Universal Truths About the Citizen's Role in Great Governance: The Importance of Reason

I didn't go into reading this book expecting to get out of it what I did. And there's more to it than just valuable stuff about civic engagement. (For the record, it's a badly-edited effort lacking in focus...and too often an unseemly and overwrought polemic against President George W. Bush.)

But as I was reading it, I came across some powerful bits, and I want to share them with you, because what Town Halls Hamilton is all about is very much what this stuff is all about. 


So herein are some choice excerpts...with some comments from me, as suitable.

(Fair warning: In most instances, I've paraphrased Mr. Gore's words. As little as possible, retaining the intent and the flavour of the material, but mostly excising American references. The propositions' value certainly take up a space well above and beyond the borders of the US, so I've taken the liberty to revise as necessary.)

Something for us all to think about.

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.)