[Sust-mar] Important: Friends of Halifax Common

[Crystal Melville]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Peggy Cameron <p.cameron at ns.sympatico.ca>
Date: Wed, Jan 13, 2010 at 10:51 PM
Subject: Important: Friends of Halifax Common
To:


Two Important Meetings-
Please circulate widely.......

1st: meeting  Planning Meeting hosted by Friends of Halifax Common
When:  *Tuesday, January 19,  7:30 PM, *
Where:  *Women’s Council House (Inglis &Young Ave*.)
AGENDA:  to prepare for the Wednesday night public presentation by HRM on
"Improvements to the North Common" (details below)
 2nd meeting:  Public Presentation of "Improvements to the North Common"
by HRM Staff
When:  *Wednesday, January 20, formal presentation-7:20 PM*
(Plans can be viewed starting at 6:30)
Where:  *Halifax City Hall*
 AGENDA: *ask questions** & make suggestions about HRM plan for the North
Common
 *http://www.halifax.ca/Commcoun/pcc/documents/NorthCommon.pdf*<http://www.halifax.ca/Commcoun/pcc/documents/NorthCommon.pdf>
.


*******and there are lots of questions...... *
 *1. Is this the best use of public green space?*  The Halifax Common is
less than 1/3 its original size. Although the plan proposes planting a few
trees it continues the erosion of public open land by removing the baseball
diamond next to Cogswell to make way for a permanent hard-surfaced plaza for
concerts, using asphalt instead of permeable materials for wider paths on
the Common and creating hard surfaced entrances.

*2.  Why is HRM Councils ignoring is own MOU whereby only concerts of >
40,000 are to be held on the Common? * Private music business promoters have
only held one concert (Paul McCartney) which met this criteria. Exhibition
Park is an under utilized Crown owned facility, why isn't it being used? -
Like Moncton's permanent Magnetic Hill concert venue, its outside of town,
there'd be better parking, less disruption of traffic and no lock-down on
the use of the Common.

*3.  Is this the best use of money for culture?*  The budget break-down of
the "improvements" is not yet available.  There has been no Cost-Benefit
analyses of mega-concerts and yet private concerts on the Common received
~$600,000 in public support in 2009 alone and over $1.2 million in the past
3 years. This while other HRM & NS cultural events struggle for any money.
For example the Jazz Festival received only $40,000 from the province but
attracts ~40,000 over the week long event.

*4.  Does this respect the Halifax Common Plan?*  The 1994 Halifax Common
plan proposes maintaining a diversity of activities (health care, sports,
education, recreation, gardens & cultural activities); retaining the public
nature of the Halifax Common and involvement of the public in the future
planning and design- has the public agreed to privatizing the Common
by regularly closing it down for private music business promoters?