Show of Hands Halifax launches!

HALIFAX REGIONAL MUNICIPALITY – Ever wondered how decisions in this city are really made? Tried to decipher one of City Hall’s official reports? Pondered how your councillor voted on the latest issue? Well, ponder no longer. Brand new website, Show of Hands Halifax, aims to provide a one-stop facility for political accountability and dialogue in HRM.

Created by Spacing Atlantic contributor Emily Richardson, and described as “an independent resource for city-council goings-on”, Show of Hands hopes to better connect councillors to their constituents through the pure power of simple, accessible factual information. Issues that directly impact HRM citizens are shed of all the bulky legalize and bureaucracy that buries them in the deep recesses of City Hall and halifax.ca, making them public-friendly — the way transparent democracy should be.

In the same vein as How’d They Vote, which records the voting patterns of federal MPs, HRMers can check out how their councillor voted on the Herring Cove bike lane issue, the proposal to ban concerts on the Commons, and a plethora of key 2010 decisions. On top of all that, Show of Hands makes further strides towards bridging the divide between elected officials and regular folks. Future features of the site include the publication of upcoming council agenda items and a weekly Q&A with councillors.

While it leaves it up to you to decide what to do with the information presented, if you do find your feathers ruffled one way or the other, contact info for all the councillors is provided, provoking site visitors to make contact. As the site says, “how else are we going to see your brilliant ideas before council?”