HALIFAX – One of Halifax’s streets will get a fresh coat of paint (so to speak) in the near future.
The city has been named to the top 20 picks in Main Street Matters — a community revitalization campaign by paint producer Benjamin Moore.
Online voters narrowed the field of Canadian and U.S. from more than 130 cities down to 20, with Halifax keeping company with locales such as Penticton, B.C., Stouffville, Ont., Hilo, HI, and Flint, MI.
Also on the list are communities that are continuing to recover from major natural disasters in recent years.
Sea Bright, NJ suffered extensive damage last year, when Superstorm Sandy battered the U.S. East Coast, and Joplin, MO was devastated by a powerful and deadly EF-5 tornado in May 2011.
Halifax’s mayor Mike Savage took the campaign seriously (sort of) and made a YouTube video to drum up votes for the municipality.
In the video, Savage drew comparisons between himself and Brad Pitt — whose Make It Right foundation partnered with Benjamin Moore on the campaign.
The video proved popular with local residents, and it clearly did the trick to place help Halifax in the final 20.
Savage told Global News the video, which became a viral hit, was done on short notice and helped generate excitement on social media about the project.
“It was meant to be just a bit of fun with an interesting project. It worked out well,” he said.
Savage said he thinks the fact that Halifax is in the top 20 is “really cool” though he acknowledges it is not vital to the city’s long-term history.
“This is not the most important decision we will face as a municipality this year, but it’s a real indication of civic pride,” he said. “It’s an indication of the excitement that exists in promoting our city. I’m glad people took the time to vote.”
He shoots down suggestions that Halifax should be embarrassed that is needs a makeover.
“I think that’s dumb. You don’t have to be a messy city to want to improve three blocks of city. We have a wonderful city. We can always make it nicer,” he said. “A lot of very nice, high quality cities were on that list and they didn’t win but we did.”
According to a statement from Benjamin Moore, projects will begin as soon as this summer and run through early 2014.
Halifax Regional Municipality is now asking residents to vote again, this time to decide which street should get the makeover.
Which street in HRM do you want to see revitalized? (See a map of the streets below)
Here’s where you can cast your official vote for the Main Street Matters makeover.
*With files from Julia Wong
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