My kid was shovelling a neighbour's driveway and the sidewalk plow shovelled a fresh pile over his hard work. Universal feeling, son. #hfxws

As Fairview increases in density, three things I long for and I think can be sustained in a few years: 1. A little hardware store so I don't have to slog it to Rona or Bayer's Lake when I just need small things. 2. A library. Perhaps adjacent to St. Andrews 3. A good quality coffee shop :)

Cold and crunchy at the gardens today.

#hfxws This may be unpopular but I'm gonna give the city a passing grade, given my kids and I were able to bike without any major issues both this morning and aft. Exceptions: Almon is 1/2 clean, 1/2 coated in black ice; no salt. I guess plow can't fit in certain parts? Even Liverpool was "good"!

Plenty of #BikeHfx parking behind and adjacent to the new Espresso 46 location 🙂 (I think opening in Spring alongside their Warehouse Market counterpart) Looking forward to continued pedestrian/human-focused improvements to this district. Lots of work left to do.

Beauty day for a family bike day.

Running to Access Nova Scotia is hilariously (and frustratingly) bad 😬

#hfxws 9am: Not many surfaces treated. The sun is working hard to help us out here and get the thin layer of ice melted. Ran through North End and Downtown. 95% ok but surprising spots (eg pictures) — again, slowly disappearing as the sun gets higher 🌞 No wind. I suspect afternoon will be wonderful

#hfxws is everything a sheet of ice or are the sidewalks etc on peninsula fine?

#hfxws Mixed bag of slippery-ness. Had to detour my run to the COLT as I couldn’t get consistent traction on sidewalks. I was surprised at the amount of cyclists who passed me along the trail!

New bot dropped. It often feels like people share news of Halifax permits, esp for demolition, as if they are secret knowledge. It’s all open data and now this bot posts them with street view (if available) and maps. Just demolition for now but may expand depending on volume.

Wow, superb initiative! Just ordered a handful, some that'll be winter sown.

Two cats, perhaps friends, enjoying the quiet streets on Christmas morning; west end Halifax.

In Polish school a few weeks back, my kid learned a bit about the history of Santa and they spoke to the image of Claus popularized by the Coca Cola company. So now he’s curious if Santa will prefer a classic coke over milk (or maybe both?) I appreciate his experimental thinking! Merry Christmas 🎄

#BikeHfx I've requested bike parking at Horseshoe Island Park. This is a quaint spot for picnics, fishing, and a quiet moment by the water. There is about a dozen parking spots for vehicles, nada for bikes If you agree, send an email! www.halifax.ca/transportati...

Finally took the time to write my reflections on mapping (almost) every bike parking spot in Halifax. It's a fun "living" project that brings me joy & has apparently helped some folks too! The post is both a love letter to Halifax and the joy found in simple projects. justbartek.ca/p/posts/hfxb...

#hfxws 😊

The Narrows now has #BikeHfx parking at their front doors (note: on public sidewalk, not their property). Previously quite the deadzone! Go get yer fish and chips 😄👍

#hfxws Mostly good with caution 👀. Spots of black ice. Especially near curb cuts. 7am.

#hfxws Don’t fear the Alberta Clipper. It’s good out there! Not enough accumulation to be tough. A little grip always helps ofc. Boots and tires of those moving around clearing that not done by the city. 7:20am (Although the “AAA” Almon bike lane still has leaves from fall — now frozen. Sigh)

Paving day on Dutch Village Road. The sidewalks and bike lanes are nearly complete, but not yet end to end. Greenery, benches, and other fixtures likely next Spring.

My kids play this game where they take a bite out of an apple, piece it back together and ask “Is it broken or not?” And I just found the #BikeHfx parking equivalent to this. 😭 (will report)

The new Commons playground was posted on the Halifax subreddit and it’s … incredibly disappointing? Bargain bin playground in the centre of the city. This should be a creative, inspiring space but it’s just another example of low tax city at work. Lame.

Leaves + frost + poorly graded, unmaintained overpass sidewalk is going to result in quite unsafe conditions for #BikeHfx very soon.

#BikeHfx Question: I am grateful there is now protected infrastructure along Almon but is there any maintenance, ie leaf sweeping? With the frost/rain mix and the amount of leaves it's getting quite dangerous. I worry as this makes me suspect there will be no winter maintenance for these lanes!

Excellent.

Don't mind me, just posting my daily #BikeHfx experience 😅

My #BikeHfx joy came in two parts this rainy, windy morning: First, the wind was so amusingly aggressive that while coasting down Cogswell, I was barely moving! That was a neat experience. Second, I got to partially ride in the new Brunswick bike lane. It's such an improvement over prior.

Thank you Fairview for a great Halloween. A great haul for my kids. So many nice comments on their costumes — which they put much work into. Here, I present my oldest kiddos chocolate based treats ranked in order from best to worst (descending from coffee crisp) Left section not yet known.

You guys, did I find the real life version of Halifax 311? Can I just go in here and share my grievances? (I won’t, I’m not that kind of person) Misjudged opening time of Fabricville and had 15 minutes to tour Bayers Rd. Centre. Interesting space! Potential! Let’s build some housing on top of this!

#BikeHfx Hoping for route help. For the first time, I'm crossing the Armdale Rotary on bike and heading into Spryfield. Tomorrow AM so light traffic, need to get to Lois Lane (incredible street name!) Google suggests Herring Cove and it's direct, but not sure I feel good about it. Alternatives?

Here are the #BikeHfx accommodations during construction over the Almon bike lane. Note it is now a shared space with pedestrians. Still, excellent to see!

Got out for Nocturne. City was jammed with folks enjoying the festival, Wanderers, and I think Mooseheads game — alive! The festival is a nice show case of Halifax talent! Highlight was the Iness Circus: put on an incredible show!

Never jealous, only pleased with how much my wife loves her new (bike) commute. (semi regular instagram posting)

Nice to be greeted this morning with a WIP bi-directional bike lane on Brunswick (pictures after-the-fact when I went for a little walk) Excellent re-allocation of space to people and a good reminder that bike infrastructure results in a safer environment for *all* users (yes, incl. vehicles)

#BikeHfx Looking for recommendations for cycling in the dark, both kids sized and adult bikes. I want the brightest absolutely useful stuff! We need to outfit our family. (surprisingly, we never biked in the afternoon due to schedules and how they worked — different now)

Realized yesterday morning (what else would I be doing at 5am when it's dark out and no one's awake?) that the Halifax Transit Vehicle Position feed is available for anyone and you can just plot buses on a map and it's kind of fun to watch them nudge around! data-hrm.hub.arcgis.com/pages/open-d...

We hit up the new pump track in Eastern Passage earlier today. It’s really well done! Nice size and various skill levels supported. Kind of wish I had my own little BMX but for now it’s the kids who get to enjoy 😎

Continuing my integration as a Nova Scotian with a first attempt at green tomato chow! A reasonable bounty of tomatoes this year but many greens and decided I wanted to tend to these now rather than wait and see if they’ll ripen. Added some chili peppers which I’m going to over winter as well.

Popped into the Halifax Tool Library and got myself a membership. What a fun space! So many tools! This is great. Thanks @danp.net for the recommendation! First job, fix my kids’ Nintendo DS 😀

#BikeHfx parking so new it’s still under wraps! (Didn’t know they wrapped these things during shipping 😄)

If I take the Cogswell bike lane home (from downtown where I sometimes work) I have to climb a terrible hill, but it’s so worth it to bike on this very pleasant bike lane. Honestly the Cogswell stuff is great. I love it! So much space back to humans.

#BikeHfx and @suzannerent.bsky.social (who wrote on this): Had thought new developments in Halifax were required to provide accommodations for pedestrians when encroaching on space. This development at Windsor/Young is not doing that, and it's gonna be here for awhile. Where do we stand on this?

The public library at Truro downtown is really nice. Both inside and out — great work done here it seems!

Love me some fresh curb lines. (Dutch Village Road, the work on the next side begins)

Desire paths come in many shapes and forms. This one seems to connect corporate plaza workers (near the Armdale rotary) to the Mumford bus terminal. Legal? Probably not, but the alternatives are lengthier (1km+) and include traversing overbuilt parking lots (with little to no sidewalks)

Nice #BikeHfx accessibility/parking surprises in otherwise unfriendly spaces: Cafe Lara on Kempt (stunning inside!) and Value Village on Chain Lake Dr. Biking up towards Value Village is a bit sweaty (especially on this humid morning) but going home was great. Wee!

@envirojen.bsky.social @bikehfxlobby.bsky.social Saw this and thought of you two — do you think something like this would be helpful for Halifax? I feel you’ve done lots of work in this regard already! Would be interesting to highlight attractions eg parks/beaches too. ssafety.org/happy-wheels/

This has been a raging success for my family. My oldest is biking 4-6km a day, while my daughter does a mini ride in the morning (practice for longer distances!) and then is towed on the way home. They are both, but mostly my oldest is gaining serious confidence navigating rush hour related things.

After four years of demolition and construction, Halifax's Cogswell Interchange redevelopment officially opened today. 🎉 I dug out the camera that I used to photograph the highway nearly 10 years ago and took an "after" pic from the same spot. It's satisfying to flip between the two photos.