Despite a year of calls to defund the police, council adds $2.7 million to HRP’s budget
A bleak signal of what’s to come on police reform in this city. If the words of Mike Savage, quoting Joe Biden Don t tell me what you value, show me your budget and I ll tell you what you value are true, what does Halifax Regional Council’s approach to police budgeting say? In a year teeming with calls to defund or at least reallocate police money, and in a meeting where those calls were voiced inside council’s virtual chamber, yesterday council voted to pour even more cash into three different police requests.
During election szn, some councillors said they supported it. Come budget time, they backtracked. This week Halfiax’s budget committee voted on the police budget, but talks about how HRM spends its money on policing have been buzzing for more than a year–since El Jones’s presentation on defunding the police to the Board of Police Commissioners in January 2020, to a global movement demanding the police and prison industrial complexes are dismantled. Back in October, when citizens of Halifax were deciding who to vote for in the municipal election, The Coast asked every candidate a long list of yes or no questions. On the subject of defunding the police, here’s how the eventual winners–now our elected representatives–voted.
Halifax to hold consultations on using parkland for new Clayton Park school
Halifax regional council will hold public consultations on a request from the province to buy parkland to build a new school. The parkland is located next to Park West, an existing school in Clayton Park West that s overcrowded.
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Park West School has outgrown its current building, so the province is looking to build another one next door
Posted: Jan 27, 2021 6:00 AM AT | Last Updated: January 27
Park West School in Clayton Park was designed for 560 students it now has 900.(Mark Crosby/CBC)