Halifax's Stick Season: we deserved better, and we still do

Andy Fillmore built a convention centre and brought on Halifax's Stick Season*, when we should have been building communities

Sep 16, 2024

“It’s about feeling left behind and feeling trapped. It’s about seeing the other side of a place you thought was only beautiful. As a relationship ends, some place or someone you used to look back at so fondly quickly transforms into a memory of pain.”

Noah Kahan

Three Stories Recapping the Andy Fillmore Backstory

Andy Fillmore is running for Mayor of Halifax. In a recent ‘prompted poll’ – a poll where respondents are given the names of choices – Fillmore was the choice of about 23% of respondents, with about another 60% reporting they don’t know what to think.

The election is coming up in about five weeks.

Part 1: There’s a problem

Because Andy has baggage.

Andy Fillmore’s career as a planner for Halifax Regional Municipality and his involvement in municipal policies laid the groundwork for the biggest problems currently facing the city. Housing. Homelessness. Property tax inequity. Too crowded downtown. Too little investment in other regions. His key policies and decisions while leading the planning efforts at Halifax Regional Municipality (HRM) emphasize urban densification – urban and up - and the prioritization of development in specific areas, but they have been criticized for contributing to the housing affordability crisis and unchecked development.

He's the cause of the problems he now wants us to hire him to fix… somehow.

Big ideas, bigger problems—Andy’s real track record.

One of the most contentious projects linked to Fillmore is the Cogswell Interchange. As a city planner, he advocated for keeping the Cogswell lands as a "land bank," holding off on their development until the downtown core was fully built out. This strategy aimed to control land prices. It did. It led to inflated rents and property values, benefiting developers while reducing affordable housing options. His role in supporting the Nova Centre project, despite public concerns over its utter uselessness, its impact on the urban landscape, and its poor investment value when compared to other options, also drew criticism for prioritizing corporate interests – big erection obsession - over community needs.

Andy’s ‘solutions’ are half the city’s problems.

Fillmore has also been vocal about Halifax's need to embrace densification. He started the growth, growth, growth mantra. However, he was never able to articulate an actual goal – what a rightsized density was, how much growth could be sustained or desired given our culture, natural charms, and infrastructure.

In the end, it became clear it wasn’t about growth at all, it was about driving up the values of the big box downtown real estate held by a small group of oligarchs. He argued that the traditional suburban model (with one-acre lots and detached homes) was no longer sustainable. More importantly, he forgot to imagine any other model of development was possible.

See Missing Middle.

See Perpetuating the Problem with Zoning.

See New Towns and Garden Cities

Instead, he supported building up, particularly in urban cores, a move that critics say enriched developers but worsened housing affordability for the average resident. His policies seem to align with the idea of rapid urban expansion, which, while modernizing parts of Halifax, have also led to growing pains in infrastructure, housing supply, and public service delivery.

In Logic, a False dilemma fallacy is also known as a false dichotomy, false binary, and “either-or” fallacy. It is the fallacy of presenting only two choices, outcomes, or sides to an argument as the only possibilities when more are available. It is used to manipulate decision-making.

Sidebar: I realize Ogliarch is a bombastic word. But it’s the right one. We just don’t normally talk like that around here.

Oligarchy refers to a form of power structure where a small group of individuals or entities hold significant control over a particular sector, organization, or government. In an oligarchic economic system, this small group may dominate industries, wealth, or political influence. For example, in property development, a few land speculators could control large parts of an economy. These few individuals or firms dominate the local development landscape, shaping the city's growth and property values, often at the expense of broader community interests. While there may still be some competition between these players, their collective influence on local government and regulations effectively stifles new entrants and alternative voices in the market. This concentration of power typically arises in environments where barriers to entry, such as capital requirements, political connections, or insider knowledge, are high, allowing the group to dictate the direction of urban development and economic opportunity in the city.

If you aren’t part of the 60% mentioned above in the poll and you’re wondering what they’re thinking, you might just listen to basically any new Noah Kahan song.

What is the meaning of Stick Season?

Stick Season is the term used for a certain time of year between Autumn and Winter and is used frequently by people from Vermont, where Noah Kahan was born and grew up.

“The beauty of autumn foliage transforms into a brown and gray wasteland as we wait for the first snow. It is an unfortunate but necessary transition, similar in so many ways to the transition from familiar lovers into heartbroken strangers. I like to look at the song as hopeful; winter will come, the snow will fall, melt, and eventually summer will be back in all its beauty. You will suffer, move on, and survive again.”

Noah Kahan

I hope so too.

Part Two: Fillmore’s Time In The Big Leagues

While Andy was in Ottawa, Halifax lost its heart

Andy Fillmore’s nine years in federal politics as MP for Halifax yielded few significant leadership roles, especially compared to his fellow Nova Scotians like current MP Sean Fraser, who quickly rose to cabinet positions. Despite being part of the Liberal wave that brought Justin Trudeau to power in 2015, Fillmore remained largely on the sidelines. Fraser, a rural MP and commercial lawyer, is now Minister of Housing, and Fillmore, the city planning expert with a Harvard Degree, has struck out.

While others in his cohort, like Fraser, ascended to more prominent positions, Fillmore never secured a cabinet post despite representing a major urban center and having a background that might have qualified him for more substantial leadership roles. His limited rise within the ranks raises questions about his ability to translate his much-talked-about schooling into tangible political influence. Even as he departs federal politics to run for mayor of Halifax, Fillmore's record in Ottawa could be seen as a missed opportunity, suggesting that his time in the "big leagues" did not yield significant results for Halifax. Worse, it gives the distinct impression he’s leaving a sinking ship… he only beat NDP candidate Lisa Roberts in the last election by less than a thousand votes and was clearly not up for a rematch.

Urban and Up at All Costs - For every big crane in the sky, there’s a big problem on the ground

In his role as a federal MP, Fillmore continued to push for policies aligned with rapid growth and densification, sometimes clashing with local council over height limits and zoning. He publicly expressed frustration with council’s objections to blanket height increases.

Fillmore’s legacy in urban planning in Halifax has certainly shaped the city’s current landscape, but it has also left the municipality grappling with a host of modern urban challenges—from skyrocketing rents to strained infrastructure.

The Big Dig

It’s worth remembering that his first and most notable urban design job was with The Big Dig in Boston – a project so notorious for its mismanagement, delays, and cost overruns it remains, and may possibly forever be, at over $15 billion and counting, among the most expensive public works projects in American history. It has a legacy of several high-profile engineering failures, including leaks, safety issues, and even a fatal tunnel collapse in 2006.

PART 3: Back In Halifax, Andy built a convention centre, when we should have been building communities.

Fillmore took whatever he learned in Boston back to Halifax.

Andy Fillmore's involvement in the Nova Centre—Halifax’s convention centre project—has been subject to scrutiny, particularly regarding the controversial use of public funds and the relationship with land developer Joe Ramia. Fillmore, while serving as Halifax’s urban planner, played a significant role in shaping the debate around the Nova Centre, which became a hallmark of urban development in Halifax during his tenure.

Key Points of Controversy:

1. Unprecedented Public Investment:

The Nova Centre, costing over $500 million up front, will be a billion plus by the time the lease is up… that’s right we don’t even own it in the end… and is losing millions more in operational costs every year. Covering the endless loss is ‘split’ between the province and the city. I put split in quotes because, like you, I’m painfully aware there is only one taxpayer. The Convention Centre was the largest single public investment in a building Halifax's history to that point. For perspective a new state of the art provincial hospital was budgeted at around $2 billion at that time. The Convention Centre financing structure involved the federal, provincial, and municipal governments putting the majority of the cash investment up front. Critics argued that this was an unprecedented allocation of public money for a project that primarily benefited a private developer.

2. Insider Deal with Developer:

The development process was marked by accusations of noncompetitive practices. Joe Ramia, a major Halifax land speculator, was able to secure the rights to develop the site under conditions that many saw as overly favorable to him. This gave rise to concerns that Halifax’s city planning process lacked transparency and that alternative options for such a massive public investment were not seriously considered. Fillmore’s role in guiding the city’s urban planning decisions during this time fueled criticism that the project served the interests of developers over the community.

3. Cogswell Interchange and Development Priorities:

Fillmore was instrumental in delaying the redevelopment of the Cogswell Interchange lands, reportedly advising council to hold off on opening the land for development until downtown Halifax was fully built out. This complicated and deep backroom decision, seen as a way to protect the Nova Centre project by keeping land prices elevated, furthered the perception that Fillmore was more concerned with benefiting certain developers than considering broader public interests.

4. Lack of Competitive Bidding:

There were limited efforts to explore alternative developers or project designs for the Nova Centre. The deal between the government and Ramia was perceived as a "sweetheart deal," with critics suggesting that Halifax missed an opportunity to conduct a more open and competitive bidding process that might have brought forward other innovative or cost-effective solutions for the convention centre.

Public Backlash and Legacy

The public response to the Nova Centre was mixed. While the project eventually brought a modern convention centre to Halifax and reshaped part of the downtown core, it came with significant controversy. The lack of transparency and the involvement of a prominent land developer in what was seen as an insider deal left many Haligonians with a sour taste, feeling that public funds had been too easily handed over without sufficient consideration for alternative courses of action. More many it was a solution without a problem, or a problem so low down on the priority list as to be nonsensical. But it became the top priority of the government… even ahead of the hospital which is still not complete.

Andy Fillmore: More towers, fewer solutions

Ultimately, while Fillmore helped push the project forward as part of his broader vision for Halifax's urban development, it also sparked lasting debates about the role of public money in private developments, the prioritization of high-end development over affordable housing and community needs, and the degree to which insider deals influence city planning.

The Nova Centre project, spearheaded by a partnership between government and private developer Joe Ramia, exemplifies a missed opportunity for Halifax—a case where growth for the sake of growth overshadowed more nuanced and potentially beneficial investments. This focus on a Big, Bigger, Biggest Bigly approach not only sidelined public input but also deprived the city of exploring smaller, more diverse development bets that could have fostered prosperity across a broader range of the population.

Opportunity Cost of the Nova Centre – Yes, I’m Still Cross About This Mess After All These Years…

Maybe more so now even because of all the problems with housing, homelessness, and people wanting a little more back for their property taxes

The most glaring issue with the Nova Centre is its opportunity cost—the investment of public money in a singular large-scale project to the exclusion of other, potentially more effective uses. The Halifax public was never fully consulted on alternative uses for the funds or other development strategies that might have produced more diverse and sustainable economic benefits.

The hundreds of millions in public investment into the Nova Centre could have been allocated to smaller, targeted projects aimed at enhancing various sectors of the city’s economy. This could have included:

- Affordable housing initiatives, addressing Halifax's growing housing crisis.

- Infrastructure improvements in underserved neighborhoods.

- Small business grants to support local entrepreneurs.

- Public transportation upgrades that would connect different parts of the city and foster more inclusive growth.

In contrast to these potentially transformative and less risky investments, the Nova Centre was presented as a "pre-supposed" solution without a rigorous examination of its broader impact on the local economy. The decision to move forward with the convention centre was begging the question, assuming from the outset that large-scale development and increased tourism would naturally lead to prosperity. But, as Halifax has experienced, growth without the corresponding wealth distribution or improvements in living standards often leads to deeper disparities rather than shared prosperity.

Growth Without Prosperity

Andy: All plans, no real progress. The Nova Centre epitomizes growth without prosperity in Halifax, where the city’s rapid expansion is not translating into widespread economic benefits. This is particularly evident in the housing market, where luxury developments are crowding out affordable housing, and in the job market, where higher-paying, skilled jobs are not growing in proportion to the city’s population.

This pattern reflects a broader issue in modern urban development where municipalities prioritize "big bet" “Zoned” projects—convention centres, high-rise towers, and office complexes—over a more diversified approach that could stimulate multiple sectors of the economy and more regions in our ridiculously too big municipality. In Halifax’s case, small-scale, community-focused investments might have fostered more resilient and equitable growth, providing opportunities for local entrepreneurs, skilled workers, and residents at all income levels.

Policy-Based Alternatives

A sounder policy approach for Halifax would have involved a broader public consultation on the use of public funds, considering alternative models of urban development that emphasize inclusivity and long-term sustainability. I was there and I’m positive if they had listened to the regular people who showed up at the meetings we could have avoided almost all the current problems that we will continue to suffer under for the next 10 years. Ideas that aren’t new but were ignored back then included:

1. Incremental, Mixed-Use Development: Halifax could have invested in smaller, mixed-use developments, effectively new villages across the city, creating combined new residential, commercial, and green spaces that align with local needs. This would provide more incremental economic benefits and distribute prosperity more evenly.

2. Affordable Housing: Allocating part of the public funds to address the affordable housing shortage would have directly benefited a broader swath of the population and alleviated one of the city's most pressing issues. This could have reduced economic inequality and supported long-term prosperity.

3. Community-Driven Investments: A focus on community-based urban planning—where local voices are prioritized—could have led to projects that reflect the needs of Halifax’s diverse neighborhoods. This would have fostered more equitable development, rather than concentrating resources into a single downtown project that primarily benefits developers.

4. Diversified Economic Strategy: Rather than pinning hopes on tourism-driven growth, Halifax could have leveraged its public funds to support diverse sectors such as tech, new industries, practical trades education, and local manufacturing. This would have created more stable and higher-paying jobs along with the trained people to fill them, leading to prosperity tied to long-term economic resilience rather than cyclical tourism markets.

A Lesson in Unchecked Growth

In retrospect, Halifax’s Nova Centre project was the tipping point. It serves as a cautionary tale of unchecked growth fueled by large-scale investments that prioritize short-term gains in GDP over long-term prosperity for people. By focusing so heavily on downtown development and tourism, Halifax has inadvertently overlooked the importance of fostering sustainable, inclusive growth that reaches beyond its city center and into the wider community.

In the end, Halifax’s public money could have been used for projects that serve broader public needs, such as affordable housing, local business development, or public infrastructure. Instead, the Nova Centre locked Halifax into a singular, high-stakes project whose benefits, while tangible in certain areas, failed to address the city's pressing economic disparities and challenges.

In modern bureaucracy, the idea is to divide responsibility and therefore guilt up into small forgettable pieces such that no one is ever responsible or even named.

But if I was going to name one name… it would not be Alexander Keith.