What's The Story on Town Halls?

Here's what Wikipedia has to say:

A town hall meeting is a name given to an informal public meeting. Everybody in a town community is invited to attend, not always to voice their opinions, but to hear the responses from public figures and (if applicable) elected officials about shared subjects of interest. Attendees rarely vote on an issue or propose an alternative to a situation. It is not used outside of this secular context.

There are no specific rules or guidelines for holding a town hall meeting. If the turnout is large, and in a particular case the objective is to give as many people as possible an opportunity to speak, then the group can be broken down into smaller discussion groups. Each group in that case appoints someone to summarize discussion of their group. Many companies also have such meetings.

To me, a town hall meeting is the modern equivalent to a clan gathering around the fire. To share, to question, to be reassured...

To gain some sort of feeling of connection with neighbours, of commonality, to seek out reassurances or clarification from an elected offiicial...

To promote inclusion, participation, involvement and engagement in local governance.

Essentially, it's this: 

A venue, such as a community centre, a church, a school auditorium, a hall, etc. hosts the event. Local residents attend. In most cases, you'd expect the ward Councillor to attend. The moderator should probably be someone non-aligned with either the community or the elected official, perhaps from a radio or television station, a newspaper or online civic activism site. 

The meeting might have an open-structure: general news is offered by the Councillor and questions are fielded from the audience. Or an important issue might be the theme of the evening, and after The Councillor has briefed the resident, then it becomes a standard Q&A. The Councillor might be the only guest, or it might be that there's a panel. Or the Councillor might not even be there, it could be a seminar where guest speakers are brought in...there are myriad variations on the 'town hall meeting' theme. 

But I'll tell you what it isn't:

-A group haranguing. 

-A lynching. 

-An impeachment. 

-An endless venting of spleens. 

As I see it, one of the reasons there is a poor general relationship between residents and their elected officials is...

...there's never been sufficient effort applied to actually developing the relationship. 

On the one hand, this is unrelentingly sad. 

On the other...it provides some incredible opportunities for making Hamilton a much better place to live. 

Welcome to 'Town Halls Hamilton'

This blogsite is the temporary home for www.townhallshamilton.ca

It's only appropriate that I start things off by posting what was sent out to a massive number of recipients almost two weeks ago now:

It was a proposal for a concerted, across-the-city, ongoing series of 'town hall meetings'.

It was an invitation to make something happen, something very doable, something that has the potential to create 'real change' in Hamilton on some very basic levels, addressing aspects of life in the city that to me, are in dire need of addressing.

Here is the email in its entirety:

A Proposal: Out of Necessity, Bolstering Our Future

Hello, All;

Leadership. 

Vision. 

Transparency. 

Accountability.

There's always a fair amount of talk about these notions in media, both in the main-stream and alternative arenas. I believe that part of this has to do with the'legacy-malaise' that seems to come with all the other fun stuff that being a Hamiltonian gifts us with, part of it has to do with what seemto some to be serial frustrations in the progress of the city towards a better future, and part of this is what I see as an endemic desire to be ledto that better place...and constantly being disappointed when this leadership fails to present itself. 

But as anyone who has read my material on my site 'My Stoney Creek' as well as my regular comments on sites such as Raise the Hammer and The Hamiltonian` will know, though I fervently believe in visionary leadership (and the fact that *all* communities deserve it) and accountability and transparency, it's the other half of the equation that most concerns and interests me.

The half that has to do with the residents of Hamilton. Its citizens...its voters.

I'm wary of producing a treatise here, so bear with me while I break it all down to something easily digestible: I believe that we need a wholesale shift in how we see our places in local governance. I'm not one who believes in our longstanding construct, the political equivalent of 'handing the new employees the keys to the business, leaving them alone, only to be checked in on every four years.'

I believe in the notion of 'increasing the relationship of engagement between residents and their Councillors and their mayor'.

And so I believe we need to begin a shift in how local governance is executed in Hamilton so that there is more consistent dialogue between Hamiltonians and City Hall. (And not just in times of crisis.)

That we need to begin re-framing what we expect from our Councillors as we re-frame what we expect from ourselves. (Oh yes, I'm talking changes.)

And that we need to begin to construct a new paradigm wherein we don't have a 40% voter turnout rate, where 60% of these votes cast according to 'name recognition', where so many seem to feel that voting is the only responsibility they have as citizens...while quickly reverting to a default of an abundance of cynicism and a dearth of faith and confidence in the very people they've voted into office.

In order to really effect change, I believe we need to wholly reconsider where participation and involvement in determining aspects of our quality of Life are concerned. Otherwise, it's fairly safe to say that aside from getting lucky with this brilliant candidate or that set of circumstances, we're going to be stuck in this endless loop...which of course begs the question 'How's that working out for you...?'

To this end, my proposal:

'Town Halls Hamilton'

An integrated, co-ordinated, ongoing series of 'open meetings' across the city.

Where each ward would have regular town halls meetings. 

Where town halls featuring the Mayor would be presented across the city. Regularly.


Naturally, the main thrust would be for the residents of each ward to have a chance to engage with their Councillor or with the Mayor.


But a town hall could also be an information session where a particular issue is examined and discussed, sometimes with a special guest, an expert,
etc.


Or it could have a 'seminar' spin to it.


Or it could be a general 'get it off your chest' affair.


The town halls would be promoted and presented by a series of sponsor-organizers the likes of:


-Neighbourhood associations

-Chambers of Commerce

-BIAs

-Raise the Hammer

-The Hamiltonian

-Urbanicity

-CATCH

-HPD

-SkyscraperPage

-Hamilton Civic League

-Open Hamilton

-The Spec

-CHML

-CHCH

Naturally, there would be a website where all of this would be initiated: www.townhallshamilton.ca (Already secured.)

As we live in a social-media age, it only makes sense that we consider the possibility of streaming these events online as well as subsequently posting them as YouTube-type videos. With the addition of message boards and chat-rooms, creating a groundswell of both interest and participation seems like an obtainable goal. Never mind the concomitant news coverage and presence on the sites of the associated organizations and individuals. 

Town halls are only part of what I believe needs to unfold for us to see a substantive, sustained type of change, but they may just be the most critical development.

Canada has a rich history of civic activism and engagement. Establishing new traditions in our own neighbourhoods and communities seems a reasonable way to begin providing what's required from our half of the equation.

In the end, let me put it this way: we have long been mired in a system where special interests and lobby groups have managed to push forward their agenda, despite the fact that our elected officials work for *us*. Referencing Mayor Bratina's trepidation towards 'advocacy groups', I think it's clear we need to become our own lobby effort in order to secure better leverage in our own futures. After all, we are, in the end, the city's biggest stakeholders. I can assure you that were this town hall effort to unfold as I envision it, the critical mass achieved would allow for something far better than what we currently see before us.

Your feedback is of course, greatly encouraged.

Looking forward to hearing from you,


Adrian/