Oops

Halifax buys illegal sign for community centre
Last Updated: Tuesday, January 5, 2010 9:20 PM AT Comments31Recommend16
CBC News
The message on this sign in Fall River used to change many times a day. Now there's one message. (Phonse Jessome/CBC)
It turns out that you can't beat city hall — even if you are city hall. That's the lesson learned when Halifax Regional Municipality spent thousands of dollars to put up a sign that violates its own bylaws in front of the new Gordon R. Snow Community Centre in Fall River.
The sign showed the time, the temperature and a scrolling message about activities in the centre.
Similar signs are used in other parts of Halifax, but they're not allowed in Fall River. So, when city planners found out about the sign, they issued an order to turn off the scroll. Now, a fixed message is in place on the sign.
District 2 Coun. Barry Dalrymple said that no one bothered to check the rules before forking out the money for the sign, and he doesn't want to know how much this mix-up cost
"To be honest with you, I don't want to know. That would be heartbreak, I'm sure," he said.
The city estimated the sign cost between $40,000 and $50,000. The bylaw states that the constant scrolling on the sign is too distracting to drivers.
"We do often hear that if the signs are changing, they become a traffic hazard, a traffic distraction, "Dalrymple said. "You know, I'm sorry, I was a policeman for a long time — I don't buy it."
For now, the message on the sign can change once a day while city planners review the bylaw.
This is yet another problem for the new $9-million centre.
When it opened in February, officials discovered that the underground well system produced only a little water, and that it contained too much iron and manganese.
The Halifax Regional Municipality had to issue a tender to provide water from a cistern.