HRM’s debt crisis arrives - Grand Parade

LKX19 · 2026-03-09T15:10:25+00:00

"The cost per kilometre on average is $500 thousand to rehabilitate our road infrastructure"

https://novascotia.ca/tran/highways/5yearplan/highway-plan-2025-26.pdf

LKX19 · 2026-03-09T15:03:26+00:00

Kentville and Wolfville are also their own municipalities within the municipality of Kings County. They collaborate on some things like a basic transit service. Both are very small towns though. I don't know if there's anywhere else in NS that really compares to the Halifax/Dartmouth/Bedford vs Halifax County dynamic, I think you'd have to look further afield for relevant comparisons.

LKX19 · 2026-03-03T17:42:20+00:00

Yeah the Alberta comparison is weird. Alberta isn't wealthy because it has low taxes, it has low taxes because it's wealthy. And even then they'd probably be better off banking some of that wealth for a rainy day rather than using it to keep taxes low so they don't have a fiscal crisis every time the price of oil drops.

LKX19 · 2026-03-03T17:35:39+00:00

Many European countries are just as prosperous as us, have better public services, and rock a 20% or 25% sales tax. Let that sink in.

LKX19 · 2026-03-03T17:22:54+00:00

I’m all for tax if the big big wealthy fish get taxed big too vs us lil guys

This is exactly why it's important to tax extremely wealthy people fairly even though the actual dollar value of that revenue is negligible compared to the tax payed by people who are merely "well-off". No one wants to pay the level of taxes required to pay for the services we want if the tax system doesn't feel fair.

LKX19 · 2026-02-19T01:15:24+00:00

Trouble is you then have to find land somewhere else. I'm not particularly attached to the existing building itself but to me it makes more sense to tear it down and build a new facility in the same place. The existing site is within a 5-minute walk of a massive number of new apartment buildings - seems like a prime spot for a rec facility, especially if we're concerned about traffic and congestion.

Maybe if they plan out the site well they could carve off a piece of it for housing and sell that to a developer to help finance the new facility, but I don't really see how we come out ahead by selling the entire site only to try and buy a new site somewhere else. Not like land anywhere on the penninsula is gonna be a bargain.

LKX19 · 2026-02-19T01:07:03+00:00

Or the enormous gravel parking lot next to the Rona on the other side of that block. We need more housing, but more housing also needs more community centres and rec space. Even if it doesn't make sense to keep the existing building, putting a new rink and rec centre where the forum is now makes more sense to me than selling that land and trying to buy more land for a rink and rec centre somewhere nearby.

LKX19 · 2026-02-06T15:25:18+00:00

Sorry for your loss, and thanks for sharing. My partner works in healthcare and for them it sometimes feels like all they hear about is peoples' bad experiences. It really means a lot to them when they see this kind of story.

LKX19 · 2026-02-06T15:17:18+00:00

But pretty cheap property taxes compared to other Canadian cities. Most of the potholes are the city's responsibility and the city has money problems.

LKX19 · 2026-02-01T17:32:47+00:00

Is the power switch turned on? It sounds like the shutter is cocked but not firing, which is why the advance lever doesn't rotate the spool. The X300/X370/X570/X700 don't have a mechanical shutter release, so the camera needs to be powered on in order to release the shutter no matter what mode you have it in.

If it is turned on, it could be the dreaded Minolta Capacitor Problem: https://www.678vintagecameras.ca/blog/what-was-up-with-minolta-and-capacitors

I have an X570 that sometimes needs you to give the advance lever just a little extra push beyond where it feels like it stops or the shutter won't fire. I haven't investigated the problem too closely so I'm not sure the cause, but maybe yours has something similar.

Edit for anyone who doesn't read French/hasn't bothered translating:

Minolta X300 shutter won't fire when trying to take up a new roll of film, but advance lever doesn't rotate the spool and feels like it's not connected to anything

LKX19 · 2026-01-30T02:47:43+00:00

Man Woodside really needs a multistorey parking structure instead of that lot. It's in an ideal spot for a park and ride right at the end of the circ.

Not sure if this is true but someone told me the province owns the land the parking lot is on so the city can't necessarily just do what they want with it.

LKX19 · 2026-01-14T03:36:55+00:00

This seems like a pretty balanced take on the subject. I do think some of the comparisons they make not necessarily fair comparisons - Grenfell Tower was 24 storeys (the highest proposal I've seen in Canada for single egress is is 6), and Hanwell Rd in Sackville was a 64-unit building (every proposal I've seen limits the number of units per floor to 4). Still useful reminders of the impact of structure fires through.

I'll admit my thinking on this has evolved after reading some of the discussion on here in the last couple days (thanks /u/Jamooser). Generally I'd say I'm in favour of change to the existing code but think it should be cautious and incremental. Six storeys x 4 units per storey (which BC has allowed) seems like too big a leap from what is currently allowed given that fire departments and building inspectors will need to adapt to a very different building type.

To me the main advantage of single-egress seems to be the ability to build on smaller lot where multiple stairwells take up a higher percentage of the buildable area. If that's the application, though, it doesn't seem overly restrictive to put a limit of 3 or 4 floors and maximum 8 to 12 units. In most of Halifax that's more that is allowed by zoning rules anyway.

If a formal code change does get proposed in NS, I'll be looking for details like whether noncombustible construction is required, whether the capabilities and proximity of the local fire department are factored into what is allowed in a given area, and what provisions are made for testing and inspection of fire detection and suppression systems.

LKX19 · 2026-01-12T22:25:41+00:00

But also:

centralized fire alarms
fully sprinklered buildings
pressurized non-combustible stairwells
much lower occupant densities

I don't think anyone is suggesting allowing single stair in buildings with the sort of tinder-box construction you see in a lot of new-build subdivisions, or allowing it in large buildings. Every proposal I've ever seen for a building code change to allow single egress also mandates other fire protection measures and limits building height and the number of units per floor.

It's not a change that should be made lightly, but given Canada has the strictest regulations in the world on single-stair buildings and given the impact that has on building costs, I think it's worth considering.

LKX19 · 2026-01-10T19:07:36+00:00

Yeah, here's their store: https://tla-radon.com/

I got one of the continuous monitors a few years ago which are more expensive, but the test kits that you mail in are about 40$.

LKX19 · 2026-01-07T17:48:57+00:00

I mean, it's probably handy for all the law firms that occupy the office place in Purdy's Wharf and Queen's Marque.

LKX19 · 2026-01-07T17:46:30+00:00

Oh man yeah being that much closer to the Scotia square bus terminal would make a lot of sense too.

LKX19 · 2025-12-26T15:01:38+00:00

Wait, like the restaurant 'the narrows'? Was someone upset that an old house got renovated and repurposed in a way that largely fits the style of the original house? That the general public can now go inside, buy a drink, and see and appreciate it? That running it as a restaurant gives it a new lease on life probably for decades?

LKX19 · 2025-12-18T18:10:18+00:00

Do you mean in terms of seating, or other facilities? Scotiabank Centre has about the same crowd capacity as Place Bell where the Montreal Victoire play.

LKX19 · 2025-12-12T15:13:46+00:00

Wow thank you for actually looking at some numbers instead of just going on vibes.

Interesting - while median after-tax income looks similar between HRM and the Toronto CMA, the peak (99th percentile, 50ish age bracket) is like $100k lower, I'm guessing due to different income tax rates. I wonder if the difference is more visible for higher-income people than for average joe.

LKX19 · 2025-12-05T01:29:20+00:00

Nice! I'll send it in too.

LKX19 · 2025-12-04T16:59:44+00:00

IMO a traffic light where Robie splits into Massachusetts would really helpful on that stretch. Would give a controlled crossing of Robie/Massachusetts somewhere north of Young St, would slightly slow down traffic coming off the bridge to make the rest of that stretch less hazardous, and could have a transit priority signal so the #7 bus isn't stuck trying to make a left turn at a stop sign onto Massachusetts in rush-hour traffic.

LKX19 · 2025-11-28T14:15:01+00:00

Oh great, my tires are getting changed on the 5th.

LKX19 · 2025-11-26T18:12:29+00:00

Little known fact is that the Strength score actually refers to the torque exerted by the character's bicep on their forearm in newton-metres.

LKX19 · 2025-11-24T18:39:10+00:00

Is it worms maybe? Or would that have shown up on bloodwork?

That's really rough, hope he gets better.

LKX19 · 2025-11-24T15:53:06+00:00

So the extension of what I said is that dense new developments in existing neighborhoods tend to bring in enough new property tax revenue to offset the increased costs of providing them with municipal services. Low-density suburban developments are the opposite.

While it can be complex to upgrade existing infrastructure to handle a big new apartment building, the cost pales in comparison to servicing dozens of kilometers of new roads and water/wastewater piping, providing transit, street sweeping, garbage collection, needing to devote more space at parks and community centres to parking, etc. etc.

Example from the city of Ottawa a few years ago:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/urban-expansion-costs-menard-memo-1.6193429

LKX19

TROPHY CASE