In this podcast Grand Parade's city hall reporter Matt Stickland recaps what went down at city hall last week.

There's a development on a heritage property, Halifax is making slow progress police reform thanks to an unlikely hero.

And there's also a pop quiz!

We trust you can find any legislation yourself, and if you can't, you should be able to, but otherwise here are the sources mentioned in the show:

https://timharford.com/2023/07/cautionary-tales-the-v2-trilogy/

https://www.smithsonianbooks.com/store/aviation-military-history/the-rocket-and-the-reich-peenemunde-and-the-coming-of-the-ballistic-missile-era/

https://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/f229e86a-a3f0-4899-9631-71335f654f79/content

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0094119020300899

https://news.mit.edu/2021/ride-sharing-intensifies-urban-road-congestion-0423

https://nextcity.org/urbanist-news/ride-hailing-makes-road-congestion-worse-study-finds-again

https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/news/uber-lyft-traffic-congestion-car-ownership-study/

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0959652621042694

In this episode a recap of everything that happened last week. Can you tell that I'm writing this blurb too late on a Sunday? Yes, probably.

For more info about city hall, head over to www.grandparade.news

To follow Matt on Social media, find him @landofsticks

Tootles

Halifax council’s budget meeting on monday March 24th was a stinker, quite literally, and also because council almost voted to make Halifax’s poorest people just a little hungrier because of how Canadian governments divvied up their power and responsibilities. But the good news is that your odds of dying in a fire are going to decrease slightly in the next few years, probably. Still, the bad news is that your taxes in five years are going to be astronomically expensive. You’re not going to get better programs and services for those crazy high taxes because that money will have to go to debt because this council just can’t stop themselves from making terrible fiscal decisions.

It's the second intermission of the budget playoffs and a lot happened in Friday's debate. Council approved an armoured personnel carrier, the central library got it's reserves cut and council avoided making a terrible cut. All that and more in this budget playoffs' second intermission update!

In this episode of the Grand Parade Matt flys solo to update folks on the future of the podcast and the future of Halifax's budget.

The wait is over, it's finally here budget season started on Wednesday. In this episode Matt and Martin dive into what's being going on at city hall from strategic plans, to Windsor street exchange and of course, the start of budget season.

It's been a busy start to the new year with with a few big ticket events for the hosts Matt Stickland and Martin Baumen to break down.

The Board of Police Commissioners meeting on Wednesday, December 8th, was one of the best meetings in HRM's recent history, which included five little piggies and some light-hearted civil disobedience.

Matt's been doing a lot of research into road safety and tells Martin all about how much liability the city might have been putting itself in for the past few decades.

Also, in this episode, a Grand Parade exclusive: Did Andy Fillmore think he would win the vote to de-designate encampments? And a debute of our new segment, Question Period.

In this episode of the Grand Parade Matt and Martin look back at the past two weeks in municipal politics and answer some hard hitting questions like: Will transit ever get better in this city? How do you cook a crow? And is there any point to the city's advisory committees?

Plus, we also have a new show format! Except for the any other business segment at the end your listening experience should be largely unchanged but we'd like any feedback if you have any. Please send it to matt@thecoast.ca

At long last Coast reporter Martin is back after his paternity leave and he joins Coast city hall reporter Matt Stickland to catch up on everything he'd missed since being out.

In this episode, the two talk about how the council is shaping up three meetings into their term. Which councillors are making mistakes? Who's looking promising?

The conversation then turns to the HRM's committees and the upcoming budget season. Matt explains why he's mostly optimistic about the city's future, even if some shakey debate performances have sown some early seeds of doubt.

All of that plus traffic planning, boomer assumptions and sneaky good provincial legislation in this first episode of Season 2 of the Grand Parade

After an impromptu summer break the Grand Parade is back! Host Matt Stickland sits down with the owner of Atlantic New Chris Greene to talk about how to interview candidates for the upcoming fall election.

Chris will be sitting down the candidates of District 7 to interview them and find out who would be the best candidate for his district and wanted to advice.

Happy to oblige, Matt explains how he and The Coast are vetting candidates for the fall election.

There are two types of people in this world. There are people who think that headline is needlessly dramatic, and then there are people who understand risk management. The Coast has covered risk management extensively since Halifax’s Auditor General released his scathing indictments of the city’s Risk Management Team, but this is one of those things that just can’t be talked about enough until the issues are fixed. 

In this episode of the Grand Parade, Matt talks through his research to date from a 2014 Halifax Transit oil spill to today. The conversation covers the big things like Halifax’s risk management team being the wrong people for the job to the minutia, like taxing under-utilized parking lots near transit terminals. 

The long and short of it is that this city is not taking Risk Management seriously, and your future is in jeopardy in the most boring possible way. The next crop of councillors needs to do a better job of addressing these risks, which means we need to do a better job of vetting them when they come to our doors. This, unfortunately, requires you to consume the civic education version of your least favourite vegetable and gain a baseline understanding of what risk management is and how it affects your life. You can do this by listening to the latest episode of the Grand Parade here.

Short one this week as the Board of Police Commissioners meeting was cancelled.

In this week's episode, The Coast's Matt Stickland and Martin Bauman discuss HRM staff's eyebrow-raising plans for redesigning the Windsor Street Exchange while making transit worse, plus how councillors aren't using the powers they have at their disposal.

Also, if you have any issues you want Matt to look into for the upcoming municipal election please email them to hfxvotes2024@thecoast.ca

In this week’s episode, The Coast’s Matt Stickland and Martin Bauman discuss HRM council’s unanimous passing of federally-prompted zoning reforms and how that will shape the city to come. Plus, Halifax has an emergency response… emergency… and the region’s transportation plans still don’t make sense.

In this week’s episode of The Grand Parade podcast, Coast reporters Matt Stickland and Martin Bauman chat with economist Deny Sullivan about Halifax’s HAF blunders and why a labour shortage isn’t to blame for the city’s housing crisis. Plus, they delve into Halifax’s deferred plans to abandon its Strategic Road Safety Framework in favour of a new plan that is worse than the old one.

In this edition of the Grand Parade Matt tells Martin all about his interview with Halifax's CAO Cathie O'Toole and director of the Department of Public Works Brad Anguish. Matt explains why this interview left him feeling a bit like a Philadelphia 76ers fan circa 2013.

After a break, Matt gives each councillor a rating for their performance during Halifax's budget season

In this episode of the Grand Parade the boys take a break from the budget as Matt grapples with learning new information about the city's transportation planning.

In this episode Coast reporters Matt Stickland and Martin Bauman give 110% as they reach into their bag of sports metaphors to talk about municipal politics in a podcast of two halves.

In the first half, Matt gives Martin the lowdown on the civil unrest growing in rural parts of the HRM. Also a look into the frustrating parts of municipal planning.

Not to be all doom and gloom, in the second half, Martin learns about all the genuinely good things taking shape for Halifax's future.

In this episode Matt and Martin talk about public safety: the JustFOOD program and police reform. This show notes are abridged due to budget season.

In this episode of the Grand Parade Matt and Martin talk about stories Matt is working on.

The Macdonald bike connection is moving forward, but there are some issues with the design, and how the design came to be in the first place.

After the ad break, Matt pitches a test for local government to see if they're ready to respond to the climate emergency.

The New Year always comes with the worst hangovers, doesn’t it? When HRM council resumes on Tuesday, Jan. 9, Halifax’s councillors will be confronted once again with a thorny problem: How to dig the region out of a $68.7 million deficit that no-one on council seems to know how to wriggle out from under. (That is, without taking a popularity hit by raising taxes or cutting key services.)

In this week’s episode of The Grand Parade, Coast city hall reporter Matt Stickland presents two paths for council to consider—both of which would add millions back to the city’s coffers, he argues, if only councillors could stomach the blowback they’d face. Coast reporter Martin Bauman wonders if the same issues plaguing Canada’s inability to build high-speed rail are what hinders the HRM from making meaningful—and swift—strides toward its goals.

And what’s a New Year without a sprinkling of hope? The two talk about why the HRM has real reason for optimism—and what platform priorities they’ll be paying attention to in the next municipal election.

In this episode, Coast reporters Matt Stickland and Martin Bauman talk about Halifax's budget crunch, why Trish Purdy wants to cut back on the HRM's annual spending on vehicles and why the region is broke. The police budget looks like it'll resemble last year's—what does that mean? Also: Matt gushes about trains.

Hey folks, bit of a lighter show notes this week because I've done a bonus show and had to put a newspaper to bed.

See ya next week, don't forget to grab a copy of the first issue of the paper this week at Atlantic News in Halifax and The Dart Gallery in Dartmouth

In this episode, Matt and Martin meet In Halifax Central Library to discuss what the city's budget process will look like this year. Thanks to a motion from councillor Tim Outhit this budget might be the first budget that the city passes in line with its strategic priorities.

Also covered in this meeting, the potential of the Board of Police Commissioner's new budget process. Martin also asks Matt about the new study he's one of the authors of, and Matt discovers Martin rode his bike really, really far one time.

Municipal engineer Paul Young has a vision for a “major behavioural change” within Halifax: Converting all urban speed limits in the HRM to 30 kilometres per hour. The reason? Not just to lower the likelihood of deadly collisions, which findings resoundingly show drop off significantly compared to 50km/h, but to cut back on things like traffic noise and pollution while promoting healthier, less costly alternatives. On Thursday, Nov. 16, Young gave his “Slow the Blazes Down” presentation to the HRM’s Active Transportation Advisory Committee, of which he is a member. The bummer, as Coast city hall reporter Matt Stickland tells fellow Coast reporter Martin Bauman, is that as good—and necessary—as Young’s traffic suggestion is, the political will to make it a reality appears to be about as hard to find in Halifax as a bike lane on Quinpool Road. Or Chebucto. Or Connaught. Or Robie. Or… well, you get the point.Why is it so hard for the HRM to implement the kinds of changes it purports to want? What do John Lohr and Bill 137 have to do with it? Should we be more like Wales? And is Matt still thinking about Otago Drive? Matt and Martin discuss all the above in the latest episode of The Grand Parade, plus detour into the Board of Police Commissioners’ latest meeting, why the HRM is broke and what the region would look like if it was run by US marines.

In this episode, Matt and Martin talk at great length about Otego Drive (https://maps.app.goo.gl/4VNHawhGx99YwVrr6) and what that little street can teach us about the dangers presented to us by our local government in the face of this climate emergency.

In this Grand Parade episode, Coast reporters Matt Stickland and Martin Bauman dive into the HRM's Integrated Mobility Plan and what it secretly not-so-secretly suggests: Maybe Halifax would've been better off had the province not amalgamated the region in 1996?

Matt fills Martin in on why John Lohr's housing power play is a recipe for abuse—if not by the current housing minister, then by his eventual successor.

Also, the two discuss one of the biggest cracks in the foundation of the HRM's governance: Really bad minutes. That's right: Minutes.

In this week’s episode of The Grand Parade, Coast reporters Matt Stickland and Martin Bauman discuss Halifax’s Integrated Mobility Plan, and Matt convinces Martin that it’s already dead. Why? Because of the way the HRM sets its budget. Plus, the two detour onto the subjects of roads, and whether the provincial government’s plans to spend more than $1 billion to expand its highways* should qualify as an investment. (It shouldn’t. And it’s making Nova Scotia poorer.) Three cheers for the sunk-cost fallacy!*Yes, the money is also earmarked for bridges and ferry services. But mostly roads.

TKSHOWNOTES

Matt and Martin are back to walk through the council's antics from last Tuesday's meeting. Was council's reaction just theatrics? Do they bear more responsibility than they know? Matt thinks so.

There's also discussion about the end of the pizza wars, some transit critiques and building in flood zones. Unlike your boss, sometimes we even give you a bonus!

Warning to Wanderer Ground listeners who (like me) get annoyed at hearing the same thing over again, Matt (also me) repeats an anecdote, that lasts about a minute. Sorry!

In this epidsode of the Grand Parade Matt catches Martin up on all of things that have and have not been happening at city hall over the summer.

The two talk about last week's council meeting where Shawn Cleary tried to make the housing crisis worse, and Dave Reage's lack of answers on tap pay.

All that and more in this week's episode

During the live Grand Parade recording, two listeners asked what Matt thought Olivia Chow's election as mayor of Toronto would mean for the city. The answers on the day of the live show were lacking, so we went and found an expert.

In this episode of The Grand Parade, host Matt brings on a fellow City Hall reporter named Matt—Matt Elliott of City Hall Watcher in Toronto. The two Matts spend an hour in the weeds of municipal politics comparing their respective city halls. One Matt explains how his city is getting tap-pay for transit in a few days, and the other Matt explains how his city forces parking into areas that are zoned without parking minimums.

You can find Matt Elliot's reporting over at cityhallwatcher.com

TK SHOWNOTES

I suspect most people don't usually read the show notes, but if you're here for the study, scroll down. If you're here for information in this episode Matt Stickland, recaps council and goes deep into the weeds of Halifax's Bus Rapid Transit Plan.

Here's the promised study: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1361920919314026?via%3Dihub

Take heed of the old phrase, “Be careful what you wish for.” Back in 2005, when Nova Scotia introduced its Capped Assessment Program, the stated goal was to keep seniors and families in their homes that might otherwise have been priced out. The solution of the day was to limit property tax increases to no more than the annual inflation rate. It sounds considerate—and indeed, it worked. But then the price of homes in Halifax rocketed to the moon, and nothing has ever been the same. On this week’s Grand Parade podcast, writer Deny Sullivan joins Coast reporters Matt Stickland and Martin Bauman to discuss the unintended consequences of the cap—namely, how it has led to some mansions being under-taxed by $3 million, and how it has also shielded investment property owners with multiple homes from paying more for their additional assets. Sullivan proposes what he describes as “The Perfect Tax Hike”: A way to return $100 million to the HRM annually.

After Sullivan leaves, a round of up council's mistakes and answering listener questions with this map (map only available on the linked story)

In this episode Matt and Martin head to the Central Library to do a live show on a Tuesday night.

They talk about the regional plan review, the upcoming carbon tax, and then answer audience questions after the add break in the last half of the episode.

In this episode of The Grand Parade podcast, Coast reporters Matt Stickland and Martin Bauman reflect on the harsh lessons learned from the Tantallon wildfire—including how the HRM was warned about the risks of a scenario like this 20 years ago. Matt educates Martin on as-of-right development, and how it enabled the suburbs around Halifax to grow with little oversight for disaster preparedness. The two discuss the ramifications of Northern Pulp’s closure on the province’s forests and the aftermath of Hurricane Fiona, as well as what the events of last week bode for the HRM’s future—and how to find hope and agency amid the spectre of industry-fuelled climate change.

Full list of works cited/referenced by Matt (and Martin) except for the 2003 report, which will be added to this list once the story I'm working on is done.

https://www.thecoast.ca/news-opinion/how-a-simple-poll-about-snow-explains-atrocities-30116345

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/wildfires-in-northern-alberta-visible-sign-of-annual-spring-dip-1.5135449

https://www.safeco.com/blog/new-construction-fire-risk

https://www.firefightingincanada.com/proper-protection-10994/

https://www.thecoast.ca/news-opinion/halifax-beefs-up-fire-spending-in-musquodoboit-30395147

https://www.thecoast.ca/news-opinion/the-suburbs-are-a-ponzi-scheme-29827137

https://usa.streetsblog.org/2015/03/05/sprawl-costs-the-public-more-than-twice-as-much-as-compact-development/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/03/10/amazon-library-ebook-monopoly/

https://halifax.citynews.ca/2023/06/01/firefighters-from-u-s-south-africa-to-battle-canadas-unprecedented-fires/

https://www.halifaxexaminer.ca/morning-file/officials-have-known-for-years-about-the-wildfire-risks-in-tantallon/

https://ideas.ted.com/truth-about-coffee-impact-on-environment-planet/

https://library.bsl.org.au/jspui/bitstream/1/2039/1/Exploring%20the%20impacts%20of%20social%20isolation.pdf

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jan/22/irish-council-rural-drink-driving

https://www.pdcnet.org/ijap/content/ijap_1984_0002_0001_0001_0021

https://climatetippingpoints.info/2019/10/14/fact-check-will-2c-of-global-warming-trigger-rapid-runaway-feedbacks/

https://www.thecoast.ca/news-opinion/the-politics-of-imagination-29123006

https://www.cbc.ca/listen/cbc-podcasts/209-front-burner/episode/15989275-as-fires-rage-canada-urged-to-get-on-war-footing

https://repurpose.global/blog/post/why-is-most-plastic-not-recycled

https://committeetrawler.ca/2020/12/08/behind-the-plastic-bag-ban/

https://www.commondreams.org/news/carbon-capture-utilization-tax-credit

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/science/many-of-worlds-poorest-countries-are-the-least-polluting-but-the-most-climate-vulnerable-heres-what-they-want-at-cop27

https://www.amazon.ca/High-Cost-Free-Parking-Updated/dp/193236496X

https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/634461/paved-paradise-by-henry-grabar/

https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/g-11.55/

https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/38180

https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/40819222

https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/the-shelburne-race-riots

In this episode Matt and Martin talk mainly about cars and apartments.

The first bit of the episode is devoted to Matt telling Martin how foreign policy theory can explain why our streets suck.

Then in the last half of the episode Matt puts on his red hat and tried to exploit the new short term rental legislation. Spoiler alert: he may have found a new loop hole.

The depressing topics have lighthearted interludes this week since EPAs are on strike, the show also featured a return of it's special guest co-host who's five years old.

In this episode Matt and Martin go over a climactic end to the budget season as council sticks it themselves. They passed a climate tax and a carbon subsidy in what is a very confusing budget.

Matt also gets emotional talking about the lack of RCMP accountability and the boys dive into what policing could look like in the HRM in the future.

Also, if you're one of the 10 keeners who got the wrong episode, very sorry about that. This should be the right one.

In this episode Martin and Matt break down the budget, the land lord registry and talk about parking. Again. Arts editor Morgan Mullin comes on to tell us how cool the city is and then the boys talks about the upcoming Wanderer's season.

Can you dunk on Matt? In this episode Martin has the full city budget adjustment list in front of him, and Matt only has a mic. Did he screw up?

Also in this episode we picture a world in which High School Hockey can be a utopia

This week Matt and Martin talk budget at city hall. It was a big few weeks so the two try and walk us through some big budget talks. Matt is joined later in the episode by Morgan Mullin, arts editor, who talks through what's happening to the arts scene and it's lack of funding in the city.

Matt and Martin also tease some big news about a local sports team.

In this Episode Matt is joined by Co-worker Martin Bauman and the two talk about city council, budget season, the police commissioners breaking the law and UK rap music from the early 00s.

The Coast's city hall reporter Matt Stickland is joined by his fellow Coast reporter Martin Bauman and Halifax resident Ben MacLeod. They talk bike lane cost overruns and budget season.

Bit of a light week at city hall and since I forgot it was Good Friday, a bit of a lighter episode.

Councillor Janet Steele is trying to get the city to protect and create more heritage districts. Councillor Cathy Deagle Gammon is trying to remove parking spots in land use bylaws because toddlers don't drive cars.

All of that and a deep dive into the difference between Halifax's transportation planning and that of the Dutch.

Here's a link to the YouTube video referenced in the podcast: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpo98dhpgZI&t=2s

Please consider becoming a paid subscriber over at www.grandparade.news.

Morning fellow Haligonians! Today's episode I have on my co-workers Kaija Jussinoja and Martin Bauman. We talk about how councillors clapped back at Dalhousie, and how Amazon owns the internet. I also talked to Peterborough Currents (@PTBO_Currents) reporter Brett Throop about his city's failed attempt to help it's unhoused citizens

This week Matt is joined by guests Hannah Bing and Jenn Lee to talk about policy changes, World Juniors, the lack of oversight for police and adult equivalent units.

This week Matt has returning guest Stephen and new guest Paul on to talk communism, austerity and pizzacornergate.

In the Coast's inaugural episode host and Coast reporter, Matt Stickand is joined by guests Ben MacLeod and Steve MacKay to talk about everything that council passed, cops being bad at their jobs, and Spring Garden sucking for anyone but drivers