Question on Halifax

I lived there for two years, right downtown. On the corner of Morris and Queen Street. I personal always felt safe. It probably has the highest amount of crime in the Atlantic Provinces, but I don't think it is anything out of the ordinary, when it comes to Canadian cities. In the two years that I lived there I only remember 3 or 4 murders. All gang and drug related, but I don't think that is anything unusual.

There are “bad” parts of town, like Cowie Hill, Gottingen street and well all of Dartmouth. Jk Dartmouth has some okay spots. But other then that the city is great.

I miss Economy Shoe Shop, best watering hole in the world!

I wouldn't say "Canada's most dangerous". There are certainly areas of the city that need improvement, but I feel perfectly safe walking around at night here.

On a related note, I heard a rumour that a company in Asia bought Uniacke Square and is planning to demolish it in order to build some sort of education centre - anyone know anything about this?

Penhorn said:

On a related note, I heard a rumour that a company is Asia bought Uniacke Square and is planning to demolish it in order to build some sort of education centre

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I would hope they would build something better then an education centre, however an education centre would be better then the current situation there.

Originally Posted by Penhorn
Me too, I think it would be a good place for a large office building since it's out of the Citadel viewplanes.

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That would be very, very bad. An entire neighbourhood was destroyed and the street grid of downtown Halifax was permanently altered when Scotia Square was built. Mowing down neighbourhoods and replacing them with office space is an urban planning trick that was for the most part abandoned in the 70's - it simply doesn't work.

NorthEnd said:

That would be very, very bad. An entire neighbourhood was destroyed and the street grid of downtown Halifax was permanently altered when Scotia Square was built. Mowing down neighbourhoods and replacing them with office space is an urban planning trick that was for the most part abandoned in the 70's - it simply doesn't work.

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I dunno, I think if someone's going to propose a tall office building it might as well be there - it's relatively close to the CBD, and it's out of the viewplanes. It's not like the Uniacke Square is a healthy, vibrant, neighbourhood.

I think I know what you mean though. What I personally would've liked to see built instead of Scotia Square is a complex that retains the street grid but is also dense. Maybe a tall residential/office tower in the centre of the block surrounded by small retail buildings fronting right on the street. And some sort of public park area between the towers and the retail space. I don't know if it's been done before or not, but I think it would bring people onto the streets to shop from both outside the downtown and from inside the tower/s. Kinda like a regular neighbourhood but downtown.

Here's sort of what I mean (note my superb mspaint skills! :jk: ):

I'd have a problem with it just because many of the Square's residents previously lived in or were descendants of people who lived in Africville, which was destroyed by the same sort of philosophy: "Hey, it's a crappy neighbourhood anyway so let's bulldoze it, build a huge bridge, and move all the residents into shitty public housing on Gottingen Street." Repeating this would be a HUGE deal, unless the city has the permission of the people living in the Square (they didn't consult the residents of Africville at all) and are willing to give them major compensation.

I do have to agree though that a nice, shiny, clean highrise would be a major boost for that area.

Oh and to answer the original question, Halifax was ranked the worst city in Canada for violent crime (last year?). This mostly has to do with swarmings/muggings in the Spring Garden and Gottingen areas and around the downtown bar scene, some of these have been gang related (there's this joke of a gang out here called "G-Lock" which seems to be becoming less and less of a joke). There's also bar fights, courtesy of the universities and the city's other claim to fame, the most bars per capita in Canada. While there are some violent crimes in Dartmouth, Spryfield, Clayton Park etc. most of it isn't random.

bluenoser said:

Oh and to answer the original question, Halifax was ranked the worst city in Canada for violent crime (last year?). This mostly has to do with swarmings/muggings in the Spring Garden and Gottingen areas and around the downtown bar scene, some of these have been gang related (there's this joke of a gang out here called "G-Lock" which seems to be becoming less and less of a joke). There's also bar fights, courtesy of the universities and the city's other claim to fame, the most bars per capita in Canada. While there are some violent crimes in Dartmouth, Spryfield, Clayton Park etc. most of it isn't random.

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It's funny because Clayton Park used to be good and it's slowly becoming a shithole. Honestly, and I hope no one takes offence to this because a walk down Plateau is all the proof you need, it's the freaking Yugoslavian/Albanian kids who think they're all hard.

I don't know, being in junior high myself, G-Lock itself is a bit of a joke. Most of the people are supposedly actually only 13-14. The swarmings last year were ridiculous, but if they're being done by 13 year olds, I guess it's a reflection of society.