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  #81  
Old Posted Sep 16, 2010, 3:01 PM
macgregor macgregor is offline
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From the Chronicle-Herald

City’s financial reserves falling off, council told

By MICHAEL LIGHTSTONE City Hall Reporter
Wed, Sep 15 - 4:53 AM
The municipality’s financial reserves have dwindled and many of its infrastructure components aren’t in great shape, Halifax regional council heard Tuesday.

Senior staff told councillors that city hall’s reserve total at the end of March was $97.7 million. But due to council-approved fiscal transactions that haven’t occurred yet, the balance is actually $26.5 million.

"That is about a $20.9-million decrease over last year," chief financial officer Cathie O’Toole said during a fourth-quarter financial report.

She said one of the reasons for the decrease is "there are many significant, large projects that are drawing on (Halifax Regional Municipality’s) reserves right now," such as the central library replacement in Halifax and the Mainland Common Canada Games Centre.

O’Toole acknowledged the city’s financial reserves will have to be attended to.

"Even though we were able to put $4 million into reserves at the end of the year, our reserves do need to have some additional focus," she told council.

Regarding municipal assets, council heard such essential things as bridges, Metro Transit ferries and HRM vehicles are in "fair" condition. Staff said the municipality’s fire department fleet and transit buses are in good shape.

O’Toole said an assessment of the municipality’s holdings is incomplete.

"We haven’t been able to add the reporting yet for the assets that likely have the worst infrastructure condition," she said.

Phil Townsend, city hall’s director of infrastructure and asset management, said the municipality will continue to keep a close eye on its assets over time.

"The general condition of our assets is not increasing," he said. "What we need to do is direct enough funds towards our base work so that we at least stabilize, or improve, asset condition."

In other business, Halifax council rubber-stamped a $50,000 payout to settle a legal claim against the municipality. Councillors had agreed to the amount during a closed-door session.

The unnamed victim was injured after tripping and falling on city property in Halifax in March 2005.

A confidential staff report on the settlement and the accident that prompted the lawsuit won’t be released.

Also, Coun. Tim Outhit (Bedford) presented a petition with about 210 names that calls on municipal government to focus on road safety in his district.

Those who signed the document want proper bicycle lanes in Bedford and streets that are safe for cyclists, pedestrians and motorists, the councillor said.


( mlightstone@herald.ca)

Good job dmajackson.
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  #82  
Old Posted Sep 17, 2010, 2:00 AM
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^Thanks.

I read that article earlier but didn't see that part ... shows how much I pay attention
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  #83  
Old Posted Sep 18, 2010, 12:37 AM
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I think I will organize a petition of cigar-smoking SUV drivers calling for elimination of bicycle lanes in favor of wider traffic lanes.
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  #84  
Old Posted Sep 18, 2010, 12:44 AM
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I think I will organize a petition of cigar-smoking SUV drivers calling for elimination of bicycle lanes in favor of wider traffic lanes.
Good luck with that ...

Luckily we live in a democratic nation and cigar-smoking drivers are a slim majority even compared to cyclists.
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  #85  
Old Posted Sep 22, 2010, 2:08 PM
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Municipality Conducts First Peninsular “Bike Count”

(Tuesday, September 21, 2010) - A Peninsula Halifax bike count held earlier this week, was timely given tomorrow’s status as International Car-Free Day. During the morning and afternoon peak traffic periods, volunteers counted all the bicyclists that crossed Quinpool and Cogswell Streets, a line which bisects the Halifax peninsula. The purpose of the count was to establish a baseline volume of cyclists and begin a program to monitor trends in travel (cycling) choices.

By understanding if numbers of cyclists are increasing or decreasing, HRM will be able to gauge the relative success of municipal efforts aimed at implementing the HRM Active Transportation Plan by improving cycling infrastructure. HRM has already collected this data for bicycle trips on to and off of the peninsula in the past, so this will add to the municipality’s understanding of cycling choices throughout HRM.

Preliminary survey results are in and 817 cyclists crossed the screenline in the two-hour period from 4pm to 6pm on Monday afternoon and 624 crossed the screenline during the AM peak (7-9am) on Tuesday, September 21st.




Pretty impressive numbers consdiering it was on the Quinpool-Cogswell corridor!
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  #86  
Old Posted Oct 15, 2010, 2:34 PM
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Found some tenders that have been awarded this year. Just some food for thought on Active Transportation costs;

Chain of Lakes Trails

Dexter 715,177.00
Allterrain 1,016,893.70
Humphreys 1,308,830.41
Brycon 1,111,920.00
Ocean 1,258,808.70
Basin 2,625,950.50
Harbour Const 1,013,129.75

Chain Lake Drive Paving & Bike Lane

Basin 956,742.75
Dexter 666,248.00
Ocean 711,900.00

Moirs Mill Bridge Widening (bike lane and sidewalk)

Dexter 1,164,126.00
Ocean 1,440,953.40
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  #87  
Old Posted Oct 16, 2010, 12:53 AM
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More HRM tax money pissed away.

The destruction of the rail ROW on Joe Howe is almost finished. They have put in a paved 6 or 8-foot strip parallel to the street, laid down topsoil between it and the curb, and planted dandelion beds there this week. Of course, nobody thought to put in bus pullover areas at the stops while they had the chance, or to fix Joe Howe's biggest bottleneck where it meets the 102 by adding a right turn lane. This one is probably several million bucks down the drain.
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  #88  
Old Posted Oct 16, 2010, 1:08 AM
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More HRM tax money pissed away.

The destruction of the rail ROW on Joe Howe is almost finished. They have put in a paved 6 or 8-foot strip parallel to the street, laid down topsoil between it and the curb, and planted dandelion beds there this week. Of course, nobody thought to put in bus pullover areas at the stops while they had the chance, or to fix Joe Howe's biggest bottleneck where it meets the 102 by adding a right turn lane. This one is probably several million bucks down the drain.
Is there anything you and I agree on?

Anyways the one question I can answer in that mini rant is the bus layaways. Metro Transit is against the installation of those becuase once buses pull in they have to wait for a gap in traffic to get back in. On busy roads like Joe Howe and the Bfd Hwy motorists aren't always curtious so pulling back in can add minutes onto the trip time. I tend to agree with MT on this and really drivers should just accept the fact they are not the only people on the roads. When they aren't at terminals buses don't stay at stops longer than it takes to load/unload pasengers so a delay of 30 seconds for motorists is acceptable.

Just a note the Moirs Mill Bridge widening bids weren't accepted because they exceeded the project funds so whatever they end up being it will be cheaper than shown.
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  #89  
Old Posted Oct 16, 2010, 10:26 AM
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Quote:
hey have to wait for a gap in traffic to get back in
No they don't... in my experience they just pull out and work under the assumption that they are 6 times the size of my car (and 3 times the size of Keiths SUV... sorry, couldn't resist ) and can just bully their way around the city!
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  #90  
Old Posted Oct 16, 2010, 12:52 PM
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No they don't... in my experience they just pull out and work under the assumption that they are 6 times the size of my car (and 3 times the size of Keiths SUV... sorry, couldn't resist ) and can just bully their way around the city!

Exactly. I have no doubt, though, that this kind of thinking is an accurate reflection of the mindset at MT -- let's hold up an entire lane at rush hour and cause all sorts of collisions as people try to get out from behind us by changing lanes. It is simply ridiculous thinking. No wonder the new head of the authority quit after less than 2 years.
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  #91  
Old Posted Oct 16, 2010, 5:54 PM
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No they don't... in my experience they just pull out and work under the assumption that they are 6 times the size of my car (and 3 times the size of Keiths SUV... sorry, couldn't resist ) and can just bully their way around the city!
Not in my experience. At the two stops around the Mount it can take 5 minutes to pull back out. Given the similar high speeds and heavy traffic its safe to say the same problem would occur on Joe Howe. Honestly if you see a bus in a pullover with its left blinker on do you slow down and let them in? (I do if its safe to but a lot people don't) Or do you floor it and try to get in front of them? The same can be applied to yellow lights, pedstrians at crosswalks, and cyclists when you are making a turn. Unfortunately the general answer in my experience is "No I do not slow down" and for some its "No becuase one second of my time is more valuable then your life".

Sorry but when people start mentioning what drivers are like in Halifax I get in this rant because they are just horrible. In my experience bus drivers are better than most motroists because they actually know what the words safety, signaling, and braking mean. If I'm on a road I'd rather have buses around me then SUV's becuase I know who is likely a better driver and has more training.
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  #92  
Old Posted Oct 17, 2010, 4:50 PM
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The province needs to push through that legislation they once talked about, making it illegal to not yield to a bus pulled over with its turn signal on trying to get back into traffic.

Also can you post your source that says Metro Transit is officially against the installation of bus bays on streets? I don't even recall reading it or hearing it from anybody at transit.
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  #93  
Old Posted Oct 17, 2010, 5:47 PM
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The province needs to push through that legislation they once talked about, making it illegal to not yield to a bus pulled over with its turn signal on trying to get back into traffic.

Also can you post your source that says Metro Transit is officially against the installation of bus bays on streets? I don't even recall reading it or hearing it from anybody at transit.
The legislation is defenitely needed.

I forget where I read it but it was somewheres in a Metro Transit document (maybe the Five-Year plan?)
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  #94  
Old Posted Oct 17, 2010, 6:00 PM
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The province needs to push through that legislation they once talked about, making it illegal to not yield to a bus pulled over with its turn signal on trying to get back into traffic.
Totally unnecessary.
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  #95  
Old Posted Oct 17, 2010, 7:34 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by hfx_chris View Post
The province needs to push through that legislation they once talked about, making it illegal to not yield to a bus pulled over with its turn signal on trying to get back into traffic.

Also can you post your source that says Metro Transit is officially against the installation of bus bays on streets? I don't even recall reading it or hearing it from anybody at transit.
Lol, I can see people obeying that law about as closely as the speed limit. In other words, not very closely.
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  #96  
Old Posted Oct 18, 2010, 12:56 AM
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This law exists in Vancouver and is quite effective. I saw a bus driver pull up beside a car and yell at the driver for failing to yield. I think it could make a big difference in bus speeds, but would take a while for drivers to notice and care.
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  #97  
Old Posted Oct 18, 2010, 1:35 AM
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I'm sure that here, the HRM police would use such a law as a way to generate easy revenue by setting up "yield traps".
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  #98  
Old Posted Oct 18, 2010, 2:11 AM
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I'm sure that here, the HRM police would use such a law as a way to generate easy revenue by setting up "yield traps".
Sounds like a good idea to me. Cops should use effective means to catch law breakers and from the number of people I've heard of speed and school bus traps seem to work. All they would need to do is find a busy bus road with high speed and volume.

A good example would be the Bedford Highway. Most stops are pullovers south of Mill Cove, and a lot of stops are located on bike lanes. When cars don't let buses back out it not only holds up the people on the bus but also cyclists, pedestrians, and joggers that use the lanes. Of course that would require cops to actually patrol that road which currently does not happen (they all hide at the Tim's near Wal-Mart ).

People always complain about these traps but I think of it like this; If you're stupid enough to break the law and get caught then you should pay the price no matter what the tactics used were. I'll admit to breaking one vehicular law on a common basis (speeding) but I only do it on roads I know aren't patrolled, during safe hours, within reason (no more than 10km/h above the posted limit). I obey every law on urban roads because it is dangerous to do otherwise and hell I think I'm the only person who knows of the new law for passing emergency vehicles. I'd accept a yield to buses law with open arms because its so logical and should be done by everybody automatically.

BTW I saw a cop here in the Valley for the first time yesterday. It's funny how such a small distance can produce such a large change in driving attitudes. Here theres no enforcement yet everybody is curtious and obeys the laws, in Halifax there is enforcement and few people are curtious and obey the laws

'Nuff said.

- DJ
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  #99  
Old Posted Oct 18, 2010, 2:47 AM
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It seems to work okay in Vancouver. To be honest I was unaware of the law for a while.. I guess I was lucky.

Bottom line however is that you improve transit by doing things like buying more buses and building bus lanes. The law won't make a serious difference because the biggest problem is that buses sit in traffic. Most of them do just fine at getting back into traffic - it's not hard to do when you drive a huge vehicle.
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  #100  
Old Posted Oct 18, 2010, 2:55 AM
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It seems to work okay in Vancouver. To be honest I was unaware of the law for a while.. I guess I was lucky.

Bottom line however is that you improve transit by doing things like buying more buses and building bus lanes. The law won't make a serious difference because the biggest problem is that buses sit in traffic. Most of them do just fine at getting back into traffic - it's not hard to do when you drive a huge vehicle.
I guess that line explains why Keith P. doesn't have a problem with traffic around Bedford. His SUV's large enough to take out those buses.

But seriously does Vancouver also have laws banning cell phone use while driving and requiring cars to slow down to 60km/h and move to the left when passing emergency vehicles? If it does and they actually work Halifax/NS should look out west when figuring out how to effectively enforce laws.
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