Don't make all decisions just about the numbers, Halifax councillor urges
A Halifax regional councillor says the municipality is too often driven by numbers when it makes decisions, and needs to craft a broad social policy to help guide planning for everything from rural sidewalks to recreation areas.
Lindell Smith, the councillor for District 8 Halifax Peninsula North, wants municipal staff to draft a report on how to create a social policy. Council will decide at a meeting today whether to instruct staff to do so.
The policy would help the municipality consider social issues like poverty, addiction and people with disabilities when making decisions.
Right now, the municipality sometimes doesn't consider the real needs of people, Smith said. For example, residents of a rural area may want sidewalks, but planners say there are not enough pedestrians to warrant the investment.
However, there may be children who walk along the road to get to their bus and they need a sidewalk for safety, said Smith, so it's important to consider the social situation in an area before making such decisions.
"Sometimes it's hard when you don't have the policy to look at the bigger picture," he said. "What's the impact on, on certain communities, on certain folks who may be low income who may be newcomers to the city, all these different factors that sometimes you can't put a number or a simple equation to."
Smith said the municipality is already doing a lot of good social work such as offering low income bus passes and mobile food markets, and is hammering out a poverty reduction strategy.
"We're doing great things that have to do with social but we're doing it as one-offs or ad hocs, which are great, but I think we need to think of it as a whole picture and what's the effect."
Another example is central Halifax's Emera Oval, which is free to use and loans out skates and helmets at no charge. Smith said the city could look for ways to promote the skating rink to people with low incomes or addictions who might not otherwise lace up.
In the end, Smith would like a new policy to help the municipality make sure it is looking out for everyone.
Other cities such as Toronto and Vancouver have already adopted similar strategies, according to Smith. He hopes Halifax staff will be able to use those programs as examples to figure out a model for the municipality.
It's not clear how much this kind of policy might cost or if the municipality even has the resources to put the policy into effect.
