HRM voters anticipate change
Posted Oct 22, 2012 05:52:59 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Mayor elect Mike Savage says it’s time to get to work.
The former Member of Parliament says he spent the two-month campaign learning about the city in anticipation of being elected the next Mayor of Halifax.
Now that that prediction is a reality, he tells News 95.7 it’s time to get down to business.
“This is not a job that you win and you relax and you go to Cuba for two weeks, and you come back and you take your time and you meander in and start to look at ‘where should I hang this picture?'” Savage told Maritime Morning Sunday. “This is a job that requires some action pretty quickly.”
According to Savage, some of the first things he hopes to do as mayor will be offering clarity and conviction to the council chambers, and making decisions that are good for the whole municipality.
There is concern from some residents that Halifax’s downtown core will become the focus of the new council – a belief which has laboured the municipality since amalgamation.
“I hope that Dartmouth won’t take a back seat. Dartmouth has been a bit forgotten over the last few years,” said one man outside a Young Street coffee shop.
While there are only three new faces on council, plus the mayor, there is still a call for change among voters.
“Halifax needs a change. Young people who have moved away see Halifax as a ‘go nowhere city.’ Regressive rather than progressive,” said Ernestine MacDonald.
“We just need change in Halifax, a progressive new direction, something positive for the city. More than just PR, actually doing something,” said another man, who wasn’t pleased about the lack of turnover in council. “Scary eh? I wish it was a clean slate.”
Municipal government will change hands on Nov. 6.
