Dancing in the streets

October 7, 2004

Dancing in the streets

by Mary Somers

	Constable Stephanie Hussey of the HRM Community Liaison Police and her horse, Justice, say "hello" to a group of Duncan Street residents. (Somers photo)

Give your new neighbour a hot dog and a piece of cake. Extend the hand of friendship.

That's the idea behind a street party, held recently to welcome students to the neighbourhood of Duncan Street in Halifax's west end.

"We're really attached to this community," says Susan Brown, one of the organizers, a Dal alumnae and a 12-year resident of Duncan Street.

Like so many streets in downtown HRM, Duncan Street has a heavy concentration of university students. Multiple-unit student houses have been targeted this fall for a special communications effort by Dalhousie and the University of King's College through the Dalhousie University Community Committee (DUCC). An education and information campaign has begun with the message that students "share" neighbourhood communities and must be responsible citizens. The Duncan Street neighbours are backing up that message with their own action plan.

	The Dalhousie Tiger greets a group of students sitting on the steps of their Duncan Street house. (Somers photo)

"We want a neighbourhood that's better integrated," says Brown, "rather than just seething about whoever's acting up and complaining to each other. The party encourages the idea that we all have a responsibility to the neighbourhood. If you know that your neighbour has a two-year-old, it's a lot more difficult to pretend that you're not having an impact if you're playing your electric guitar at midnight."

"We have extended the hand of friendship," says Nancy Bowes, another organizing committee member and a Dal alumnae. "Now we will continue to build those relationships that create healthy, peaceful neighborhoods."

As well as the residents, young and old, of Duncan Street, the party was attended by area HRM councillor Sheila Fougere, Commander Jim Hoskins and Constable Stephanie Hussey (on her horse Justice) of the HRM Community Liaison Police. Mary Somers of Dalhousie's Communications and Marketing and the Dalhousie Tiger mascot also enjoyed the party. Fougere, Hoskins, Hussey and Somers are all members of the DUCC.