All the neighbourhoods within walking distance
HALIFAX — Demolition crews are tearing into the foam and metal skin of two truck trailers attached to the abandoned Dave’s Bottle Exchange warehouse. It looks like the crews, who started work Wednesday, are leaving the main building up for now.
Anyone know the reason for the work?
A development agreement for this spot was proposed two years ago. Is this the project that is going ahead?
Peter Bigelow, HRM manager of parks and recreation, explains the proposed Bloomfield Master Plan on Thursday.
The proposed Bloomfield Master Plan suggests residential towers for the south side of Almon Street, where tennis courts and a parking lot now sit.
Consultants and city staff pitched the high-rises on Thursday as a way to pay for most of the $10.6 million required to demolish Bloomfield School, create a green space, and pay for four other buildings dedicated to arts and culture programming.
The biggest tower would be between 10 and 15 storeys high. The smaller tower would be about two-thirds the size. Both would be on the northern edge of the green space.
One speaker at Thursday’s open house meeting suggested the tall buildings, combined with proposed four-storey townhouses along Agricola and Robie streets, would make the green space in the middle an uncomfortable place to relax.
“Do you ever get the sense that they are watching you?” said Paul Hannon, describing the effect of being in a park close to people’s condos.
“You look around and see all these windows,” said Hannon.
Brian Mackay Lyons, an architect hired to produce the draft plan, said that all those eyes will actually help.
“Public spaces are safest when that happens,” said Mackay Lyons.
Without the towers, creating the green space, townhouses and public-use buildings would require $5 or $6 million in city funding. The towers reduce the public subsidy to $1.8 million – an option more in keeping with the city council’s directive that any development be pay for itself.
Ellen Helmke reviews donated works for Adsum's Mystery Art Sale.
Artwork by comedians Rick Mercer and Phyllis Diller shared some wall space Thursday night at the Agricola Street café FRED.
The two gagsters were among dozens who donated 5×7-inch paintings and photos to a mystery auction benefitting a woman’s housing charity.
“We got a 118 pieces of art, which is great,” said Ellen Helmke, director of development at Adsum for Women and Children.
About 200 people showed up and many forked out $100 to buy a painting. The catch was they chose the artwork without first knowing the artist.
Helmke said Diller was approached for a donation because the entertainer was once briefly homeless. The 91-year-old Golden Globe-nominated comedian donated two pieces to the event.
Organizers also approached professional and emerging Nova Scotia artists. They hit their target of 100 paintings in the final week before the event.
“We were saying, ‘Keep looking for art, keep looking for art,” said Helmke.
A Peggy’s Cove art group came to the rescue.
“They produced 13 paintings, so that put us over the edge.”
Adsum provides emergency shelter and affordable living spaces for women without housing. The charity aimed to raise $15,000 with the event.
North and Agricola 