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CTV News
3 days ago
- General
- CTV News
Lucasville, N.S., residents concerned over proposed 118-unit apartment building
Plans for an apartment complex in Lucasville, N.S., are not sitting well with a number of residents in the area. Plans for an apartment complex in Lucasville, N.S., are not sitting well with a number of residents in the area. Plans for an apartment complex in Lucasville, N.S., are not sitting well with a number of residents in the area. Dozens of people attended what was billed as an emergency public meeting on the issue at the Wallace Lucas Community Centre Thursday night. The proposed 118-unit building in the 500 block of Lucasville Road is the latest in a series of developments residents say have been quietly approved by the Halifax Regional Municipality. They say the end result is reshaping the historic African Nova Scotian community without residents' consent. 'We've got traffic ... between 5,000 and 10,000 cars go through this road already, so it's going to add to that. We have a community centre here that cannot house the amount of people that we already have within our boundary,' said Devon Parsons with the Lucasville Vision Committee. 'We have no transit, we have no sidewalk, so there's many things that need to be fixed before anyone should even think about wanting to put a 118-unit apartment building on Lucasville.' Residents are asking the city to pause all Lucasville developments until residents have completed their own planning process and cancel permit extensions granted without factoring in the area's historic and cultural designation. A petition is also being circulated with more than 700 signatures. With files from CTV Atlantic's Bruce Frisko. For more Nova Scotia news, visit our dedicated provincial page
The Sun
07-07-2025
- General
- The Sun
We sold our house to lovely family so they could raise kids in the country… but I feel betrayed by their shocking plan
A MAN is fuming after being told his home of more than 60-years would be sold to a young family - only for the new owner to submit demolish plans. The historic cottage, called Hiawatha, was sold by Eric Abbott under the premise a young family would be moving in to raise their children in the countryside. 6 6 6 But now a planning application has been submitted to see it torn down to make way for more houses in the town of Swanmore, Hampshire. Mr Abbott, 94, has slammed the buyer after his own family cherished the property for more than 60 years. And he's not alone, nearly 1,000 local residents have joined him and signed a petition is support of halting the proposed development. They also submitted 200 objection letters during the consultation period expressing their frustrations. Meanwhile, current owner Simon Smith, who snapped up the property for £585,000, is going ahead with his application. He wishes to construct a two two-storey, four-bedroom houses. There will also be enough space for three cars to park, as well as gardens on each property, if plans are approved. In an objection, Mr Abbott, wrote a scathing letter which read: "As the previous owner of Hiawatha I was totally dismayed to see the change of heart of the new owners attempting to destroy Hiawatha and replace with totally unsuitable houses. "I instructed the estate agent to ensure my wonderful house was only sold to a family who would love it like I did and not destroy it. "The estate agent assured me that he had made this clear to the new owners and that they had agreed it to be their forever home which is all I ever wanted for another family to love it like I had for the last 64 years. "It seems were buying Hiawatha for financial gain. "I had been offered to sell to many builders and I declined as this house is party [sic] of history, it was there before chapel road was even made. "I would never have sold it had I known this was their intention and they knew that. "There is an ancient well that in the deeds demands that it should be operable for future water shortages in the village and this was a legal requirement. "I believe Hiawatha was built in the 15th century it is a beautiful flint cottage which should not be replaced with two identical new builds. "I feel it should remain standing and let the slow worms, birds, bats and many other species carry on living as they have been for many years. "I strongly object and do hope that this does not go ahead it would be a great shame to the wonderful village of Swanmore." David Hughes, 63, lives nearby and said: "I put in [an objection] saying I wasn't very keen on it, hopefully not from a nimby point of view. "If we're not careful, we'll have a lot of new houses here. "It's an unusual looking house, it breaks up some of the monotony of the architecture." Fellow local John Allen, 79, said: "The council like it, wouldn't it, more council tax, more money, that sort of thing." Another neighbour, who wished to remain anonymous said: "I don't think it's the prettiest building in the village, but my main concern for it is if they put two properties in it. "The road is already abused enough with traffic, I know there's three bedrooms [in each house]. "As we all know, if you've got three teenagers moved in all of a sudden you haven't got enough parking." An elderly female neighbour who also didn't want to be named added: "That's pretty poor, actually, I think. "I mean, they knew what they were going to be doing with it - that doesn't seem very honest." Ash Bennett, Mr Abbott's former neighbour, also said: "I've lived here 18, 19 years. "I was aware when they sold the house, I didn't know until more recently about what was going to happen to it. "I didn't follow it closely, but my understanding was that there was an agreement it wasn't going to be knocked down and developed, it would be renovated which isn't what they wanted to do. "Personally speaking, I would rather they wouldn't knock it down." The dad-of-three added: "I went in it 18 years ago, nothing much has been done to it since. "My understanding is it would require a lot of work to it." On the planning application, Historic England said there's no evidence to suggest property was built before the 19th century - but around 1840 to 1868. It read: "The building does not illustrate an important aspect of the nation's history, nor does it have the historic associations with nationally important individuals, groups, or events, which might give it historic special interest.' A decision is due to be made about the planning application on July 18. The new owner and the estate agent have been approached for comment. 6 6 6
The Herald
02-07-2025
- Health
- The Herald
Residents block access to Kwazakhele Clinic over staff shortages
A shortage of staff at the Kwazakhele Clinic puts the lives of patients, who have to line up outside the facility from 5am hoping to get assistance, in danger and exposes them to the risk of getting mugged. On Monday, frustrated residents shut down access to the clinic and burned tyres outside the gate in protest against the Eastern Cape health department's failure to fill vacant positions. The clinic, which caters for a vast section of the community, has had no operations manager after the previous person retired in 2023. It only has one pharmacist assistant, a general worker and eight nurses. Residents gathered outside the clinic again on Tuesday to block entry. Public order police cleared the road and remove the burnt debris. Some nurses and health department officials were meant to meet inside, along with the clinic committee, to iron out issues. Health department district health services chief director Sindiswa Gede requested that the meeting take place behind closed doors, however, it caused further tension, with residents refusing to be left out. Speaking on behalf of the community, Lwando Mange said they often had to stand guard early in the morning to ensure those queuing were not attacked by criminals. 'Our main problem is the slow pace of assisting patients due to the shortage of staff. 'This is such a huge facility which caters for several areas of the community, yet there are only eight nurses. 'They often can't take leave and one person's absence is felt and residents have to wait longer for the service.' Mange said the clinic was often dirty because the general worker had to clean all areas including the toilets. 'It gets dirty easily and when she goes on leave it becomes a big hygiene problem. 'People who fetch chronic treatment suffer the most. 'They have to get up early to leave their treatment cards and are told to return after three days to get medication because the only pharmacist assistant available can't do all the work alone.' This includes packing the medication when orders arrive and dispensing it to hundreds of people. 'It's truly sad, especially for patients who get their ARVs [antiretroviral] because they need their treatment daily and don't have three days to wait until they get helped, and the same nurses scold them for defaulting.' Addressing the community, Gede said health department boss Rolene Wagner had met union representatives on June 27 in a bid to resolve the staffing issues. Gede said they were busy with a verification process to check all 48 clinics in Nelson Mandela Bay. 'This clinic now has eight professional nurses, which means it meets the requirements to operate, but the most pressing issue here is that there is only one general worker. 'We will get a report on all facilities in this district including the mobile clinics and outreach services, which will indicate which facilities have more staff than required and we will move them to where there is a shortage.' Gede said the shortage of staff was a problem across the city and they were looking at the department's budget to check if there was money to appoint more people. Clinic committee secretary Nolusindiso Magida said they had written numerous letters and made calls to officials to address the issues. 'Every time a nurse is transferred to a different facility we would call and inquire when a replacement will be brought and we never get a definite answer. 'We used to have about 16 nurses here and a manager but as things stand they have requested one of the nurses to act in that position which means there's one nurse short. 'We didn't close the clinic because we are ungovernable, we wanted to be heard by the relevant people so that community members are serviced efficiently.' Ward 17 councillor Gamalihleli Maqula said while he understood the plight of the residents, he was against the closure of the clinic. 'You can't chase people away because you have a grievance, what about the sickly people who desperately need their medication. 'The health district is dealing with the staff shortages which really is a problem but there's no need to suspend the services even for those who need them the most.' The Herald
CBS News
10-06-2025
- Politics
- CBS News
After outcry over federal raid, Minneapolis police memo reiterates non-participation in federal immigration enforcement
After a federal raid in Minneapolis spurred community unrest, the city's police department has reiterated to its rank-and-file instructions not to collaborate with federal immigration agents. Though Mayor Jacob Frey and other leaders said the early June raid was not related to immigration, the presence of Immigration and Customs Enforcement drew many community members to the streets in protest. The FBI and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were also involved in what Frey said were actions "related to a criminal search warrant for drugs and money laundering." Minneapolis police and members of the Hennepin County Sheriff's Office were also at the scene. Frey said MPD's only involvement was crowd control and community safety, and the department said it had no advance notice of the feds' actions. In a statement, the sheriff's office said it was working with federal partners on criminal investigations and "has no involvement in civil immigration." Following public outcry, Minneapolis Police Department Assistant Chief Katie Blackwell sent the following email to officers and staff on Friday, emphasizing its policies on immigration enforcement: "No MPD personnel shall respond to any immigration enforcement related activity. No MPD personnel shall assist with crowd control at an immigration enforcement related activity and no MPD personnel shall assist in the removal of persons related to immigration enforcement. "This is a reminder that all MPD personnel are prohibited from involvement in any federal civil immigration enforcement activities. "Any assistance for federal enforcement action must be routed through the chain of command for evaluation and authorization by the Chief of Police or Chief's designee. "Members of the MPD shall not self-deploy to any related immigration enforcement activity. "We remain committed to supporting public safety and maintaining trust within our communities." The department itself also issued a statement about the message: "Assistant Chief Blackwell's memo serves as a clear reminder of the Minneapolis Police Department's longstanding policy and the City's ordinance prohibiting involvement in federal civil immigration enforcement activities. "The email was issued to help ensure officers understand how to appropriately respond to any requests for assistance related to immigration enforcement. This clarification was especially important in light of recent public confusion and misinformation following the federal operation earlier this week. "Our role remains focused on addressing criminal activity and maintaining public safety, while respecting the boundaries set by city ordinance and department policy." Jamie Holt, acting special agent in charge of Homeland Security investigations in Minnesota and the Dakotas, said the raid was "a groundbreaking criminal operation ... marking a new chapter in how we confront complex, multidimensional threats." WCCO found federal search warrants connected to the raid at the courthouse, but they were sealed. MPD's renewed emphasis on maintaining independence from federal immigration enforcement comes as massive anti-ICE protests continue in Los Angeles. The Trump administration has sent the National Guard and members of the Marine Corps to L.A., despite California Gov. Gavin Newsom's warnings that their presence would only inflame the situation. Note: The video above originally aired June 5, 2025.
The Herald
30-05-2025
- General
- The Herald
Residents in Alexandra stop City Power's disconnection teams
Angry residents of River Park, Alexandra, were quick to react and immediately stopped an operation by City Power to cut illegal electricity connections in the area on Thursday. Commotion erupted as the community came together and stopped the officials from disconnection, demanding they turn the electricity back on and leave. Dillo Moche, 49, is frustrated that City Power randomly cuts off power after having agreed on a date with the community. Moche wanted the operation to start elsewhere, where people steal and do not pay for electricity, including informal settlements which have developed around River Park. 'Out of this entire ward, they chose to cut off the power in River Park only. Alexandra doesn't pay for electricity and there are informal settlements which surround River Park that do not pay at all but rather steal electricity, using cables.' Moche said the community did not mind paying but the problem of disconnection continued. 'We are willing to pay but they will still disconnect the electricity. We had agreed that City Power will come on 9 June and check for those who have bridged electricity so that they can fix the problem and be able to pay the R500 rate, but here they are now to disconnect without notifying us.' Tlaleng Mmoa, 48, who has been living in River Park ever since it was established, admits that there are some illegal connections and that other houses have bypassed meters.
