Tag Archives: trees

Mayor Fillmore-We Worry About Our Meeting, Neighbourhood & Misinformation

Writing on behalf of FHC and Robie St residents, Peggy Cameron and Howard once again ask Mayor Fillmore for a meeting. The first request was on November 4th 2024 with multiple follow up inquiries.

We worry that details on HRM’s plan to spend at least $75m to acquire property and demolish buildings to widen Robie Street for a bus lane are not fully vetted with residents or Council. The plan from 2018 or 2019 needs to be re-examined for its merit and to reassess using scarce public money to wreck our Robie Street neighbourhood from North to Cunard Streets. (Map details: https://shorturl.at/tCDHU ) 

Recent email communication from Councillor Cleary to residents continues to confuse or mislead. We worry other Councillors may also be unaware of misinformed. We again clarify why the Mayor & Council must optimize spending public money on reallocating existing road space, more buses, more drivers with better salaries, lower fares, better public safety and services such as bus shelters with seats and sidewalks and trees for shade and comfort. And stop the plan to wreck our Robie St neighbourhood.
Details below
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❤️ Halifax? Write to Stop Robie Street Widening!

Help stop HRM’s $75m plan to demolish Robie Street’s last historic neighbourhood (North to Cunard). HRM intends to destroy dozens of affordable units & cut ~80 trees to add a bus lane. But Data shows that even for public transit, road widening won’t reduce traffic. Instead of  wrecking a uniquely diverse, affordable community, a cheap proven solution is signalized lane changes (i.e. MacDonald Bridge or Chebucto Road) to reallocate existing road space. In a housing and a climate crisis, destroying affordable homes & cutting street trees is a bad idea. Write HRM Mayor & Council -see info below or write from your ❤️!

*Wider Roads Make Worse Cities
*Even for public transportation, wider roads won’t reduce traffic.
*Citizens don’t support demolitions or widening Robie St.
*Public money should not be used to destroy a unique neighbourhood of First Nations, youth shelters, co-ops, heritage, affordable housing, business.
*The 80 historic trees slow traffic, calm drivers, clean air, reduce noise, give shade & beauty. They need protection.
*The budget costs at $73m is too much & skyrocketing.
*Cheap & proven options- time of day lane changes like Chebucto Rd & MacDonald Bridge can save money.
*Savings can be used for buses, ferries, drivers, lower fares, public safety.
*Our new Council can legally reverse the last council’s plan.
Please let friends & neighbours know. Ask them to write council c/o clerks@halifax.ca, post on social media, print & distribute our flyer below or our poster. The pictures tells it all.

2025 feb. flyer HandsOffRobie

HRM -Cancel Robie St Widening & Save $73m

FHC has written to HRM to cancel its Robie St widening plan and save $73m. That’s HRM’s budget to buy property, demolish buildings and cut 80 trees for a bus lane. But data shows, even for public transportation, widening roads does not reduce traffic congestion. Instead demolishing dozens of

Widening roads for public transportation does not reduce traffic. Photo:Tim Krochak/Herald

small-scale affordable units and cutting 80 trees for a plan that won’t work, HRM should use signalized lane changes i.e. MacDonald Bridge or Chebucto Road. 
The historic Robie St neighbourhood has a concentration of First Nations, housing co-ops, youth shelters, new Canadians, small businesses. As HRM has no obligation to proceed with the previous Council’s plan, stopping the plan to wreck this community should be an easy decision.
 See details in FHC’s letter here: FHC 2025 HRM Council, Robie St FOIPOP.pages

Dear Premier Houston-Do You Know Your Government is Buying & Demolishing Affordable Housing?

 

Premier Houston takes steps to address. (photo credit: 989 XFM)


Dear Premier Houston,
(Feb 23, 2025) We’re writing to ask if you know that the NS Department of Public Works is spending an estimated $18 million in public money to buy at least 10 multi-unit buildings on Robie Street to tear down? This is at the behest of HRM which intends to widen Robie Street for a bus lane.

Data shows that even for public transportation, widening roads will not relieve traffic congestion; traffic levels will remain (status quo) or more traffic will be induced.

HRM also intends to cut 80 mature street trees (known to calm drivers and traffic). Many are over 100 years old and will never be replaced. In total, the Robie Street widening affects 90 properties. The acquisition budget for the properties is extraordinary: $55million (2024), $75million (2024), unknown in 2025.

Residents have long advocated for the reallocation of existing road space with signalized lanes changes like the MacDonald Bridge or Chebucto Road. These are a faster, cheaper, effective, more equitable ways to prioritize transit and reduce traffic in many cities (London, Zurich, Paris, Montreal) and countries (Brazil, Italy, Japan).

The small scale rental buildings to be demolished contain dozens of affordable units. Impacted residents have no place to go. The community is unusually diverse- housing co-ops, First Nations, Youth Shelters, new Canadians, low income earners. Right now HRM has 1130 unhoused (AHANS, Feb 12) and12,000 vacant lots (HRM 2024)

As a former accountant you can agree that in this time of economic, social, environmental precarity provincial and municipal governments should not spend public money to destroy the very things we need to protect. As budget deliberations proceed this is the time to stop this wasteful expenditure. We look forward to hearing from you.

Yours truly, 


Peggy Cameron and Howard Epstein, 
Friends of Halifax Common
Cc: Leaders of Opposition, Minister Municipal Affairs, Minister of Treasury Board

Jamie Simpson – How Cities Protect Trees By Law

“trees aren’t just ‘pretty things to look at” a nice short film by Uytae Lee about our urban forest https://shorturl.at/choDH

Halifax – Ki’jupuk is known as the ‘City of Trees’ but FHC worries for how long. Hundreds of Halifax Common trees (Bell Rd, Robie St, University Ave) and throughout the city are being cut. Governments, both municipal and provincial, plan these tree cuts as if trees can just be replaced.
 
Jamie Simpson’s Law of the Urban Forest presentation at the Oct 2024 AGM tells us what other cities do to preserve and manage urban trees. Jamie’s experience is as a lawyer, forester, and writer (three books), most recently writing forest stewardship plans for the Mi’kmaq of Nova Scotia – all with a passion for exploring our natural world (and sometimes eating it). He’s the ideal person to help bring many threads together. Please view the slides to see what we can do to make comments to HRM Staff and Council about our keeping our Common trees?
 
FHC believes the best way to keep the beauty, environmental and health benefits of our urban trees is to protect and care for the ones that we have, by law. It takes at least 269 saplings to do the environmental work of an existing tree that is 1m in diameter. That’s about the size of a small adult. In 2023, HRM planted ~2600 new trees in 2023. That would replace the work of 10 1m trees. Each new tree HRM plants costs almost $1000. Each one faces many obstacles to thriving- pollution, extreme heat and cold, drought, disease, insects, and accidents.

 

FHC to Mayor/Premier: Stop Plan to Cut Mature Historic Trees on Common

re: QEII Hospital Build and cutting down Halifax Common Trees 

FHC has just learned that the province intends to cut down as many as 40 mature historic trees on the Halifax Common as part of the QEII hospital build.

This 2020 aerial view shows a massive expansion of the Halifax Infirmary (The 8-storey parking garage recently built on NS Museum property on Summer St. has oddly been omitted.) Like the recent construction of a parking garage on the Common, tree cutting should not play a part in the Common future. Public money, public land— where’s the public consultation?

To learn more about the Friends of Halifax Common position read our July 14/23 letter to Premier Houston and Mayor Savage: 2023 FHC Mayor, Premier re: Tree Cutting

If you concur please send your message to premier@novascotia.ca & mayor@halifax.ca

Tell them to:

    • Protect the trees on the Halifax Common and stop plans to cut them.
    • Follow good urban planning principles and engage in meaningful public consultation.
    • Be collaborative in working to keeping a healthy environment for a healthy population.

Please consider becoming a FHC member: https://halifaxcommon.ca/about/membership/

Donate to support the work of Friends of Halifax Common by sending an e-transfer to banking (at) halifaxcommon.ca