Photo by John McCarthy, member of the Spacing Atlantic flickr pool. HALIFAX - Voter apathy and low turnout are not uniquely Haligonian challenges. We are mired in a democracy-crippling race to the bottom, with the federal election in 2008 reaching record-low turnout at 59.1%. In the province’s summer-2009 election, so eagerly anticipated and vigorously discussed, voter turnout was another record low for the province: 57.95%. Turnout of two in three people, however, would be a victory for HRM’s municipal elections. During the 2008 election, the result of which shaped HRM's current council, only one in three of us rocked the vote, and the sitting council was elected by a measly turnout of 36.3%. In the past month, the results of two surveys on council size and performance have been released. The first finds a fairly even split between those who are satisfied and dissatisfied with council (if 1 to 5 is dissatisfied, and 6 to 10 satisfied), with a majority indicating dissatisfaction with the Mayor, and 56% preferring a reduction in council size. The second finds that 83% of Haligonians prefer a smaller council, and of those, 62% prefer a council of 15 or fewer councillors. The results of the first survey are misleading. The same questionnaire found that 81% of respondents voted in the last election; compare that number with the 36.3% of registered voters who actually voted. These results suggest one of two cases: either respondents claimed they voted when they didn’t or they don’t comprise a random sample of Haligonians.

What information would you need to solve the problems and nuisances of city life? Because if you live in San Francisco, you can probably find it. As reported by Fast Company, with the mid-2009 launch of DataSF.org, Bay-area Californians can now pour over information on everything from parking spaces to local fires, from water quality at beaches to the demographics of city employees. Not only is the information freely available, it is also posted in formats that can be read by computers. And if computers can manipulate the data, it can be handily whittled into city-enhancing iPhone apps. The trend toward urban open-data initiatives is flourishing. Examples abound suggesting that by providing constituents with the raw material to address concerns and irritations of city living, they will find ways of shaping it into tools that can alleviate the cost needed to resolve them internally. San Francisco's initiative, for example, has resulted in at least 30 apps on everything from crime rates to recycling facilities.

HALIFAX- It's that time again... time for Halifax Chebucto's shareholders (us!) to weigh in on how Howard Epstein and his NDP have been representing our riding. Featured speakers for the evening include the Ecology Action Centre's Jen Powley and Mark Lasanowski (also a Spacing Atlantic contributor). As the Sustainable Transportation Coordinator and the Transportation Issues Committee Chair for the centre, respectively, they will be addressing issues regarding transportation and the environment, as they pertain to Halifax, and discussing possible solutions. Megan Leslie, Halifax's Member of Parliament, will ...

HALIFAX - On Thursday, March 25, the Chronicle Herald and the Greater Halifax Partnership presented a sold-out luncheon talk by Carol Coletta, CEO of CEOs for Cities, on the topic of cities as engines of economic prosperity. CEOs for Cities describes itself as “a national cross-sector network of urban leaders from the civic, business, academic and philanthropic sectors dedicated to building and sustaining the next generation of great American cities”, and Ms. Coletta undoubtedly demonstrates a forward-thinking and conscientious approach to urban issues. She compellingly challenged Richard Florida’s assertions on the economic value of art in cities and rhymed off statistics with the familiarity of someone who obviously crunched the numbers herself. Greatly to her credit, Ms. Coletta had clearly done her homework on Halifax; she was well aware of the region’s post-secondary institutions and it was news to me that Halifax represents 46% of Nova Scotia’s GDP.

HALIFAX - Life in a post-amalgamation world. This seemingly perpetual challenge lingered in the realm of subtext during Wednesday night's public meeting on Halifax Regional Municipality's Governance and District Boundary Review. Poised for completion by Dec 2010, the Review aims to assess and improve our municipal governance structure, looking primarily at the number of electoral districts; their size and boundaries; and the size, number, and scope of power of Community Councils. What this really means: how many councillors should make up Regional Council, what population of HRMers each councillor should represent, and how the geographic structure of their governing authority might shift. Chaired by Mayor Peter Kelly, Wednesday's meeting— the fifth of seven meetings taking place across Community Councils through mid-March — gave HRM residents and representatives of the business community the opportunity to voice their opinions, musings, and concerns about the current governance structure and make a case for change.

HALIFAX - Leading up to the 2012 election, The Governance & Boundary Review Committee of Council is undertaking a review of the polling districts and boundaries, hoping to address key questions around how Council can work better for HRM citizens. The first of the public meetings took place last night, with six more to follow across the different HRM districts through March 10th. Discussion topics include the size of electoral districts, the role of district councillors, and the decision-making power and size of Community Councils and ...

[caption id="attachment_2901" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="Map of Halifax Commons in 1931 linked to Point Pleasant Park by Tower Road"][/caption] HALIFAX - If you look it up on Google Maps, Canada’s oldest urban park, the Halifax Common hugs the western skirt of Citadel Hill. It’s shown as two triangular patches of green space — North and Central — divided by a yellow line that is Cogswell Street. The city seems to stop at its edges on all sides: Cunard, Robie, North Park Streets, and Bell Road define its present day boundaries as it sits sheltered by the Citadel from the east. Halifax’s early beginnings though, tell a different tale — there was also a South Commons — and that story can be read through the urban fabric that exists today. It’s fun to be an urban sleuth — reading the physical city for windows back in time. Cities themselves can often tell the story if we’re willing to squint and read between the lines. The Commons (as it is locally known) began as a much larger piece of land, a swath of open space ‘for common use’ that cut north-south across the peninsula reaching to the edge of what is now Saint Mary’s University. As our biggest public room in the city, The Commons is lined with buildings, tall and short, and anchored by the Citadel from the east. You may think that there is a very clear edge to its domain on all sides, but the public and institutional spaces found a little further south challenge that boundary and show us hints into our city’s past.

CHARLOTTETOWN - When the Charlottetown folks involved with SpacingAtlantic got together late last year, we decided to engage in some good old fashioned brain-storming to get the creative juices flowing.  What transpired was a wonderful, engaging session full of optimism and pride in the city most of us called home.  At the end of our two hour session, it was clear to many of us that if Charlottetown was going to change, a new climate of openness and transparency would have to emerge. There are two keys to an open and transparent democracy -- information and accountability.  One of the greatest criticisms of our democratically elected government is the premise that we can only hold them accountable once every four years.  The inability to sway the direction of political policy, without the benefit of money, either promised or proven, has disenfranchised the younger electorate.  Without accountability nobody can fail, but, more importantly, nobody can succeed.  Building accountability is essential, but letting governments hold themselves accountable is a recipe for disaster. In order to hold elected officials accountable, we have to know what they are doing, and whom they are doing it with.  If politics are conducted in the back rooms of historic restaurants, in hushed whispers, or in the case of PEI, in clandestine meetings in Victoria Park, the perception continues that politicians are above, or perhaps better positioned, below the law.  The problem extends beyond simple political negotiations or funding scandals.  The root of the issue is access to information, sans the redacted documents so common to the Access to Information Act.  Enter the open data movement. (Yes, I linked to Wikipedia --- get over it!)