🚀 go-pugleaf

"Punk" wrote:

> I can understand a little seed money for events like Natal day which
> involves the whole of the community but event's that are group specific
> should be able to manage on their own. I'm sure the overwhelming majority 
> of HRM
> citizens will not be attending just like they don't attend things like the 
> Greek
> fest or Jazz fest or whatever.

You're right Punk - the majority of people attending the Greek Festival will 
most likely either be Greek in origin, or have relatives that are Greek. 
But not all - I went one year with a friend of mine (who's Greek), and not 
only did I enjoy the food, but met a few people that I knew, and they 
weren't Greek.  The food was fantastic, and their hospitality surpassed the 
flavour of the many foods I'd sampled.

But it wasn't necessarily a community event like Natal Day is, and neither 
is the Pride parade, Punk.  Yet many people that aren't of that persuasion 
attend this gathering, just for something to do.  I'm with JD on the fact 
that tax dollars should be kept out of any event that's not a community one 
(special interest, if you will), and fund raising, donations and business 
contributions should be the basis of the money used for any of these 
"special events."

> Downtown looks and now smells like hell. Addressing that situation is 
> something
> that would benefit tourism and HRM in general. What's the point of trying 
> to
> attract all these visitors to Halifax only to disgust them with our 
> harbour.
> The place looks like a third world capital with all the decrepit 
> infrastructure
> and stench.

It's sickening, and the smell will only get more ripe as the warmer weather 
approaches.  Beach whistles, odd-looking jellyfish and "finless browns" 
shouldn't be on display in our Harbour; I'm ashamed of the way it looks and 
smells, and feel Kelly should have been on the ball long before now figuring 
out what went wrong and how they'll fix it in time for the heavy tourist 
season.

Because people talk, and word of mouth advertising is the best you can get - 
but if they tell stories about our "open toilet harbour policy", it'll have 
a ripple effect on next year's tourism numbers.

You can bet on that!

    - Rick