There is no better investment, in our society than in our youth. Any time that a school asks for funds they can be sure that they will get it (if I have the funds available).

Schools are my top priority, and are at the top of my list for funding requests.

We have some great facilities around us, and I want to make sure that they are in good shape for all of us to use. I also want to make sure that they continue to meet our needs. I've demonstrated my commitment to this, over and over again, by helping out with the Sackville Sports Stadium, the Sackville Heights Community Centre, and the Sackville Arena. I've also helped move forward the proposal for a Lacrosse facility.

We also have some great trail systems with the Sackville Rivers Trail, the First Lake trail system, and the trails in the Sackville Lakes provincial park. Getting back to nature is calming and is a great way to get your exercise. We also have some fantastic lakes in our area, and I have funded the lake groups to help ensure (and improve) the health of the lakes. I will continue to do this.

We need to to continue to have places where people can go for recreation, and I plan to continue to help with that.

We live in an area where most of the streets have a speed limit of 50kmh or 60kmh, and they do not have sidewalks. Existing developments with sidewalks could see those sidewalks repaired. New developments would see new sidewalks. But existing developments with no sidewalks? We were missed.

That has recently changed, and we now expect to see new sidewalks in a number of areas. I want to make sure that they are the in the areas with the highest safety concerns. These include:

• Along all of Old Beaver Bank Road
• Stokil Drive between the two schools
• The other side of Cobequid Road between Memory Lane and the Cobequid Health Centre
• Kinsac Road up to the school

We have made significant progress in traffic calming and other street improvements over the past five years. There is still more work to be done.

• Identifying and traffic calming on multiple streets
• Some streets, like Sackville Drive, cannot have regular traffic calming because of the street classification. We need to develop new methods to help control speed here.
• Improve the average condition of streets across Lower Sackville, and across HRM. Streets are our biggest and most costly asset. We need to take care of them properly.
• Increase the amount of traffic monitoring, decrease the amount of speeding, and make our streets safer

• Improving the housing situation in Lower Sackville and in Beaver Bank, and across HRM. Low vacancy rates are creating challenges for anyone seeking housing and are a risk to those without a roof over their heads. We need to balance increased housing with not losing our sense of community.
• Ensuring more options for egress from Beaver Bank. We have a couple of options, but more are needed.
• Ensuring that we have plenty of options available for food security, including continued support for Freedom Kitchen and the Square Roots food bundle program
• Ensuring that we have strong social and youth supports, so that we can help our at-risk youth
• Ensuring that Lower Sackville and Beaver Bank remain as strong and vibrant communities, where we support and take care of each other
• Better access to Transit - a bus going out to Beaver Bank, and a circle route in Lower Sackville

Beaver Bankers need another way to leaver Beaver Bank. Beaver Bank road already congested, and is going to get worse as more development happens. The Beaver Bank Bypass can provide a solution.

Background:

The Beaver Bank Bypass is part of a road system that would connect the Hammonds Plains Road to Margeson Drive, wrap around Beaver Bank and Fall River, and connect to the 102 near the airport. Click the image to view more detail.

This was a project that was discussed 25-30 years ago, and was then discontinued in 2002. Since that time one section has been built, Margeson Drive, that provides a necessary connection from Highway 101 to Sackville Drive.

The Wildfires:

With the wildfires in 2023, we realized the need for additional egress points from many communities, including Beaver Bank, and discussion about the Beaver Bank Connector was resumed.

One proposal is for this road to be parallel to the Beaver Bank Road, with connections to the Beaver Bank Road at Quarry Road, Galloway Drive, and Birch Road. Additional connection points could also be considered at other points, possibly Barrett Road.

Click the image to view more detail. Please note that this is only a portion of the road. The full road would not terminate at Birch Road, as this image indicates.

How it helps:

The Beaver Bank Connector provides two benefits to Beaver Bank:

1. On a day to day basis many vehicles, including larger trucks, would be able to use this road and would be able to avoid the Beaver Bank Road. This would help reduce the traffic volume on Beaver Bank Road.
2. In an emergency this road would provide an additional set of roads to be able to exit Beaver Bank Road. If you currently live past Galloway Drive, and there is a problem, then your only way out is to keep going up to Rawdon.

What I will do:

This project is under consideration by the provincial Joint Regional Transportation Agency (JRTA), although I don't have any further details (these may be included in a JRTA report that is due in November). I will work with HRM and the province to further the conversations and work to move the development of this road forwards.

We live in a great municipality, but we need to keep making it better. This will help improve the quality of life for all of us. I have been, and will continue to work:

• Ensuring that HRM is fiscally strong
  • that taxes are only raised in conjunction with improvements in service or infrastructure
  • that we reduce our debt
• Ensuring that our society is strong, which includes
  • taking care of those that need extra help, including improving options for shelter, food security, and social supports
  • recognizing the equal value of everyone, regardless of age, race,
    religion, gender, or ability
• Ensuring that HRM is responsive to the needs of those who work and live within it
• Ensuring that HRM provides clear and consistent information, which includes:
  • identifying any areas (like specific web site pages) where information is missing, incomplete, confusing, or incorrect
  • ensuring that any reports, by-laws, or other policies and procedures, are clear and published.

I have responded to hundreds of resident issues since I have been elected. In many cases these were met with a good resolution, although in some cases we were not able to resolve the issue.

I am continuing to work on the resident issues and make sure that I respond to every contact, whether I am contacted by e-mail, phone, or in person.

I have brought Sackville to the forefront at Council, talking about the various people, community groups, events, businesses that we have here. Sackville is a wonderful place to live, and I have made sure that those around the Council table understand just how special it is.

I have made sure that the different departments know about the concerns that we have, and that I will continue to bring our concerns forward.

Over the years we have gathered data about which neighbourhood streets have a speed issue. This data has directed further actions, such as:

• adding speed humps to many neighbourhood streets
• adding speed radar displays to Riverside Drive
• reducing the neighbourhood speed around Chandler Drive
• working with the RCMP about trouble spots

I have also distributed many signs reminding drivers to slow down. If you would like one then please let me know.

I have made sure that certain streets are and sidewalks are seen to be a higher priority. These include:

• Old Beaver Bank Road
• Stokil Drive between the two schools
• The opposite side of Cobequid Road from Memory Lane to the Cobequid Health Centre

We have now seen the completion of RA-5s at all of the intersections along Riverside Drive between Cobequid Road and Beaver Bank Road.

Every day we see people run across the street between the Sackville Library and Tim Hortons. This is crossing four lanes of traffic, with no protection. In the past we had been told that the stop lights, at Riverside and at the Sackville Cross Road, were too close together to warrant another signal.

I have continued to work with staff, and am thrilled that we will now have a pedestrian activated signal to allow crossing between the Sackville Library and Tim Hortons.

This is long overdue, and will be in place this fall.

For about the past 30 years swimming in First Lake was at your own risk. The e.coli levels at the beach meant that it was closed more than it was open.

This was one of the major problems that I wanted to correct.

Working with the Friends of First Lake we identified the locations of the highest concentrations of e.coli in First Lake. We then contracted CBCL to identify the source of it - which turned out to be mostly human.

We are now working with Halifax Water to identify the specific source of the issues (down to specific properties) and correct them. Halifax Water has made progress with their investigations and are making the required fixes to their system, and are also working with residents to fix their system.

The Friends of First Lake is continuing to monitor the e.coli levels. This year we have seen a good reduction in the e.coli levels at the major trouble spots, so we are making progress!

This was one of the things that I wanted to accomplish when deciding to run for Council in the first place, and is the first ever analysis of First Lake.

We need more recreation options in Lower Sackville. I heard that loud and clear in the last election.

Working with the general manager of the Sackville Sports Stadium, and our community, we determined what we would like to see in the way of significant improvements.

We now have, in a future year's budget, the concept of an additional gym, a walking track, a boat launch, and other significant improvements to the Sports Stadium.

This is the first significant expansion since the addition of the field house and curling.

We live in a wonderful community, and I’m doing what I can to make it even better. One key to this is listening to what you would like. In the last election many people talked about the need for more opportunities for recreation. We have also seen the amount of development in the area because of the population growth. We can’t just have places for people to live, we also have to have things that they enjoy doing.

Lacrosse was mentioned in both the 2019 and 2020 elections.

Following the elections I’ve had many conversations with Steve Brown from the Sackville Wolves, and others interested in Lacrosse, where they talked about the growing interest in the sport, and about the lack of courts within the municipality that could house lacrosse. Most of the lacrosse games have to be played in hockey rinks in the summer (when there is no ice) or outside of the Halifax Regional Municipality.

We talked about different groups working together, different properties, different operating models, and different ownership models. Steve landed on a collaboration between the Sackville Wolves, Mi’kmaw Native Friendship Centre, Halifax Thunderbirds, and NSHA, which covers all aspects of what lacrosse is.

The location of the former Centennial School property on George Street seems to be a good choice because it is a clear area with good access, and is now an empty field with a playground structure on one side.

What we are looking at is a set of two courts plus an indigenous information centre, with a number of other features around the court, like a walking track. The courts would be built for lacrosse, but could be used for other sports as well. I am thrilled to have helped move this forward and to bring it to the municipality.

A number of people walk from Sackville Manor park, across Hwy 101 at Exit 2, to get to the Sackville bus terminal. There have been two tragedies over the years at this location. This was a problem that needed to be fixed. I spoke with residents of the Sackville Manor park about in both of the past two elections.

We have moved forward and now have rough plans for a pedestrian overpass.

We have approached the province for help (https://cdn.halifax.ca/sites/default/files/documents/city-hall/regional-council/240618rc1515.pdf), and are looking forward to their cooperation. We have moved this forward so that we can make pedestrian crossing at Exit 2 safe!

On Beaver Bank Road, at Boxwood Crescent, we have a bus stop on either side of the road that working people shouldn't have used. If you work a normal 9-5 day then either on your way in town or on your way home, you would have to cross Beaver Bank Road during rush hour - and nobody would consider that safe!

I worked with our public works team to find a solution, and the pedestrian activated Rectangular Rapid Flashing Beacons (RRFB) was that solution. This was the first use of these along the Beaver Bank Road.

Many intersections have flags that pedestrians can use to be more visible. One intersection - Metropolitan Ave at Kingfisher Way - is one where this wasn't enough.

I was able to work with our public works team and demonstrate the need for improved signals. We have now an RRFB at that location as well!

There were two significant problems with the traffic signals at Stokil Drive and Beaver Bank Road. The first is that the technology was old and required manual intervention much of the time. The second is that there were no left turn lanes.

Over the past couple of years both of these problems have been corrected. We now have a left turn lane with an advance left turn indicator in all four directions, which should help to improve traffic flow.