As Doomers can imagine, I’ve got extremely serious reservations about this story,1 but for the purposes of the present project those are going to be laid aside.
Google Street View has just come online in Halifax, and I’m very pleased with having just discovered an improved walking route between our digs and the campus of St Mary’s. As it happens, the Armoury Square condo project featured in the article lies just about halfway along the route, and can serve as one of the focal points as I build a picture of my world over the next several weeks. When we hit the 2nd leg of the downturn (in about 3 weeks?) all this new stuff is likely to blow up …
but meanwhile, let’s just enjoy some untypical non-Doomish Realtor overoptimism 
Here’s just a taste of things to come as I learn my way around Street View. Before I came on board Doom I’d been working at DREA in Dartmouth. On most days I walked across the Old Bridge (pedestrian way to your left, bikes right). Swivel the viewer around as you proceed for a great view of Halifax Harbour (typical gray day when the car was on the bridge; green girders at eye level) right down to the offing and up to the Basin. The walker’s view south is unobstructed and I often saw shutterbugs setting up on the deck as I’d be going past.
Unfortunately, Street View’s coverage of the North End is still a little spotty, but I’ll share the principle trick to the walking route. Below you’re looking south into the VG campus of the QE II hospital. Turn the window around and you can walk right up the length of Summer Street to the Commons. The Armoury (and Armoury Place) are at the opposite corner of that, and from there I go Agricola / North / Fuller / Isleville. I’ll try to return to this post once the Google car’s been to more of that.
Now you’re looking north into the same campus. There’s a Common Law walking route right through it. Turn around and now you can walk straight down Wellington to the campus of St Mary’s, a delightfully straight stretch for pedestrians.
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[1]: "Condo prices rising", by Tom Peters and Chris Lambie, Halifax Chronicle-Herald, October 9, 2009.
Good morning, John!
I’m sorry that I may have missed something in your recent postings, but why are you posting about street routes and related views in Halifax? If you’re going to be “building a picture of (your) world over the next several weeks,” I just want to know again why this is relevant to the readers of this blog.
Thanks! Phil
Hi Phil,
Well, it probably wouldn’t have been that compelling after all. Or, rather, it could have rapidly gotten all too compelling, as the good folks at the CH immediately recognized when they refused to post my rather insipid comment under their story. Anonymous rants seem to be OK, but links to real info such as panning around Barrington at Cornwallis clearly make them nervous.
So I’m back in Igor’s dungeon chipping away at another AEI transcript, now that they and Google have pulled the curtains closed again. To end this on an up-note, Alex has scheduled a final (number VI) subprime seminar for the 22nd, and he’s bringing back the whole all star cast, including Roubini. Should be fun.
………
And speaking of Google, Street View has gone a long way to empowering caveat emptor, along with the 3 1/2 most dangerous words in RE — “What’s that thing?”