Most of the talk comes from people who have been here a while. As a relative newcomer blessed with newbie ignorance and free from the weight of history and patronage, I’d like to make some suggestions. So here, in a vacuum, is how I’d fix some things in Halifax:
How I'd Fix It - The Harbour
I've never understood why there are two ferries that run between Halifax and Dartmouth. A public transit ferry that costs $2.50 to ride and serves a small population base is bound to be a money suck. Furthermore the two Dartmouth terminals are 3.2 km away from each other. A connecting bus or bike ride would take ten minutes.
Sorry, that's less of a fix and more of a government waste rant (I use it on all my out of town visitors), I’ll try again.
How I'd Fix It - The Harbour
The harbour needs decorative lights on its two bridges. I've heard they used to be lit up at night but the government decided to flip the breaker and save somewhere around $50,000 a year.
It bums me out that there are no lights on these bridges, this is worth spending money on, it looks cool, it says, “hey, we're a big city.” To sweeten the deal, the lights could be a green energy initiative. They could be powered by an exercise bike pedalled by employees of the defunct harbour ferry. Less ferries, more lights, no jobs lost - lots of wins there.
How I'd Fix it - Spring Garden Road
I've been searching for a way to describe Spring Garden Road to people who haven't visited Halifax. The best I can do is this story from last week: I’m getting coffee in Tim Hortons when I see a commotion across the street - cops running, foot traffic at a stand still and somebody lying on the ground outside the Running Room.
It turns out the guy on the ground has been stabbed and the cops are fast on the scene chasing down the suspect on foot. Meanwhile, the stabbed guy is being attended to as a running group and somebody on an electric wheelchair (there's always an electric wheelchair in Halifax) look on. This is what Spring Garden is like. The demographics on this street are so varied that my brain prolapses if I attempt any categorization. It's like if you took, Kitsilano, Compton, a retirement home and a closed down psychiatric hospital and put them all on one narrow five block stretch of two lane road.
But minus the violent criminals, there’s nothing wrong with the people. The road itself is the problem; it’s slow and narrow and a magnet for douches driving chrome-flamed cars or street bikes that sound like a blender held up to a megaphone. Spring Garden should be closed to vehicles, the extra walking space would help with the sensory overload, and those drivers of symbolic penises could go kiss each other somewhere else.
How I'd Fix It - Citadel Hill
Another crash course for out of towners: Citadel Hill is a hill, a pretty good one too. It rises up right in the middle of town with grassy slopes and a great view of the harbour. It’s also a national historic site, but one without a cool story, not even by Canadian history standards.
From what I gather, Citadel Hill was a place where people were on the look out for intruders. But intruders never came. Every so often the fort would change hands, or they’d beef up the walls, but other than that Citadel Hill was just a place to watch out for bad guys. Any little kid who's built a fort has done the same on a smaller scale.
Other hills have meaning, Signal Hill - first transatlantic wireless signal. Plains of Abraham - blood stained and well … we still don't speak of it much. But Citadel Hill? - nobody's grandpa died on Citadel Hill. The fort is just a colourful nod to a boring past.
Fixing this is the easiest - shut it down and let anarchy reign, both in the human and natural world. Let trees grow from the turrets, it could be the Angkor Wat of the Atlantic, among the walls and old buildings there could be anything, graffiti, bike jumps, community gardens, a soccer pitch. Tourists and locals alike are bound to wander up there anyway, Free Citadel Hill!