Followup to Councillor Farr's Evening, Part Two

While I don't yet have the long-promised answers to all the questions that weren't gotten to at 'An Evening With Ward 2 Councillor Jason Farr', the councillor has posted links to the 'rough notes' for his responses that night:

General, Ward-Wide Questions

Traffic, Police, Ward, and Neighbourhood Development Questions

The Spec Letter #2

CHML's Scott Thompson has an op-ed piece in today's Spec. Entitled 'Does Canada need to be Occupied?', it raises some interesting questions. 

Here's what I sent off to Mr. Thompson:

The Spec Letter #1

The main editorial in today's Spec by Robert Howard, 'Is Hamilton a hard place to do business?' prompted me to write a letter to him:

Followup to Councillor Farr's Evening, Part One

In ancipation of the answers forthcoming from Ward 2 Councillor Jason Farr, here is the list of questions compiled from the six neighbourhood associations. 

Meanwhile, over at the F.U.N...

Earlier this autumn, I made contact with one of the most extraordinary people I've had the pleasure of meeting since taking this 'town halls' notion out of my head and pushing it out into the real world. 

Her name is Janice Brown, and she looks after Communications at the Federation of Urban Neighbourhoods. But she's also on the Durand Neighbourhood Association's Board of Directors. 

From the start of our correspondence, through our coffee face-to-face, the lead-up to our inaugural town hall and post-event, Janice was helpful and encouraging. I'm so glad synchronicity was at play throughout. And I'm glad there are Janice Browns out there helping to steward the needs of our community and neighbourhood associations. 

Here's a guest article I contributed to their newsletter.  (A special shout-out to my brother, who gave some editorial input when I was faffing about.)

Because obviously, it's not just about town halls...

The Morning After The Night Before: Post-inaugural Town Hall Blues

Preface/disclaimer: The opinions and viewpoints that follow are mine and mine alone. Were you to speak to anyone connected to 'An Evening With Ward 2 Councillor Jason Farr', or more importantly, those at the event who proffered opinions, the consensus would be something quite different. In the words of THH stalwart -and RTH contributor- Mike Borrelli, '107 people went out for coffee during Intermission. 102 came back. That is astounding.' More importantly, none of my 'disappointments' have anything to do with what any of the volunteers contributed. They rocked, and I am especially grateful for the time and efforts they provided.

To have a 'vision' –and I'm referring to an ambition or a goal, though the other meaning of the word surely has some connection here– is to be possessed of some singular expectations. And while these expectations might seem quite reasonable to the person having them, when these expectations don't get met, they may not get classified as 'failures' to others. I can't take issue with this. But then the Town Halls Hamilton endeavour has been my vision from the start, so I'm allowed to be disgruntled about how things turned out last night. 

As the Robert Burns quote goes, "The best laid schemes o' mice an' men / Gang aft agley."

Post-event, Part Two

Because things didn't play out as planned (!!!), because we ran out of time, because I'd already felt I'd compromised the evening's effectiveness, I didn't force my closing comments on everyone last night. Here then, is what I'd intended on saying:

“You don’t play sports to get in shape. You get in shape to play sports. 

That piece of sage advice was provided by a family doctor and family friend ages ago. And its wisdom is just as solid now as it was then, four decades in the past.

I believe the same can be said for effecting change within your neighbourhood, your community, your city: you don’t dive into substantive, contentious issues in the hope that you can generate civic engagement. You generate civic engagement so that you’re better equipped to address substantive, contentious issues when they begin to unfold.

About 15 months ago, I was having an email correspondence with Ryan McGreal, the editor of ‘Raise The Hammer’. 

We had been discussing the upcoming municipal election and I’d asked the question ‘What do you think voters should be looking for in new candidates this autumn?’

Ryan’s answer was thorough, but what struck me was a particular portion: 

“...it's so important for citizens to: a) elect councillors who will allow themselves to be engaged, and b) keep up their end of that engagement between elections.”

It’s a sentiment I certainly hadn’t seen pushed in media, and it resonated with me. 

To the extent that all this time later, we’ve gathered here in this room for a town hall meeting. 

Soon after this exchange with Ryan, a notion coalesced that has pretty much remained intact. It’s the core of what Town Halls Hamilton is attempting to achieve:

“To increase the relationship of engagement between residents and their Councillors.”

It’s important that the direction of this sentiment is appreciated: the focus is on the relationship between residents and their Councillors. Not the other way around. This may seem to be quibbling, but as they say, ‘God is in the details.’

I’d hoped that what might result from tonight’s town hall meeting is a burbling sense of possibility. So that’s my wish for you all post-event: possibility. 

I believe that 2012 is going to be an exciting year in Hamilton. For the residents of Hamilton, for the citizens of this city. And Town Halls Hamilton will be attempting to play its part; we’re planning to produce a full slate of events, a mix of both ward-specific town halls as well as issue-specific ones. Here’s a short sampling of potential topics for that latter category:

-Local Governance: What Do We Owe Each Other?

-Walkability/Rideability Hamilton

-Poverty

-Aerotropolis

-Dream a Little Dream; What Downtown Could Be

-Speakers’ Corner, Squared

-Is Hamilton Really Open for Business?

A quick thanks to Mahesh Butani for providing consistent encouragement along the way, sustained thanks to Mike Borelli for his impassioned input throughout the run-up to tonight, grateful thanks to our energetic and effervescent moderator, Stephanie Seagram...and respectful thanks to our special guest, Ward 2 Councillor Farr who had faith in our abilities to craft the kind of interlude that respects all those involved, as well as honouring the process of local governance. 

Most of all, thanks to you for joining us for this inaugural Town Halls Hamilton event. 

Good night, everyone. 

Post-event, Part One

My gratitude to those who attended last night's 'An Evening With Ward 2 Councillor Farr', numbering over a hundred.

And my apologies to the same for not delivering what I had intended...and promised. Mea culpa, lessons learned and all that. (To say I've felt vexed or humbled would be an understatement.)

As for the wealth of questions-asked that were not presented (never mind answered), I should have news on the fulfillment of this commitment soon. 

Tonight's the night...

As 'An Evening With Ward 2 Councillor Jason Farr' approaches...

'Town halls aim to battle cynicism' is the latest offering from The Spec. We invite you to take a look.

Regarding Neighbourhood Associations...

As I'd had an unusual number of conversations of late about NAs, specifically asking the question 'How are they recognized by the City?', while I was at City Hall this morning, getting things prepped for the event on Thursday night, I asked some questions.

Basically, it's up to the ward Councillor to vet the group. Once that's been done, once it's clear to their satisfaction that the group represents the people in the area, which might include a petition, or a meeting, then the recommendation is passed-on to the Planning Department. Then it gets added to the afore-linked 'Neighbourhood Association Directory'.

Easy-peasy, lemon-squeezy.  

Altogether now...

Everything about Town Halls Hamilton is about engagement.

And to me, when there's broad-based engagement, there's synergy, there's confluence, there's the possibility of reaching some pretty astounding critical mass...often resulting in stuff that might never have been imagined previously.

I've met Joey Coleman, the man behind much of this 'open' movement in Hamilton, and I'm proud to say that he supports our efforts, just as we do his.

To that end, check out this post. 

(Thanks to Larry Pattison for passing along this update.) 

Because the 'Occupy' movement too, is all about engagement

Guest Editorial

Recently I received a very nice email from Joshua Weresch. It was one of the more pleasant elements of congruence, serendipity and synchronicity I've experienced of late. 

We got together last week before a meeting of the Central Neighbourhood Association, had a long conversation over coffee. After which Joshua stuck around for the meeting, even though he doesn't live in the Central area. Or Ward 2, for that matter. Or even in Hamilton; he lives on The Mountain. (I'm allowed this age-old joke.)

Charmed by his enthusiasm, I asked him if he wanted to write a guest piece for Town Halls Hamilton. Here then, is Joshua's article.

     Adrian asked me to write about my incipient community engagement journey. So, as I've found stories of engagement to be encouraging to me, I hope you find this tale to be worth its reading, a reminder that engagement is not a journey to be walked alone.  

      I'm a life-long Hamiltonian. I grew up on the west Mountain, on the corner of Upper Paradise Road and Scenic Drive, next door to the former Beckers convenience store. Growing up, our neighbours were folks we saw out and about occasionally: next door, a Lithuanian family; across the street, a Dutch family; and a few houses down, school-teachers of my brother and me. It was a quiet neighbourhood, punctuated now and again, by the screams of children in swimming-pools and the rattle of lawn-mowers starting up, and fiercely sub-urban. There were in me, few civic or political noises to make: I sometimes voted, sometimes didn't, but, especially in local politics, when I did, it was a thoughtless process at best.

      How did I get- Better, how am I getting, because I'm certainly not there just yet, from 'thoughtless' to 'thoughtful', from an inconsiderate life to a considerate one? Where is this drive for civic engagement coming from? 


     I think that it began a few years ago with a couple of incidents and has continued to press on me since then. Two or three years ago, my wife and I moved into the neighbourhood of Centremount. I put out the garbage one night, and with it, a couple of cases of empties. The next morning, I saw an old, bearded man on a bicycle, with blue recycling bags balanced on the handles, going from bin to bin and taking out the empties for the ten-cent refund from The Beer Store. I thought to myself, “What the heck is he doing in the suburbs?” That was the first incident, a pricking of conscience, uneasiness. 

     The second incident came when my wife and I saw older men and women, who used to visit at Mountain Plaza Mall, try to get across Fennell Avenue with their walkers and bags as traffic dodged and weaved around them. My wife said to me, “Why isn't there a cross-walk for pedestrians there? They're going to get killed.” Poverty in the suburbs and the difficulties of older people started up the rattling motor.

      Now I have a daughter almost one year old and I wonder what kind of world she'll inherit. I wonder what kind of world any of our family will have. Will it even be 'kind'? Is it going to be a world where people don't care or know about one another? Is it going to be a world that requires of her courage to get outside, know, and help another person, to have meaningful relationships? At the ripe age of thirty years, I'm beginning to see the importance of relationships in the place in which we live. If we're going to live here, if we're going to call this place home, work and play with my daughter and family in this city, then why shouldn't I want to make this place the best that I can?

      Now I'm taking steps toward getting a neighbourhood association together for Centremount. It'll mean knocking on plenty of doors, as there are, according to Statistics Canada, 1,730 private dwellings in the neighbourhood and a minimum of 3,883 people to meet. The Ward 7 neighbourhoods of Eleanor, Eastmount, and Allison Park already have community councils and other neighbourhoods in this ward have had councils that have come and gone, too. I think it's a good start: instead of complaining about the neighbourhood, it'd be good, I think, to have a place, a bunch of good people, to bring those complaints to; also, it'd be good to be able to talk and get to know one another, just so we don't feel so isolated from one another. We'll have a way of making changes in our neighbourhood, so people can safely cross a street, so all ages are cared for and respected, not reduced. 

     The distance between fear and love is, I think, the distance from my front porch to an old man –whose name I don't even know –who's collecting empties from my recycling bin.

The second in a series...

Over at Raise the Hammer, we have an ongoing series of neighbourhood profiles leading up to next week's 'An Evening With Ward 2 Councillor Jason Farr' in Council Chambers at City Hall.

Second up is North End Neighbours. 

Check out the article here.

...but then, they're not supposed to be the same animal...

Tonight I spent an hour at Ward 4 Councillor Sam Merulla's community meeting at Pat Quinn Arena. The room was packed; I'd guess there were about twenty-five people, not including a trio of City Hall staff (Landscape Architect Cynthia Graham was especially effective during her Cown Point East Neighbourhood Plan presentation. Well done, Ms Graham!) and three (?) law enforcement officers of various genres, as well as at least a couple of other people there to provide input and information.

A 'community meeting' isn't a 'town hall', but then as the title of this post insists, they're not supposed to be. The structure of tonight's get-together was an item-by-item presentation with questions allowed at appropriate times. (The itinerary can be found here.)

It was nicely choreographed by Councillor Merulla, allowing for just enough discussion, moving things along when it was clear there was a likelihood that things might get mired, suggesting how an issue might be expedited, providing appropriate context and perspective...

As I said, I was only able to stay for an hour, but my reaction was simple: it was heartening to see democracy in action, to see involvement and participation by the residents, to have people in the same room talking things through. (Well, for the most part 'talking things through'...)

Hats off to Councillor Merulla for this effective community meeting. Here's to hoping he'll consider working with us in the new year. 

The first in a series...

Over at Raise the Hammer, we have an ongoing series of neighbourhood profiles leading up to next week's 'An Evening With Ward 2 Councillor Jason Farr' in Council Chambers at City Hall.

First up is the Beasley Neighbourhood Association. 

Check out the article here.

If you're from Ward 2...

...and even if you're not...

The agenda for the November 10th event at City Hall Council Chambers 'An Evening With Ward 2 Councillor Jason Farr' will be almost exclusively determined by questions and issues submitted by residents of the six neighbourhood associations and/or attendees that night.

Additionally, if there's something you'd like to see addressed, a contentious issue, or even one that's benign, please consider sending it to townhallshamilton@gmail.com