's…

HALIFAX - Expecting to scrounge for a seat after rolling into City Hall a few minutes late for Tuesday's public hearing on the highly anticipated redevelopment of Fenwick Tower — I was surprised to enter a half empty room. 25 persons, including two city councillors, one of whom was chairing the meeting, were sitting and listening to a computer animated voice describing the story so far.

This was an opportunity for citizens to speak their opinion — yea or nay — for Templeton Properties' application to amend the Halifax Municipal Planning Strategy and Halifax Peninsula Land Use Bylaw. If successful, mixed use development will be allowed on this downtown site.

Five people spoke up — three declared their support and two left us unsure of their standing. Those in favour expressed a need for "adventerous design" and "wow factor architecture" which they think this "pretty neat" development offers. As a neighbour to the Fenwick site myself, I gave a nod of support to any clever reuse of the current eyesore!

The other two speakers posed questions. Parking emerged as a hot topic consuming the bulk of the evening's discussion.  A nearby resident was concerned the…

HALIFAX - PechaKucha Nights are informal and fun gatherings where creative people get together and share their ideas, works, and thoughts — just about anything really. The idea behind PechaKucha is to have many people sharing their thoughts and work within the course of one night. Therefore the 20x20 PechaKucha format was created: 20 images + each shown for 20 seconds = 6 minutes 40 seconds per presenter + 14 presenters = 1 wild night.

The global PechaKucha family is coming together with Architecture for Humanity (AFH) to lend a hand in rebuilding Haiti and establishing long-term solutions. On February 20, the 276 cities that host PechaKucha events worldwide will converge to present one continuous 24-hour edition of PechaKucha Night. Kicking off at SuperDeluxe in Tokyo, where PechaKucha Night was first conceived seven years ago, the presentation wave will travel, crossing all times zones and cultures. The event will be streamed live online and then finish in Tokyo the following day.

It was too late for the team at Breakhouse Inc to re-organize and move this event to the 20th. But, Halifax will be participating by recording one of our local presenters and sending it to…