UNRAVEL

By Trevor J. Adams

tadams@unravelhalifax.ca

Unravel HIGHLIGHTS

Road romance vs. planetary survival: Pauline Dakin takes a hard look at her love of the open road on page 66.

What we value

We can’t end winter, but we can, and should, do more to let Haligonians move freely around their city

As I sat down to write this column, Halifax got its first major snowfall of the season.

About 32 cm of snow fell. HRM suspends its sidewalk clearing standards at 30 cm (meaning plowing deadlines are extended), so more than 24 hours after the snow stopped falling, many sidewalks were still impassable.

Social-media active councillors faced their own blizzards, as people bombarded them with messages about pedestrians walking on roads cleared for cars, alongside snow-filled sidewalks. People described being housebound, forced to miss work and appointments.

As the most Twitter-active councillors, Waye Mason and Sam Austin took the heat. They posted about service standards and costs. Mason tweeted that “main street sidewalk and bus stops are by and large clear.” Readers responded with photos of snow-choked sidewalks and bus stops.

Discourse grew passionate. “I can’t eliminate winter,” Austin tweeted. “So it’s a question of what the reasonable time period is before we clear. You keep making an emotional appeal and I keep asking you the policy question.”

Of course, constituents don’t get paid to make policy.

If you rely on a car to get around, you might not see why this is a big deal. What’s a day or two of impassable sidewalks?

If you’re car-free, you already understand that periodically being housebound, or forced to walk in traffic and scrabble over snowbanks, is a nightmare. Your risk of falling or having a driver hit you goes up. If you use a wheelchair, many neighbourhoods become unreachable. Most people don’t have the freedom to take a couple days off work and cancel their appointments whenever it snows.

HRM’s frequently suspended sidewalk clearing standards send clear signals about who our government values. If you’re a motorist, you’re important. Within a few hours of clear skies, you can carry on with your life as normal.

If you’re not a motorist, your mobility isn’t as important. You lose your freedom for much longer.

The solutions aren’t complicated. Ensure sidewalks on key arteries are cleared at the same time as roads. Hold the contractors to stricter standards. Get better value for citizens.

These discussions always come down to money. And there is always money for the things government wants.

Last August, the police violently removed people from homeless encampments, most notably the one next to the old Spring Garden Road library. A Freedom of Information request by the NDP reveals that the operation involved 64 officers, and cost $50,000.

Was that great value for the money spent? Did it give anyone the freedom to go about their lives in this city, to work, go to appointments, and see loved ones?

Unravel NEWS

Renters won’t see a difference for a while, but more apartments and homes are coming. See what 2022 holds in Janet Whitman’s latest Housing Snapshot on page 20.

Unravel ONLINE

Nic Power was once Halifax’s top cop — but the truth about his storied career is more complicated. Read an excerpt from Bob Gordon’s new book The Bad Detective: unravelhalifax.ca/ book-excerpt-the-bad-detective

A full-colour guide to all things Cape Breton, for mainlanders and Capers alike!

IT’S TRACY & MARTINA, HUN!

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Help Give Back This Season

Saltbox Essential IPA, honouring our essential workers.

A portion of every can sale is donated to an essential organization.

Find it at all NSLC stores, pubs and restaurants throughout NS and of course Saltbox (Mahone Bay), King Street Beer (Bridgewater) and Lightship Brewery (Lunenburg) taprooms! 363 Main Street, Mahone Bay NS · saltboxbrewingcompany.ca GÖwe

VOL 02/ ISSUE 01 • DATE OF ISSUE: JANUARY 2022

PUBLISHER Fred Fiander • fredfiander@unravelhalifax.ca

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Crystal Murray • crystalmurray@unravelhalifax.ca

SENIOR EDITOR Trevor J. Adams • trevoradams@unravelhalifax.ca

CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Jodi DeLong • jodidelong@unravelhalifax.ca Janet Whitman • janetwhitman@unravelhalifax.ca

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ROBYN McNEIL is a Nova Scotian writer and editor. She lives in Halifax with an awesome teen, a mischievous cat, and a penchant for good stories, strong tea, cheeseburgers, yoga, graveyards, hammocks, gardening, gaming, herb, and hoppy beer.

BRUCE MURRAY has been creating food and lifestyle photography for more than 20 years in the Maritimes and in his original studio in Vancouver. visionfire.ca @VisionFire.

COLLEEN MACISAAC (they/ she) is an MFA candidate at NSCAD University and multidisciplinary artist working across theatre, illustration, comics, performance, animation, graphic design, media arts, and drawing. littlefoible.net KAT FRICK MILLER is an artist based in Kjipuktuk/Dartmouth. Her illustrated works include the 2021 short film Last Fish, First Boat and the 2018 illustrated book If I Had an Old House on the East Coast.

JANET WHITMAN Contributing editor Janet Whitman is a city- and nature-loving journalist who divides her time between Halifax and her cottage on the Northumberland Shore. She’s happiest digging in the dirt, picking up a hammer, or messing around in the kitchen. AMEETA VOHRA is a news and sports writer with work published throughout North America. Her Halifax Magazine story “Thunderstruck” was a 2020 Atlantic Journalism Awards silver medallist.

PAULINE DAKIN is a journalist, professor of journalism at the University of King’s College, and the award-winning author of Run, Hide, Repeat: A Memoir of a Fugitive Childhood. BROOKLYN CONNOLLY is a freelance journalist based in Halifax. She’s the 2021 recipient of the Investintech – CAJ data journalism scholarship, and has written for the CBC, the Guardian (U.S.), the Chronicle Herald, and the Nova Scotia Advocate, among others.

MARIANNE SIMON is a writer and subeditor and has published many children’s stories, articles and poems in magazines and newspapers. Her interests include teaching and conducting Englishconversation classes.

KATIE INGRAM is a freelance writer, author, and journalism instructor based in Halifax. ALEC BRUCE is an awardwinning journalist whose bylines regularly appear in major Canadian and American publications. He is completing a master of fine arts (2022) in creative nonfiction at the University of King’s College in Halifax.

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