Why the change?

When I began Town Halls Hamilton, the aim was to 'increase the relationship of engagement between residents and their councillors.' This resulted from a conversation I'd had during the 2010 municipal election campaign with Raise the Hammer Editor Ryan McGreal. He'd opined that what mattered most, regardless of who was elected, was this relationship. It felt right to me, so I ran with it. 

Some months along, I've re-thought things. 

Which is why if you look at the blurb beneath the logo, you'll see a slightly different emphasis being presented. How come?

I always suspected that there would be 'resistance' from councillors to the notion of organized, city-wide, town halls...that weren't controlled by them. I always suspected that there'd be 'turf protection' going on, especially after The Hamiltonian was so kind as to 'poll' Council on how they felt their engagement with their constituents was going. (The consensus was 'Just fine, thank-you. Grr...') I learned some very important lessons with our inaugural town hall in November, some directly, some indirectly. 

Since then, in standing back and taking a good look at things going on in the city, I've discovered that a) I don't want to fight the fight of trying to convince councillors that they should consider having Town Halls Hamilton events, because b) there are actually far more important battles to be fought in Hamilton that make trying to win over 15 people seem... Well, absurd. 

From my perspective, there's far too little dialogue going on in the city. I'm not talking about 'meetings'. Between city personnel, local agencies, even community groups. I'm talking about Hamiltonians talking about their city. The issues that affect them. 

Those people who are talking have their own mandates. Their own priorities. I'm not talking about them. And I'm not talking about councillors. I'm talking about your neighbours. I'm talking about the people who read The Spec and listen to CHML and watch CHCH...and all the ones who don't, too. 

I still believe that it's vital for residents to have strong engagement with their Council. But I think I've come to reframe this notion within the idea of people being more engaged with their city, period. 

I've stated previously that I don't have any interest in 'politics'...even in understanding that just about everything that unfolds in a city has a political spin to it. Or maybe I am interested...but only where the residents are concerned. I guess my vision really is, as the blurb maintains, to 'change the landscape of local governance', only not from the inside...but from the out. 

So while Town Halls Hamilton will absolutely be trying to work with neighbourhood associations to put on ward-centric events with their councillors, the greater emphasis will be to produce town halls where people increase their investment in the city, learn more about the issues that nobody is presenting as being 'important', and in essence, become more active stakeholders in how Life in Hamilton is lived. 

M Adrian Brassington