Falling forward and springing back

It always seems that summer shoots by so quickly.

Whenever I look at a summer calendar in May it presents plenty of gaps and opportunities to get away. By the end of June, the gaps start to narrow, and it is a struggle to find time to recharge......this year was no different.

With Canada Day, Natal Day, Pride week and so many great festivals and events in HRM the calendar fills up. I was able to get to most parts of our community, and enjoyed meeting people across the municipality.

Pride week was great; Natal Day weekend drew big crowds; I visited Japanese, Swiss ad English vessels while they were in Port. We had lacrosse and baseball national championships here, hosted a wonderful Buskers festival, enjoyed another huge International Tattoo week, the Halifax County Exhibition, celebrated National Acadian Day, and so many more community festivals and events.

In late August I spent the better part of two weeks traveling across Eastern Canada and New England with my family on our way to drop my daughter off in Montreal for the National canoe kayak championships. With the kids growing up fast, it’s hard to know when we might be able to do that kind of road trip with them again.

As always, with the passing of Labour Day, the pace picks up again. We have much on our plate at Regional Council over the coming months. The Regional Plan, Metro Transit public consultations, solid waste system consultations, the Mayor’s task force on violence update, development of a branding plan for HRM, our first municipal alcohol policy, a sponsorship policy, some big ideas to consider for the Cogswell Interchange lands, and many more challenges and opportunities.

My staff and I are also rolling our sleeves up on a couple of other special projects. In my campaign I spoke about Halifax being the most healthy, liveable community in Canada. We are working on a plan to see what that could mean. We also are planning to take a tighter focus on our downtown and work with all of the passionate people who want to see decisive steps taken to make our urban core fulfill its terrific potential.

Here is the thing.....sometimes we don't know how good we are, and how good we could be.

In August I spoke to a visiting convention of a North American newspapers association. This group met in recent years in San Francisco, New Orleans and other great waterfront cities. They were amazed by our waterfront and felt it was more beautiful than others. They spoke of our vibrant bars and restaurants, and the shops within walking distance of their hotel. In July the HMS Scott, Britain’s fifth largest naval vessel came to Halifax. Commander Pat Mowatt told me that of all the ports of call on the Atlantic Coast, Halifax was the one that the crew most enjoyed.

We do have a lot going on, and most of it is good...even if we struggle to believe it ourselves. But this is no time to sit and count our blessings. It’s September, and it’s time to get back to work.