Summer Street is the 'Main Street' running the length of the Halifax Commons

One can easily walk - though not drive - through the entire longways length of the Halifax Commons , from Cunard Street to South Street , along Summer Street and its walkable extensions.

The roughly one half square mile of the Halifax Commons is only two blocks wide but ten blocks long - its long and narrow shape accurately reflecting the long and narrow shape of Halifax peninsula itself.

Beginning at Cunard and June Streets, one walks due east along a paved path across the North and Central Commons grasslands until one come to the beginning of the Commons' own 'Main Street', the always sunny Summer Street.

Summer Street ends (as a car roadway) at the entrance to the QE II complex at University and Summer, but one can walk through that entrance to the end of the Commons at South Street.

No , the Main Street of the emotional heart of our city is certainly not signposted  as such and nor are the street- boundaries of the Halifax Commons indicated by signposts.

Why not ?

Many people believe this is because, sadly , we live in a self-centred age, where everything that is private is exalted and everything that is publicly shared - what the human family holds in common- is denigrated.

In the case of the Halifax Commons , I have always found this particularly odd because it contains institutions that  we all must pass through as human beings --- regardless of our wealth, race or gender.

We all are born , we all must die : The Halifax Commons holds our region's only maternity hospital, our biggest general hospital , a palliative care hospice and finally a large number of cemeteries.

I entertain hopes that our HRM Council might,  someday , signpost this emotional core of our city --- and signpost the walk-only extensions of Summer Street at Cunard and at South ....