The Port of Halifax, governed by the Halifax Port Authority, rarely interacts with the general public. (Yes there is a community liaison group, but it is generally invisible to the population at large.) The Port's annual meeting is publicized by one newspaper notice, but not on the Port's website.
There are numerous locations where the port's operations can be be viewed and could be explained, but the Port shows little interest in public engagement except to warn people off Port property.
There is - to my knowledge - only one interpretive panel location in the entire port! That consists of a poster sized panel showing the machinery used in the South End Container Terminal. The panel itself is well done. altough small and out of the way. Interestingly the panel is provided by PSA Halifax, not by the Port itself.
There is also one large sign citing the dollars to be spent on a major capital project -but no explanation of the nature of the project. Due to the location of the sign, on a busy roadway, there is no place to stop to see the work.
Uninformative (and why is there a picture of a bridge in the middle bottom?)
Walkway
Instead there are scary warning signs for Danger, video surveillance, Customs zones and "use at your own risk". Surely if the Port were really interested in showing off its operations it would not be deliberately placing people at risk! The "unwelcome" signs say it all...
This year, for no apparent reason - except possibly indifference - the walkway was not opened March 31 (a totally arbitrary date), but closer to mid-April. Certainly no preparations were made except to open the gate.
The rusty chain link fence, draped with loose barbed wire sets the tone for what is to come for anyone wishing to walk out on the Public Walkway.
Containers stacked close to the fence block what could be interesting views of the terminal operations.
The "Public Walkway", which is in fact a breakwater, is not maintained or patrolled. It is strewn with debris - thanks to the terminal users and employees (not civilians out for a peaceful walk.)
The walkway / breakwater, which the Port undertook to retain as compensation to the general citizenry for building the container terminal, provides a unique view of port operations. Instead of taking the opportunity to celebrate the port the walkway appears to have been kept begrudginly as an unwelcome obligation.
The breakwater itself and its location provides a great chance to underscore the Port's importance to the local and Canadian economy, and yet the Port ignores it. It has become what is to me, and should be to the Port, a public embarassment.
Debris
Debris of all sorts blows in from the container terminal. What appears to be a weather station was installed last year. (There is no explanation of what it is, nor why it is there particularly.)
The workers that installed it left snipped off plastic wire ties on the ground - and they are still there after a year. (You may well ask why, if they offend me, I don't pick them up.) Plastic in the environment - particularly micro plastics in the oceans- is a huge environmental crisis, yet this is the example we are setting. (And I left them there to make my point that no one in the Port takes any interest.)
Aside from it being an inexcusably sloppy installation, another opportunity was missed by not explaining what it is, why it's there, what it measures, etc., Since it is outside the control of the terminal operator - who maintains it and in fact, whose is it? Why is it so exposed to damage? or even vandalism?
There used to be three benches provided along the length of the walkway.
One memorial bench is placed in a patch of grass and is surrounded by trash.
The other bench - midway out on the walkway - sits alone and could hardly be considered inviting. Both benches need maintenance as their finishes are wearing off.
A third bench was destroyed by workers when the latest walkway and pier extension were built. Surely a thrid bench would not be too much to ask for. It is a long walk to the end but good exercise since it is flat. Perhaps some walkers need a spot to stop and rest, but the bench appears to have been placed at a random spot, with no particular thought as to location or surroundings.
The extension(s)
The container pier has been extended several times since its original construction. (It opened for business in 1970). The breakwater itself was built in the early 1900s from rock blasted out of the Railway Cut, creating a protected basin which was filled in for the container terminal.
The breakwater once extended farther out into the harbour, and had a small lighthouse at the end.
When Pier 42 was later extended southward, the end of the breakwater was cut off and removed, and views back along the pier face were no longer possible.
The most recent extensionof the pier (the third by my counting) has a walkway around the end - not as nice as the previous ones however, and surely the cheapest, most basic and least appealing walkway that it was possible to build. It is also narrow - guaranteeing that no maintence vehicle - even a small plow or sweeper could ever access it.
It is hard to imagine how it could have been made any more boring or uninteresting.
It was also designed so that the working area of the terminal drains onto the walkway - ensuring debris washes across. (I am sure it freezes in winter, another factor guranteeing no winter access.)
At the extreme end, for the sake of a few more yards of armour stone to create a straight section, the walkway makes a bend around one of the container crane bumpers. Surely one of the more obvious indications that no money was worth spending on making the walkway more interesting.
And speaking of "the end" the walkway just stops. There is no "destination" - no bench, no viewing area - just a dead end stop. In one earlier version of the walkway there was a rather nice semi-circular look-off area, but that was removed during a previous extension.
There is an area where a wider open space could have been incorporated, but the design mandate was apparently to be as cheap and as rudimentary as possible.
The walkway is no doubt well engineered - but that is not good enough for a public space.There is no need to be mean.
My Opinion
I believe that the Port of Halifax could have done much better with some imaginative design and a more serious approach to interacting with the public. I therefore call for a re-design of the Public Walkway to make the area both inviting and instructive. The designers must be architects or landscape designers, with interpretive and graphic designers on the team. They need to research what has been done elsewhere in other ports in the world and to be given a proper budget.
I also call for the Port to step up to the plate and undertake to maintain the area with a regular cleanup and an extended season.
Other Ports in the world have shown enough respect for the public to make the public / port interface more attractive, interesting and instructive and Halifax could learn from them.
Some examples:
Low maintenace planting, imaginative street furniture, interpretive panels and interesting paving and surface treatments.
Interesting (even amusing) railings are still functional, and more difficult to climb...
Lighting stands and other features should be incorporated...
In other words - the Port could do so much more- and better.
Architecture
Then there is the issue of archtecture. What does the Port have against architects? The two most recent buildings put up by the port are hideous!
The new slime green building at Fairview Cove shows a singular lack of imagination. For a high visibility building it surely deserved better treatment. I can't imagine how it could have been made less attractive and featureless.
Well maybe I can - how about the its gate house...
Then there is the oddly weird new mainteance facility at Pier 29. The very peculiar exterior stair (fire escape?) and semi-contained containers may have a function, but certainly the jury is till out on the appearance.
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