Category Archives: NEWS

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Media Release Earth Day – FHC Commemorate Freshwater Brook

Earth Day – Friends of Halifax Common Commemorate Freshwater Brook’s Path

photo(Halifax) Friends of Halifax Common (FHC) are marking Earth Day by outlining a portion of the historic Freshwater Brook, a watercourse that lies buried underneath the Halifax Common.

“One of hundreds of interesting suggestions from citizens of Halifax included in the 1994 Halifax Common Plan was to “daylight” or expose Freshwater Brook or even just sections of it,” said Peggy Cameron, co-chair of the Friends of Halifax Common. “Unfortunately, HRM continues to ignore that master-plan and to little by little give away or pave the public’s open space,”  concluded Cameron.

Although the Common was once defined as the land area or watershed that drained into Freshwater Brook, today the only remnant of the brook is Griffin’s Pond in the Public Gardens. The skate park is on the site of what was formerly known as Egg Pond.

“Sadly, the Halifax Common compares too well with how we humans treat our environment,” said FHC supporter Moire Peters. “Despite solid scientific understanding about our need to respect our ecosystems, we continue to pave our land, pollute our watersheds and ignore what the implications for the future will be,” concluded Ms. Peters. Continue reading →

The Path of Freshwater Brook Commemorated

Friends of Halifax Common celebrated Earth Day 2011 by installing 100 blue stakes along the former pathway of Freshwater Brook. Approximately 30 willow tree switches were planted alongside the blue stakes which were decorated with fish – as a reference to the former waterway. The original Halifax Common included the lands which drained into this stream that is now buried, channeled or diverted underground. The watershed was a marshy, wooded area with the stream starting above the North Common and running through the Central Common (the small Egg pond there is now part of the skate park), the Public Garden (Griffin Pond) all the way to the Halifax Harbour below Inglis Street. In former times ships would collect fresh water from this brook at the Harbour outfall.
For an illustration of the Freshwater Brook’s path from “Representing Halifax: Exploring the Potential of the City through Mapping” by Matt Neville.
see: https://spacingatlantic.ca/2010/01/28/representing-halifax-exploring-the-potential-of-the-city-through-mapping/

Media Release – $6M for Oval is Ad Hoc Planning

HRM Staff Support of $6 Million Centralized Oval is Ad Hoc Planning

(Halifax) The HRM staff report on the Canada Games Oval recommending a single centralized skating facility on the Halifax Common is ad hoc planning, according to Friends of Halifax Common (FHC). The group questions the oval’s placement, the planning process and the price tag.

“Friends of the Halifax Common definitely support an outdoor rink, but we believe other locations such as on the Central Common or the Wanderer’s Grounds, or several outdoor skating rinks in local communities throughout HRM would be just as popular as the single giant oval on the North Common” said Peggy Cameron, Co-chair of the Friends of the Halifax Common.

The North Common is less than one-third of the remaining public open space on the Halifax Common, which extends from Cunard St. to South St., bounded by Robie, North Park and South Park Streets. All decisions made by staff and council since the Halifax Common Plan was adopted in 1994 have been inconsistent with it.

HRM staff’s January 2010 North Common Master Plan included ‘improvements’ to the North Common with the major portion of the $2.7 million budget going towards permanent infrastructure for the private, expensive mega-concerts. Reference to these already made expenditures have dropped out of site. Continue reading →

The Tragedy of the Common – Coast Magazine

The Tragedy of the Common: If the Common is so common, why can’t common people decide how to use it?

The Coast Magazine, Opinion – Sustainable City, by Chris Benjamin

Tragedy-of-the-Common_THECOAST – PDF

from: https://www.thecoast.ca/halifax/tragedy-of-the common/Content?oid=1503404
“Picture a pasture open to all.” So wrote Garrett Hardin in his 1968 Science article, “The Tragedy of the Commons.” His thesis was that a shared natural resource, in self-interested human hands, could only be destroyed. It was a thought-provoking article that is still invoked to advocate and justify private ownership.

The history of our own Halifax Common at times veers toward destruction, but it has survived shared ownership by the people, either because or in spite of municipal government intervention. The Common was once a shared Hardinesque pasture. It has also been a campground, a dump and a race track twice—once for horses and once for cars. It used to be much bigger, but pavement, steel and glass ate the grass. Continue reading →

Drawing Green Parallels – Chronicle Herald

Drawing Green Parallels
Commons supporters, climate change activists join forces to highlight need to protect nature
By MICHAEL LIGHTSTONE Staff Reporter, The Chronicle Herald

’Our vanishing Halifax Common(s) is a metaphor for the disappearance of our global Common, most urgently our atmosphere and climate’ SHEILAGH HUNT – Friends of the Halifax Common

Michael Stuttard takes a chalk along the South Common (Robie Street near Camphill Cemetery).

Michael Stuttard takes a chalk along the South Common (Robie Street near Camphill Cemetery).

Remnants of the original Halifax Commons are representative of the “disappearance of our global Common,” park lovers and climate change fighters say.

An event promoting today’s International Day of Climate Action and bemoaning the vanishing Halifax Commons was held Friday afternoon. Less than one-third of the Halifax Common’s original 95.1 hectares, granted in 1763 by King George III, is public open space, say Friends of the Halifax Common.

Members and supporters drew a line around the entire perimeter of the original Commons. Volunteers were supplied with chalk at various meeting points around the site.

“Our vanishing Halifax Common(s) is a metaphor for the disappearance of our global Common, most urgently our atmosphere and climate,”” said Friends member Sheila Hunt. Continue reading →

Take a Chalk Around the Common-International Day of Climate Action 350.org

Halifax- In support of 350.org, International Day of Climate Action, Friends of Halifax Common

Michael Stuttard takes a chalk along the South Common (Robie Street near Camphill Cemetery).

Michael Stuttard takes a chalk along the South Common (Robie Street near Camphill Cemetery).

are inviting the public to volunteer to help them in drawing a chalk line around the entire perimeter of the original Common. Join them on Friday October 23rd from 12-2 p.m.

Less than 1/3 of the Halifax Common’s original 235 acres granted in 1763 by King George III is public open space.

“Our vanishing Halifax Common is a metaphor for the disappearance of our global Common, most urgently our atmosphere & climate” said Sheila Hunt of the Friends. “Our air, water, and land – the common heritage of all people – are being degraded. How we choose to deal with the finite natural resources of our planet has lasting repercussions for future generations.”
Continue reading →

The Coast, Bruce Wark Editorial – Looking for Common Sense

E D I TO R I A L by Bruce Wark

Looking for Common sense
The land deal between the city & the province chips another piece off of the Halifax Commons
Rodney - Common Sense?I call it city council’s royal fuck-up. The Queen’s High School
is being traded to the Queen’s Hospital for a new central library on—where else—Queen Street. And we’re all worse off. The deal means another chunk of the Halifax Common is about to disappear. It’s all part of a land swap between city and province that council approved last week.
Believe it or not, the city is giving away 269,000 square feet of prime downtown land in return for 131,000 square feet of prime downtown land and paying nearly two million bucks for the privilege.

Under the deal, the province gets the former Birks site on Barrington to build more office space plus the Queen Elizabeth High site at Robie and Bell for expansion of the QE II Infirmary. In return, the city gets the block on Queen between Spring Garden and Morris for a central library, officespace, shops and housing.

Halifax Metro News – Hospital space trumps green space in Common decision

By Lindsay Jones

The Queen Elizabeth High School property is part of a land swap between the city and the province.

The Queen Elizabeth High School property is part of a land swap between the city and the province.

Regional council approved giving up the rest of the Queen Elizabeth High School land to become part of a hospital expansion yesterday.

The city is exchanging the former Halifax Common land, as well as several other parcels, with the province to help pay for land at the corner of Queen Street and Spring Garden Road. That’s the site where the city wants to build a new Central Library. Continue reading →

Media Release – Common for Sale?

Is the Halifax Common for Sale?

HRM Council is going to sell the Queen Elizabeth High School site, Halifax Common land. This is to facilitate Flagship Developments on Spring Garden Road & Queen (the new public library) and the Grand Parade & Province House.

The Halifax Common Plan is very specific about the amount of city-owned land in the Halifax Common not being decreased (3.1). The Plan recommends preserving public open space for a variety of outdoor recreation and leisure activities or other suitable public uses.
Continue reading →

Chronicle Herald Op Ed – Protecting Halifax’s Common Ground

Money spent by HRM for private and expensive Concerts on the Common would be better spent on protecting the Common for everyone.

Public money spent by HRM for private, expensive Concerts on the Common would be better spent on protecting the Common for everyone.

Recently, Friends of Halifax Common were informed HRM will begin electrical repairs to the Centennial Fountain on the North Common. This was conveyed to us as a “good news” story. Indeed there hasn’t been much good news about the Common for a long time.

The Halifax Common, Canada’s oldest urban park, was created in 1763 when King George III granted 240 acres “for the use of the inhabitants of the Town of Halifax forever.” Originally extending between Cunard and South Streets, bounded by Robie on the west Continue reading →

Friends of Halifax Common Challenge Sale of Common Land – Media Release

Friends of Halifax Common (FHC) are calling on the provincial government to stop the sale of 5.5 acres of Halifax Common land at the former Queen Elizabeth High School (QEHS). The QEHS land is included in a land swap between HRM and the province. FHC says this a bad deal. HRM will lose public open green space, pay $1.9 million for the land swap but will acquire half as much as land as the province.
Continue reading →