Residential Parking Under Attack by HRM

Who's in favour of better transit? Bike lanes? 

I think we all want whats best for our city as long as it doesn't impact us.  The old NIMBY syndrome makes those opposed to a concept the bad guys. However, sometimes you need to look at the issue from the other side before you label someone.

I have lived in the Creighton/Maynard area since 1990 and throughout this time there has been fair bit of change in the landscape, but nothing like what is occurring presently since the introduction of a express bus lane and the proposal of bike lanes to our narrow streets.

Since the bus lanes has been introduced, more and more cars are parking on Creighton Street causing lots of congestion and annoyance to those who live on the street.  Yes, the residents have bought parking permits, but now they are under siege by the municipality again to host bike lanes which will cause the elimination 15% to 50% of on street parking.  

At an information Dog & Pony Show held a few weeks ago, HRM Staff ask the residents to read over the information boards and to pick which concept they liked best.  Unfortunately, they failed to mention option "D".  Option D purposes that there be NO bike lane, but to use the street as a multi- trail with painted decals on the street like Vancouver.  No Speed Bumps, No Curb Extension, just a Sign depicting that the street is utilized by both cars and bicycles.

From Vancouver

Guess what,this would be a WIN-WIN for all involved and it would cost a fraction of the price.  Moreover, residents would not lose any parking.  By the way, bikes and cars have been traversing on  this street in harmony since cars were invented.  They can still co-exist without the removal of parking.

Let me describe the area that is being impacted on:  on one part of Creighton Street between Cunard and Buddy Daye there are 65 dwellings.  Some are apartments, some are single homes.  out of that 65 dwellings, there are 8 private driveways.  It doesn't take a Rhode Scholar to understand that there is an issue with the removal of parking.  

Maynard & Creighton Street

Many of the residents are extremely upset with the bike lane proposal.  One mentioned the other day that because they rent, they weren't even aware of the proposal and felt disfranchised.  

HRM has been working on two planning exercises to stop urban sprawl by allowing more densification on the peninsula.  HRM by Design encourages, in-law suites/ granny flats, yet does not take into consideration that people own cars.   On the other hand, Gottingen was thriving with local shops, restaurants and businesses and they added an express lane that doesn't even stop on the street!

So Please consider this side of the issue.  The residents and owners on these streets pay taxes, they should define what they want on their street, not HRM Staff.  

Just to let you know, many are not against bikes, they are against the loss of parking.

Adopt plan "D" .  

Working with Mother Nature - Urban Gardening

Pea Blooms

For the past few years I have dabbled in growing a few vegetables in my back yard.  Nothing major; few bean plants, lettuce, peas.  the usual fare.

Basically it was a little challenge I posed upon myself. Just to see if I remembered my childhood tasks on the family farm outside of Halifax where I spent my weekends and Summers.

At first I could only recall the unrelenting weeding and picking rock out of the garden plots. 2 chores that I found no love for what so ever.  I did remember the little sense of joy when a plant produced a product though and the amazing flavours of the fresh organic crops in mid Summer like baby potatoes, green beans, beets, and lettuce.

So this year, since I have a lot of time on my hands between deciding on a new career and grieving my old public service, I decided to expand my thoughts to actions and to attempt a larger Urban Garden in my back yard (known as the back 40ft) consisting of veggies, berries, and produce (potatoes, corn, beets)

 Other variables that convinced me to try this:

• Cost - seasonal produce is expensive if you are on a fixed income.
• Health - Gardening is a good form of exercise, and is a great form of meditation (in my opinion), Furthermost, the benefits of eating veggies is well known, but often not practiced because of time constraints. 
• Taste- nothing comes even close to fresh organic food, this means without pesticides, herbicides, or is some cases human feces. 
• Self satisfaction - the end results are so gratifying

Each year I have stepped up the challenge; adding more variety to the little backyard in the middle of the city and have somewhat pushed the boundaries of our fickle growing season by starting and growing plants to food production in my home.  Typically planting beans and spinach in containers and placing them in the South Western exposure windows.

Bean Seedling

The results have been positive! Green beans before the last frost, spinach to munch on or add to a salad before the first of May.

So this year I took it a little farther by constructing something I like to dub "the McGyver Greenhouse".  Using a 3'x 6' cold frame, 4 bamboo hoops, a sheet of plastic, and a lot of bricks salvaged from the ruins of the old home that stood on the property I found buried, I made my first attempt to cheating Mother Nature at her cruel Nova Scotian Spring.

Transplanted Indoor Garden to McGyver Greenhouse

I transplanted the plants to the greenhouse in the middle of April, secured the plastic around the frame with the bricks, and for added measure, planted more seeds around the transplants.

To my surprise, everything survived and grew!  Herbs from the previous year thrived, onion sets I had forgotten sprung back to life, and nasturtium seeds began to grow.

With much enthusiasm, I began to plan an expansion of the McGyver Greenhouse. Thankfully I have leftover supplies from the other construction and didn't have to purchase anything for the additions.  As you know, Halifax weather in the Spring can be two ways: Crappy and or Shitty; so trying to construct these greenhouses meant braving cold temperatures and hoping that the heat from the sun would keep the interior of the McGyver's warm enough to grow the seedlings and or transplants.

2 more Greenhouses (far back in photo)

To alleviate my fear, I doubled the plastic on the structures for the first month (March to Mid- April), and removed the extra plastic when the temperatures rose.  Moreover I added chicken wire to the end of the greenhouses to allow the plastic to be rolled up on unseasonably warm days so not to steam the plants and to keep my neighbour's cat from pooping in and on the crops.

McGyver Greenhouses basically become a microclimate and will draw the water out of the soil and "rain" back down on itself making it easy to water (once a week).

While awaiting growth in the McGyver's, I began to work on the landscape of the back 40ft.  Adding more flagstones, re-establishing the stone borders of the existing garden plots, and enjoying the rapid growth of the garlic and mint patch.

Mint and Garlic Patch next to stairs

Although 85% of the back 40ft is dedicated to vegetables, I do enjoy growing flowers.  I have been able to introduce tulips and daffodils into the mix by growing them among the established plants such as the mint and garlic, and the large plot where I have a "transient" plant selection.  Each year I either add new annuals or plant sunflowers, cosmos, lillies, hollyhocks, and whack of other flowers.

This year the plot has become a mishmash of flowers and veggies.  Several tomato plants sprung up in a McGyver (from my own compost) so I have relocated them away from the lettuce and other greens as they do not like each other.  Companion gardening certainly helps with produce yield.

Tomato Plants in pots, Mint and Garlic Thriving

Plant near: asparagus, basil, cabbage family, carrots, gooseberries, mustard, parsley, onions, rosemary, sage, stinging nettles

 Keep away from: fennel, kohlrabi, potatoes, walnuts: 

Tips like this are so helpful and will put your mind at ease to why certain plants are not growing or seem stunted. Moreover the internet can provide you with money saving tips on how to cultivate your crops properly.
A person just the other day asked me about "hilling" potatoes.

Although this video shows a sad looking potato, the method is correct.  I personally like the Potato Bag method.  The ones I purchased a few years ago have a Velcro flap which allows you to harvest without harming the plant.

2 Potato Bags with 3 ft Potatoes in Bloom

This photo taken today demonstrates how well the bags work. I plan on harvesting a few taters for dinner tonight!

These bags were worth the 2 for 20. dollars as the free up the garden beds for other plants and they are quite mobile.  I moved these around a few times over the past months.

Since I live alone and only entertain once in a while,the crop from last year was used up till April of this year when I used the remaining potatoes as seed potatoes for this years' crop.

Growing vegetables organically isn't difficult.  It just means you just have to get back to basics.  Save your table scraps (no meat) and peelings, old veggies and start a compost bin.   Look up natural fertilizers on -line.  I personally like using Epsom Salts.  Plants love magnesium, and this works well.

The Back 40ft. as of this morning.

Enough of this blogging. The sun is coming out and I have spinach to pick.

Public Art in Milwaukee turns into a rant about Civic Pride!

Wow. That was my first thoughts as I strolled around Milwaukee. The Public Art in this city is amazing. I started to question why do they have so much public art compared to Halifax. But first; what do we have in common and could Halifax draw from their success? Both cities have water surrounding them. Ok, We have ocean, Milwaukee has rivers and Lake Michigan. Then it became apparent that the Art Colleges NSCAD and MIAD have made their mark on the cities.


Again, I answered the question... Artists and Art Schools... but the answer I gave was only partially correct. Civic Pride was the key to Milwaukee. Halifax has no civic pride! It was lost in 1996 when our City was forced to amalgamate and be known by a long boring name: Halifax Regional Municipality or HRM (if you really want to add salt to an injury that has never healed). We call our home an acronym. This has to change.



Sure, it's been 13 years... give it a rest. I probably could if we actually celebrated our history properly! I came home from Milwaukee to find that Rick Howe had written an article calling for another museum. Then it hit me. We do need to take our artifacts out of the warehouse over in Burnside and display them proudly to our children, immigrants and to our visitors but especially for ourselves.

We need to stop hoarding and start displaying! We were founded in 1749, but we act like we are bumbling depressed adolescents with no past, no present, and no future. A tourist asked me one day, "where is your historical museum?"  I was embarrassed to tell them our infamous history is stored in boxes in a warehouse outside our downtown area.

Rick, We do need a museum. We need a place of worship for our history. Halifax must embrace the past so it will have a future. This will then spur on the artistic people of our lovely home to decorate our parks, streetscapes, and urban areas.  Developers and private industry need to embrace this idea too.
Celebration comes from realization! So let’s realize our past, present and future by calling for a Halifax History Museum.

I know this will start the howls of the other communities… “What about us!?!” Well, with the money raised from such a museum, other parts of the municipality could then apply for the MIRF a funding source from the federal and provincial governments! Urban areas can’t apply unfortunately.

What do you think? 

RiverWalk Milwaukee's Waterfront Stroll - Milwaukee IDA

RiverWalk spans nearly 3 miles along the Milwaukee River through the heart of the City's Downtown and is divided into 3 sections: Beerline, Downtown and Third Ward.

Beerline known as "B" RiverWalk makes up the northern most portion of the system. This segment is primarily residential in character and spans from the former North Avenue Dam south to approximately Juneau Avenue.

The central segment is called the Downtown segment. This segment of the RiverWalk is a mix of residential and commercial surroundings and spans from approximately Juneau Avenue to I-794 freeway.

Historic Third Ward RiverWalk is adjacent to a mix of residential and commercial businesses and spans the distance from the I-794 freeway to the Harbour entrance to make up the southern most portion of the system.

Ghassan Korban, an employee of th City of Milwaukee was our tour guide walked us to the beginning of the Downtown segment on Wells Street.  Public art is rampid in the Downtown and along the RiverWalk.  Everything from jewerly dangling around bridge houses to huge ring like sculptures with old bowling balls and pins as the insets.

If you follow my Facebook or Twitter, you know I was excited to hunt down the infamous Bronze Fonz. Well, Good news!  I found it on Wells Street next to a chinese restaurant. Ghassan explained that the City has an agreement with the landowners which allow for year round access to the visitors of all 3 segments of RiverWalk.  Much like our Waterfront Development Corp. Ltd, The City and BID maintains the RiverWalk.Wisconsin’s Public Trust Doctrine places all lakes and streams in trust for the benefit of all citizens to use for commercial navigation, pleasure boating, sailing, fishing, swimming, skating, rowing, walking, and the enjoyment of scenic beauty. To ensure compliance with the Public Trust Doctrine, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (WDNR) requested the City prepare a Master Plan to include the established guidelines for construction and use of riverwalks, as well as the location of proposed RiverWalk segments for future construction.


The City worked in cooperation with the WDNR to create a riverfront comprehensive plan, titled Riverlink Guidelines, that would comply with the State Constitution and the Public Trust Doctrine. With approval of the Riverlink Guidelines by the Common Council and WDNR, the process of issuing permits for the construction of the RiverWalk was greatly simplified. WDNR issues permits for RiverWalk construction for developments consistent with the adopted Riverlink Guidelines.

In 1993, expansion of the RiverWalk Initiative reinforced the City’s commitment for the design and construction of the RiverWalk. Consisting of 22 proposed segments, the riverwalk system would unify downtown attractions and become, over time, a significant attraction in itself.

A resolution creating the RiverWalk Site Plan Review Overlay District (SPROD) and RiverWalk Development Fund was adopted in 1993. The RiverWalk SPROD ensures the creation of new RiverWalk projects which are compatible with their neighbors. It also encourages creativity, variety and excellence in design and layout. The design specifications associated with the SPROD apply to, but are not limited to, landscaping, lighting, accessibility, adjacent building facades and the ability to connect to future RiverWalk segments. The SPROD applies to the Third Ward, Downtown and Beerline portions of the Milwaukee River, extending 3.1 miles, along both sides of the River from the Harbor northward to the former North Avenue Dam.

During our walk Ghassan explained how water taxis are being introduced to the RiverWalk experience.  Like Halifax Harbour, if such rights were given, they would probably be abused.  Milwaukee has introduced a loading zone concept that would make a water taxi idea viable for Halifax.  We need to introduce more innovative ideas like this to get people mobile using our wonderful harbour. Just think if we had such a system, people could move along our downtown and over to Dartmouth by a private operator.  It's used in Vancouver and Victoria...  why not here?

Financed through a partnership between the property owner, the Greater Milwaukee Committee, and the City of Milwaukee, the Riverwalk continues to be maintained and promoted by the property owners in collaboration with the City formed a Business Improvement District (BID). 

Bravo to the City of Milwaukee on this innitiative!  On the downside, the water in the the river was green and did have a lot of litter.

Historic Third Ward : Milwaukee IDA!

What the heck?  While walking to the Midwest Airlines Convention Center a gentleman, who was 50 feet away from me started pointing to the sidewalk and saying "This goes on for blocks!" I guess I hadn't noticed the bloody foot print before this....  I was miffed by this left footed foot print that did stain the whole stretch of the sidewalk.  Back to the this story later....

After registering in the Convention Centre, I headed to my first walking tour of the Third Ward.  Yes!  The same Third Ward I discovered last night.  Nancy O'Keefe, the Executive Director, was our tour guide and was very knowledgeable of the area's history, and current operations.  We were dropped off at the Public Market and we walked around the corner to Lela, a trendy clothing store where we met the owners and were provided wth information and breakfast treats.

The owner explained that the space used to be a tomato warehouse and that it took a little convincing to get the space renovated but conceeded.  Lela was holding a fashion show that night and had a huge tent setup in the street in front of the shop.  I checked out the clothes and the were very cool but unforunately like any cool clothes, they were made for some other body type than mine :(

We then went over to the river side to a small park area called the Watershed.  Ths is one of the parks used to house the one of the entrances to the huge sewage tunnel built a few years ago.  Milwaukee built a large tunnel deep under the riverbank and this area has been reclaimed into a small parkette along the rverwalk.

We then proceeded down the Riverwalk within the Third Ward.  Many of the old warehouses have been converted to mixed use. High end condos above specialty pubs, restaurants and other businesses.  My only concern is how do you repopulate an area like the Third Ward with only high scale apartments or condos without including real amenities such as a a grocery, drug store or even corner stores?  I'll explain the pricing of the condos and apartments in an other blog. 

I will mention that you need to diversify your living accommodations to make a community vibrant and the Third Ward could be an awesome place if Milwaukee did have accommodations for the student of the Milwaukee Insitute of Art and Design (MIAD).  In Halifax we have The Nova Scotia School of Art and Design (NSCAD) and many of the students live close to the campuses which are located Downtown.  Their spontaneous happenings, ecological sensivity, and vibrancy make my neighbourhood, and the District a fun exciting place for both the young and old residents.

This is not something I dreamt up.  Richard Florida's Book "Rise of the Creative Class" preaches this ideology.  Creativity breathes life into our communities.  People are attracted to the buzz.  Artists, musicians, dancers all make an area buzzy. Creating affordable accommodations for such a creative class is imperative.

I fear that it will be incredibly challenging for the Third Ward if they do not adopt such a concept and with the economic conditions facing the USA, this may cause their great ideas for rejuventation to stall.

Neighbourhoods need to house the amenities the residents require to live!  Groceries, banks and drug stores need to be part of this area.  While working on HRM by Design this was proven to be an imperative component to urban design.  As Lewis Mumford stated:

"In a neighbourhood, everything that is needed is there and everything that is there is needed".

HRM By Design has 5 campaigns that could aid the Third Ward and all of the downtown areas of Milwaukee with its future in attracting more businesses and residents:

1. A Sustainable City  ( Milwaukee needs to work on this - recycling programs for solid waste)
2. A City of Liveable and Complete Neighbourhoods (Milwaukee must adopt this)
3. A Distinct and Unique City (Milwaukee has great character and is doing a great job of building it!)
4. A City of Vibrant and Exciting Places (Milwaukee has many components - keep it up!)
5. A Beautiful City (Milwaukee does have beauty, keep it up!

Oh!  forgot to finish the story about the "bloody footprint" !  Supposedly there was a shooting Friday night but there was no mention  during the conference.  Moreover the footprint trail was cleaned up by Noon.