Town Takes Issue With Unsightly Premises and Graffiti Cases

PORT HAWKESBURY - Town officials here are pressing the Eastern District Planning Commission (EDPC) to take a tougher stand on several unsightly premises cases, ranging from individual dwellings near the Port Hawkesbury waterfront to a major shopping plaza on Reeves Street. 

The Causeway Shopping Centre, which houses such recognizable franchise names as Sobeys, Shoppers Drug Mart, Scotiabank, BMO, the Nova Scotia Liquor Commission (NSLC) and Dooly's Billiards in addition to several smaller locally-owned businesses, has been the source of several complaints from town residents due to deterioration of the facility's highly-visible back side, which has been targeted by graffiti artists in recent weeks. 

In a feature report for TELILE 24/7, Port Hawkesbury Deputy Mayor Jason Aucoin says he has received complaints about the strip mall "every day of the week" and insisted that the EDPC must press the facility's Quebec-based owners, Econo-Malls, to clean up the area.

EDPC director John Bain told TELILE 24/7 host Adam Cooke that Econo-Malls officials are taking on brick and masonary work at the facility, and hope to complete a full paint job on the strip mall's backside once the work is finished this coming spring. 

Bain also defended his organization's handling of several unsightly-premises issues along Granville Street and Lower Water Street that, according to Port Hawkesbury Mayor Brenda Chisholm-Beaton, have hampered the town's recent efforts to develop and promote its waterfront. 

Also on this week's episode of TELILE 24/7: 

13:10 - Richmond County's municipal councillors prepare to review the municipality's district boundaries for the Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board, a discussion that will also see the revisiting of a debate over whether the county should continue to be governed by a warden chosen from within the slate of elected councillors or have county voters elect a mayor-at-large.

24:37 - The Cape Breton Regional Hospital Foundation makes a fundraising pitch for the Sydney facility's newly-expanded Cancer Care Unit, during the Richmond Committee of the Whole meeting that took place earlier this week. 

43:47 - RIchmond municipal councillor Michael Diggdon continues to press for answers on county properties that, according to Diggdon, are not being properly taxed. 

56:15 - Port Hawkesbury Deputy Mayor Jason Aucoin explains his desire to see a funding strategy put in place to repair and replace the lighting facilities currently on the scene at the Dan Willie MacDonald Memorial Ball Park on MacQuarrie Drive Extension.