Urban Affairs/Local Government

In this op-ed piece from the Chronicle Herald, AIMS newest Senior Fellow, Dr. Michael J. MacDonald discusses the critical need for professional management in today’s urban communities. Dr. MacDonald explores the myriad of complex issues facing municipal councils today and the increasingly critical role municipalities play as the drivers of growth. His conclusion is that a professional public service led by a talented and courageous CAO is absolutely critical to the long-term health of municipalities like Halifax. Publication: CHH, October 2, 2001

ACCORDING to the HRM's new mayor, Peter Kelly, using existing rail lines to create a light rail transit system is the way of the future. Even though ridership today would be extremely low, he argues that now is the time to build. As people realize the joys of light rail transit, in his view, they will progressively abandon their cars. A line to Bedford will, in a few years' time, be a godsend, as the traffic on the Bedford Highway, for example, becomes even more unbearable. If the mayor's assumptions about light rail were correct, the picture he paints of the future of urban transit would be an attractive one. But, alas, he has his facts quite wrong, and his vision of an urban transit idyll is, in fact, a costly and inefficient nightmare. Publication: CHH, December 20, 2000

In his regular column for the Halifax Chronicle-Herald, AIMS President Brian Lee Crowley examines the criticisms now being levelled against the Halifax Regional Council's plan to clean up the Halifax harbour. He argues that most of the criticisms of the proposed public-private partnership doesn't stand up to scrutiny, and Council should move forward with their plan. Doing so will mean significant benefits for taxpayers, and the preservation of Halifax's reputation as a good place to do business. Publication: CHH, March 1, 2000.