It’s a new year and many initiatives are well underway throughout the winter months at the Spring Garden Association office. This note is about reminders and how the association needs your participation to help make these initiatives successful. We recently joined forces with a new communication company, Kula Partners.ca they will be assisting us with a marketing strategy for the upcoming year. The team at Kula has optimized our website to the top of a Google search! It’s such a great opportunity to profile your business. We currently have 420 + businesses and on the website to date we are only showing a fraction of our services. If you are having challenges uploading your information or require some step by step instruction please contact our office. AS they say “be there be square”! This is our home base let’s profile everyone. Check us out at www.springgardenarea.com
One of the SGABA goals for 2012 is to increase the lighting for the holidays. This year we sprinkled the main area; however, our goal is decorate the entireSpring Garden Area and make the area the destination to visit with a grand holiday light display. If you are interested in volunteering on this steering committee please contact me, we will be engaging a consulting firm to leverage best placements and appropriate lighting for the area.
Many people regularly ask me about streetscaping for the area, so recently I asked HRM about plans for the Spring Garden Area. In summary, their response is that the new Central Regional Library is on its way and resources are focused on this build. They will look at recapitalization in the area sometime in 2014. The association is asking for proper sidewalk repairs, no asphalt and we are requesting a focus on the area as it relates to underground wiring. While contacting HRM, I referred to the 2009 Streetscape plan; unfortunately, it doesn’t appear we are being captured in the HRM budget for plans to do these upgrades now or in the near future.
It is the board’s goal to keep this matter top of mind with HRM.If you would like to inquire more about streetscaping or be involved in the associations’ advocacy on the matter please contact me. Board member, Mark Martin is the chair of the Streetscaping Committee.
The Regional Plan (RP+5) has been pushed out for 6 months and the OUR HRM Alliance group is tasking HRM with further commitments to have this process adhered to in a timely fashion. We are urging everyone to participate as this plan affects our economic well-being. Look for updates on halifax.ca. We will also notify you of the dates of the public consultations.
We are excited that the 2012 cruise ship schedule for the Port of Halifax has been released!
Approximately 130 cruise ships will be visiting our city which means about 245,000 cruise people visiting HRM between April and October .
There is also one new cruise line added to the mix...Disney Magic will make its inaugural call to our City.
So, to get you ready for the cruise ship visitors, here is the schedule for the first couple of months.
For the full schedule, go to
www.cruisehalifax.ca
and follow the links.
APRIL, 2012
April 12 - Azamara Journey
April 16 - Fred Olsen Cruise Lines
April 17 - Fred Olsen Cruise Lines
MAY, 2012
May 4 - Maasdam
May 5 - Caribbean Princess
May 17 - Maasdam
May 21 - Maasdam
May 31 - Maasdam
Recognized as a rare surviving example of a formal Victorian Garden, the Halifax Public Gardens are a National Historic Site. Throughout their history the Gardens have hosted important civic events and provided a sanctuary for residents and visitors seeking an escape from the noise and pace of the city. Citizens value the “public” nature of the Gardens as “free and open to all”.
The Friends of the Public Gardens have committed to work in partnership with Halifax Regional Municipality and the Government of Canada (Parks Canada) in a major project to restore the Victoria Jubilee Bandstand, the Jubilee Fountain, and the decorative urns surrounding the bandstand. The total project is expected to cost $1,000,000 and will be phased over two years, starting with restoration of the bandstand.
The bandstand restoration is now complete and the grand reopening occurred on Victoria Day, May 23, 2011; the Victoria Jubilee Fountain repairs should be done by 2012. Timing could not be better - the Jubilee Fountain was commissioned to celebrate Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee in 1897, and Queen Elizabeth II will celebrate her own Diamond Jubilee marking the 60th anniversary of her reign as Queen of Canada in 2012.For more information or to make a donation to the restoration project, please visit…..
Wednesday is the longest day of the week. That’s because every Wednesday evening for the past year and a half, the Navigator has partnered with the Mobile Outreach Street Health (MOSH) nurse on outreach from 6 pm to 10 pm (or later). Through this partnership, we are able to ensure that homeless and street-involved individuals in the downtown core have access to much needed Health Care services.
On any given Wednesday evening, we encounter individuals with a variety of health needs – ranging from blood work and pregnancy testing, to wound care and medications, to scheduling doctor appointments and completing the necessary forms for Department of Community Services. In the fall, the nurse has flu vaccinations available. In the winter, we have hats and mittens. And year round, we hand out harm reduction supplies and “MOSH bars” (a protein bar created by the nutritionist and the North End Community Health Center and made weekly by youth in the MOSH kitchen).
Each Wednesday starts and ends the same. We begin at the ARK – a drop-in center for street-youth on Gottingen Street, and finish at the Out of the Cold Shelter at St.Matthews Church on Barrington Street. The stops (and issues) in between vary from week to week. Some weeks, we check-in with 25 plus people while walking between Barrington Street and Spring Garden Road. Other weeks we have to spend an hour with an individual in crisis who has multiple needs. Over the past year, we have worked together to support the health, mental health, addictions and housing needs of 78 different individuals.
In many situations, we work together to assist individuals to develop a plan, and cost-share any expenses that may arise. For instance, we often cost-share bus tickets to enable individuals to get into detox and addiction treatment centers across Nova Scotia. Or cost-share an overdue power bill to ensure an individual can remain in their apartment with electricity.
To learn more about the MOSH program, and the amazing work that they do, check out www.cdha.nshealth.ca/mobile-outreach-street-health.
If you have questions for the Navigator, EJ Davis, call 209-6517, or check out our new facebook page Navigator Street Outreach Program
Eat your Heart out, Halifax, is a one night event in which participating restaurants will donate 15% of their food bills for the evening to the Maritime Heart Center. This is a fantastic opportunity for people to contribute to a charity simply by doing what they would normally do – enjoy a great meal at a great restaurant!!
It’s a simple concept that offers great benefits to EVERYONE involved; restaurants enjoy increased attendance and publicity and a tax receipt for their donation, diners get to support a critical local cause
without the need for expensive ticketed events and of course, the Maritime Heart Center receives much-needed funds to support programming in a province where 1 in 3 people will die from heart disease.
Participating Restaurants to date include….
Estia
Oynx
Moda Urban Dining
Mexico Lindo
Bistro Le Coq
As we get closer to the date,additional restaurants will be added to the list of participating restaurants so check out their website
www.maritimeheartcenter.ca
For additional information to participate in this event, either as a restaurant or a customer, please contact….
John Britton
Senior Development Manager
Maritime Heart Center
Tel:446-3669
Email: john@maritimeheartcenter.ca
CONGRATULATIONS!!
To all of the amazing businesses and people in our area who have recently been awarded a Best in Halifax Award from The Coast.
With over 80 winners from the Spring Garden Area (some with 4 or 5 awards each) residents of Halifax certainly know that the Spring Garden Area is The Place to Shop and Dine!
