My Ignite London Talk – The Perils and Potentials of Building Community at the Speed of Light
Posted: May 7, 2012 in Uncategorized0
note: this opinion is strictly my own and does not represent the views of any organization I have worked for in the past or presently.
My friend Glen Pearson is writing about this subject and others like Gina Barber and Phil McLoed have written about this as well and all of them much better than myself but…
There has been, in our Forested City, an ongoing series of developments that have ultimately led me to recognize that our council is sometime deaf to the concerns and the worries of the citizens of London. Some no longer to listen and respond in reasoned and thoughtful ways. Some no longer listen respectfully to others opinions. Some are no longer awake to the direction Londoners keep telling them they want to go.
We have a committee that is tasked with creating economic prosperity that fails in meeting or quorum or direction. We have committees who are indifferent to years of input by the very citizens whom they asked to become engaged and sought input from. We have members of council who scold the people to whom they are responsible too. We have a Council that seems to be deaf to Londoners.
From Sunningdale to Reservoir Hill to affordable housing to the fluoride debate to backyard chickens, these issues all have one thing in common. The citizens of London have chosen, or were asked to be involved in, citizen engagement and their input, whether I agree with it or not, is often unheeded.
Tuesday night I was at the Reservoir Hill public input meeting at City Hall and from the very opening of the meeting the signals were clear. The first signal? Well the committee room where the meeting was to be held has a maximum occupancy of 60 people. This 60 maximum was quickly achieved and we were told there were another 38 people waiting to get in. We were also told that the Council Chambers was not available due to construction. Councilor Bryant tabled a motion to postpone the meeting to ensure that everyone had a chance to speak. Not one of the other committee members would support Councillor Bryants motion. This spoke volumes.
The meeting was moved in the end to Council Chambers, they gallery was packed, and we began by hearing from City Staff. Staff had been directed by Council to come back with a plan for this site. I’m going to say this again. Staff had been directed by Council to come back with a plan for this site. Staff did not recommend this development, as one Councilor later claimed, they were directed. Then came the presentation by the Lawyer for the developer. His points concluded we finally got to the public participation. One and a half hours after the meeting was supposed to begin.
The people most directly effected by this issue, the residents that live in and around the proposed development, began to speak about the zoning issues, the OMB issues, environmental issues, the hydrological issues, the historical issues, and I was left deeply impressed by the depth of their knowledge and the authenticity of their commitment. Again and again these citizens spoke with eloquence and knowledge about why this approval, one that negates 10 years of previous decisions at the local and provincial level, was wrong for their community.
This is neatly summed up by Gina Barber in her blog post on the issue about this development: “This application has been doing the rounds for more than 10 years. It has been back and forth to the Ontario Municipal Board and the courts for interpretation. Although members of the community had fought to stop any development, most had realized that that was not an option.
But neither had the developer been given carte blanche. The original proposal had to be scaled down from two towers to one. Both staff and council had been firm on that, and they had been supported in subsequent OMB rulings. Instead, the proponent put forward a building that was 57% larger than one of the original buildings and kept coming back with the same proposal. It still had not effectively changed.”
And during the meeting Councillor Baechler pointed, “out that previous councils had been unanimous in opposing this development in any of its iterations. That included Swan, Orser, VanMeerbergen, Polhill and White even though now they supported it. Furthermore, staff had consistently opposed the development in its present form. That is why Swan had led the pack last fall to take the approval authority away from staff and hand it over to council. Until then, council had only been in a position to make comments for staff’s consideration. Now, in order to please and appease the developer and his agent, they had given the power unto themselves and directed staff to fall into line. They had bullied the staff in no fewer than five previous meetings “
Read Gina’s blog in its entirety here.
So in the end the committee moved to “accept staffs recommendation” on the site and the residents were left out in the cold. They do not have the option, like the developer has had 4 times, to continually appeal to the OMB. They do not have a higher body to appeal this indifferent and heavy-handed approach too.
So what does this tell us? What does this say about the authenticity of this council’s effort for engagement? What does this say about the fair and open hearing of legitimate concerns by Londoners?
I cannot understand, in any context, the indifference some members of our City Council have shown to issues brought forward by citizens. I don’t understand how they could, in good conscious, ignore these pleas and berate the people who brought these issues forward. I know the people who represent us on Council are not evil. They don’t sit in some dark tower gleefully plotting ways in which they can destroy the confidence of Londoners. They are not soulless or indifferent to their fellow citizens. I know this. I know they care. But they may be misguided and I hope, hope with all my heart, that they find they’re way back onto the path of openness and respect for the legitimate issues brought forward by the people of London. Until that time comes though we must gather and speak and hope our Council will listen .
via Instagram http://instagr.am/p/J3GhovIpds/
For Michelle, Judy, and Natasha - as presented at Ignite Culture
Let us talk about creation and the creative, about art and making, about the width and depth of London’s creative class and creative places and challenge the definitions of what and where and who and when culture and art is and can be
Let us applaud the grace of the water as it passes us by through the four seasons and glance through hoar frosted trees at the sunlight that tumbles down on our upturned faces and know that we are blessed by the happy coincidence of time, place, season and each other
Let us savour the lush aromas that slink out to our senses as we struggle valiantly in trying to decide where to feast ourselves. Let us offer our quiet appreciation of a job well done by the ones behind the walls of the kitchen and by the ones who whisk out to our anticipation marvels of palate and poise.
Let us scream our full throated joy in never resisting the beat or in lifting our voices in harmony – - never wishing to be released from sounds that drive our hearts and fill us with the impulse to dance. Let us praise and thank those who put together music so beautiful that we are left breathless by the audacity of what has just stirred our most secret places.
Let us witness the grace of bodies in movement in the expression of the undefinable and gasp in wonder at the expression of a unique soul made manifest by the extension of arm and leg and neck and toe. Let us shake with excitement at the mad moves made by the mad young in perfected abandon on pieces of cardboard in the middle of a sidewalk.
Let us fall in to a palette of colours and lines and curves that holders of brush and pen, crayon and spray can make for us to gaze on —images so profound or of such whimsy that we want them to be enshrined on our private walls to gaze on and share with those closest to us
Let us clap and offer our thanks to the catchers of light. To the ones with lenses big and small that tell a life’s story or a moments thought in the millisecond movement of a finger on the shutter button. Or in the longer stories of photon catchers who tell us tales in the campfire glow of cinemas screen or monitors glow.
Let us marvel at the artisanship of digital magicians as they create places of play and communication and industry that move forward our entire world. That these keyboard wizards are as much a part of our creative classes as are the arts of the dancer, the actor, the artist, and the writer.
Let us listen to the scribble of the poet and the novelist. the blogger and the news chronicler, the inspiring an the inspired, as they reflect the experience of the city in which we live or the world we hope to see. In the sharing of the the personal and the profound, the plebeian and the pedantic, the reflective and the reasoned.
Let us recognize the places we have come from in the procession of our stately buildings and homes as they wind by us in the reflected window light of summer sun and let us be reminded of those who have come before us and built that which we now stand upon and walk through
Let us revel in the green embrace of our parks, trees, and spaces that we share with each other in summer …be suffused by riotous colors, the falling of leaves and the girth of our harvest in fall. Let us contemplate the slow babble of water and the stillness of snow and ice in winter and let us explode in an ode of joy for the release that spring gifts us with
Let us celebrate the playwright and the Director, the designer and the actor who stand before us in manufactured landscapes and make our collective narrative breathe and come to life . These thespians who speak the speech tripingly upon the tongue and dare to hold a mirror up to nature.
Let us look around again at the faces that pass us by and know that the whole of the world in all its the ages live with us and treasure that this has happened in old London town. Let us grab hold of that diversity of sex and race, youth and age, and gather it in the embrace of our beautifully diversifying london.
Let us decide to include the hockey fans and the monster truck rally goers and buyers of metal trees and not succumb to petty cynicism but welcome anyone with the courage to share in what we do – to invite them to feel they are a apart of something greater than any one of us – our collective culture
Let us go to the holders of public purses inviting them to understand that with out us toiling in the golden seem of creation there would be no heartbeat at the fork of the Thames. That our food would be a little duller, our lives a little grayer, our street a uniform drab, –there would be no laughter amongst the clowns and there would be no tears of joy when the curtain falls.
Let us decide to scatter the seeds of our creativity across the whole of our city and not just to those with pockets deep enough to pay the entrance fee. Let us reach into our schools large and small, junior and senior, and grab by the scruff the imagination of the young, inspiring them to make things that would leave our efforts looking pale and slight in comparison
Let us understand that we do not need to compare ourselves to any other city or place but that within our own nooks and crannies, our own parks and boulevards, that the whole of our lives are encapsulated and all we need is see, and there before us we will find the muse of inspiration leaping to embrace us with outstretched arms.
Let us understand that without the efforts of the creative class this place would be so much less and let us take responsibility and decide to no longer shake our fists at deaf heaven but reach out to the people that pass us everyday and let them know in no uncertain terms that we are here and we make this world, this country, and this city a better place to live by the very act that we are driven to do. CREATE
Let us decide for once and for all that we can no longer attract or expand, make new or revisit old, iterate or innovate , without the recognizing that the whole of our city is an experiment in art and creativity. That we should no longer make the potential of what we want to be up on the backs of tissue paper wishes but inscribe them into the very soul of our forested city.
Let me offer my clumsy words clumsily offered. I define art as play skillfully done and all that is needed is to understand that anyone or any place can be average but if we chose in this moment and in this time, that this place, our place, is brilliant —then we are and have always been a Creative City
This last Wednesday I had the privilege of speaking at Ignite London. Ignite is a series of talks presented by people from the community with ideas about which they are passionate. The format of the talks is simple. Five minutes and twenty slides auto advanced every fifteen seconds to make your point. The format is straight forward but the work in getting there, well not so simple.
My talk was about the power of community to use social media and the web to share ideas but how there is trouble translating this to a focused local effort in London.
The reason it was hard to get to the point where I could make that presentation wasn’t because of the writing or the slides but in the experiences I had to have and the work I had to put in order to get to the point where I could write it. This is true for anyone who cares passionately about something and the drive that builds within them to share that passion with the people around them. My passion is for community.
For me it has been a strange journey from the privilege of creating and teaching art to personal and family struggles to advocacy to work in a non-profit to friendships developed along the way to my latest job as an executive director and my work with a group of citizens eager to change the world. All those experiences culminated in a five minute presentation to a group of people who mostly did not who I was or how my journey led me to that moment and how that has culminating in this writing.
The reason I am sharing this with you is that I want you to imagine the billions of other journeys that have led or will lead to similar moments around the world. A farmer in India or an engineer in Israel or a teacher in Kenya or a mother in the Ukraine or a nurse in Turkey or a homeless person in Arizona. All of these people have had a series of moments that led them to the moments of culmination in which something has happened. Something small and human or something monumental and world-changing and every one of those paths are connected to our own in some small or large way. That is miraculous. That all of these lives on this tiny blue orb in this vast universe continue to cross each others paths and culminate in moments that we all have in common.
I am comforted by that. Comforted by the knowledge that there are billions of others on a journey that has common cause with mine. The common cause of life that I can share and help or be helped on my journey through life . We have opportunities to offer and receive that is the result of the culmination of our experiences that lead us to that moment. That moment of connection.That moment of sharing our story. That moment of comfort.
Think of that as you go about your day. Your life culminates continuously in the opportunity to share your story and to offer and receive comfort from your fellow human beings. I live in a world of wonder and woe but am grateful to be sharing that with all of you. Am grateful to be able to offer and receive.
City of Opportunity III – Resolve
Posted: February 22, 2012 in Citizenship, Comment, London, PoliticsThose of us who were hoping against hope for a change of heart by certain members of council last night all faced a hard lesson in a number of ways. For some it was that the best arguments don’t often win the day, for others it was the shocking display of naked one-upmanship, for a few it was about the anger at those councilors who would say anything to win an argument, but for me it was simply about one lesson.
I was amazed in the last 10 days at the generosity of friends, acquaintances, and complete strangers who rallied around the issues I was facing with my last two blog posts and the reaction by Councilor White and was often left speechless by the unqualified expressions of support and understanding. I am grateful to all of you who supported me through that difficult time but I also stood rapt by the power of the community to come together so quickly and with such focus around the issue of affordable housing which council was about to cut anyway.
In a matter of days we collectively went from vague unease to outright, full-blown advocacy on behalf of those in our city who could not be heard. I saw tweets, Facebook posts, blogs, and in person conversation that gathered together in numbers that the powers in City Hall heard clearly and could not be lightly ignored. We decided we would not stand for cuts that would leave behind our fellow citizens whether they had disabilities or needed a home. We knew and believed that London should be a city that was about our collective good not expedient cuts to justify a policy that our current circumstances had determined was no longer relevant. I was held rapt by the potential of community.
In the last year we have gone through a trial by fire in London and more and more of us are waking up to the fact that we are afraid for our future and that the only way to overcome this fear is to face it openly and transparently, to consider not just our own well-being but the wellbeing of every one of our neighbors as well. We are learning that the world has changed and the only way for us to succeed is to make sure no one is left behind and that the basics of housing, health, and dignity are not open to negotiation.
But because we create community at the speed of light, an idea expressed brilliantly by Glen Pearson, other things can as quickly distract us. Social Media as a means of community building is like quicksilver and flows along the path of least resistance and at this critical time we cannot afford to be distracted.
I am not assigning blame here, I often get as distracted quicker than most, but I am pointing out that we must understand our goals, focus our resolve, and not be distracted by anything until the issues of economic equality, environment, livability, intelligent growth, and fairness in London are achieved. Once we achieve them, and I have great faith in my community that we can, we cannot ever let them be taken away or watered down. This is not only about politics and running for office but is also about continually gathering an authentically engaged community and applying a steady tide of pressure to those who hold public office in our name so that they understand that we demand more than only our participation at the ballot box.
So I’m asking you all friends to think, to talk, to gather, to move forward, to not be distracted, and build upon the amazing accomplishment you all made in the last week. Let us decide to throw out the old ways of power, and create for ourselves and for our neighborurs a place that we can proudly say is city of opportunity for all.
City of Opportunity II – I speak as a Londoner
Posted: February 11, 2012 in Citizenship, Comment, London, My Life, Politics, Poverty, troubling deaf heavenI must begin this post by stating clearly: I AM IN NO WAY REPRESENTING THE OPINION OR POSITION OF ANY ORGANIZATION OR GROUP AND THE OPINIONS EXPRESSED HERE AND ON THIS WEB SITE ARE SOLELY MY OWN AND ARE NOT ENDORSED BY ANY ORGANIZATION OR GROUP
Councilor White in the previous Blog Post to this asked a question at the beginning. She asked “ Will you kindly clarify your comment about the Glen Cairn Centre? Are you speaking for them or as the Emerging Leaders, ED?” Respectfully I have never claimed publicly nor privately to speak for Glen Cairn Centre or on behalf of Emerging Leaders who is my current employer. I ask Councilor White that when she called my previous employer and current employer Friday to complain about me was she speaking as a City Councilor or as someone who works for Children Aid Society or as a Private Citizen? Does she represent the City of London Council when she handles a CAS case? Does she represent CAS when she speaks at council? Or is she or any other Londoner allowed to speak out when they see something they disagree with?
I have never once spoken on behalf of Emerging Leaders or Glen Cairn Centre here or on Facebook, and would never do so, without express permission. The problem becomes when this happens it has a chilling effect on free speech and citizen engagement. But so be it, I can not be silent, even if it has personal consequences for me and my family.
Councilor White and the Mayor have made some points in defending their position. But the heart of the matter remains and while both of them and others have direct experience with people in poverty and Londoners with mental health issues so do I both within my family and amongst many friends. I have advocated my entire life both privately and publicly on behalf of those who are most often left behind because it affects my life and the life of my City, Province, and Country.
Mayor Fontana had posted the following in response to the outcry on the cuts to affordable housing, he did this on Facebook and I post it here unedited and in it’s entirety:
“With a reduction in the contribution into the Affordable Housing Program, we will be shifting our approach to affordable housing. Right now there are a number of vacant units out there and a lot of individuals and families who need them. Instead of focusing on building all new units, our focus is shifting to filling existing units and entering into public private partnerships to convert exisiting spaces (like commercial space no longer being used as commercial space) into affordable housing. It’s a different approach, but it’s still a good approach and we will be able to increase the number of people we can help. London has done incredible unique things and we will continue to do so.
Affordable HousingThe reduced funding for the Program will result in a strategic shift from creation of a maximum number of permanent units to an emphasis on creating housing measures in the shorter term.Changes were made to legislation January 1, 2012. The New Housing Services Act repeals Social Housing Reform Act and gives the City of London as Service Manager more flexibility and discretion within local rules.This will give our housing experts the needed flexibility to create new housing policy and new housing programs based on the needs of Londoners, moving away from the previous prescriptive approach set out by the province.This shift in strategy is designed to achieve greater efficiency in using the City’s housing funds:
• Families and individuals will have access to housing. While fewer permanent rental units will be created, the number of families who can quickly be accommodated in short term housing will be more than doubled.
• The City can leverage the same amount of federal and provincial funding.
• Jobs continue to be created through construction and renovation projects.
• Families and individuals will have access to housing. While fewer permanent rental units will be created, the number of families who can quickly be accommodated in short term housing will be more than doubled.
• The City can leverage the same amount of federal and provincial funding.
• Jobs continue to be created through construction and renovation projects.
Working within our funding, we will be using a combination of:
• convert to rent units (increase)
• creating more short term rental supplements (increase)
• home ownership program
• building new affordable housing units (decrease)
Affordable housing right now means keeping people in their homes.”
I think there are a couple of key points here to pay close attention to and to understand more fully and to seek clarification on. I notice in this post the Mayor states “ a strategic shift from creation of a maximum number of permanent units to an emphasis on creating housing measures in the shorter term.” . Notice some important words here? An emphasis on creating housing measures in the shorter term? This will mean an increase in temporary housing and not permanent housing.
It’s important to note this as well: “While fewer permanent rental units will be created, the number of families who can quickly be accommodated in short term housing will be more than doubled. ” . Fewer rental units and more short term or temporary housing.
What we need to recognize here is that we are in every case reducing the number of permanent homes as a means to achieve a 0% tax increase. We also need to understand there is an 8+ year waiting list for permanent housing and while moving more families into temporary housing may be attractive in the short term we will in fact be delaying the issue at the expense of those most vulnerable and sadly who is to say that that temporary housing budget will be there in a year or 3 years or 5.
We also need to understand the economic as well as the human impact of this cut. Abe Oudshoorn ,a recognized voice in homelessness and housing issues, wrote in his blog “this means that the $1M cut to the Housing Reserve Fund represents a potential $8M loss, or at $140,000 per unit, 57 units of affordable housing not built. Each new unit also represents 2 person years of full-time employment.“
Abe goes on to say “ affordable housing represents a much cheaper way to house people who are experiencing homelessness. Housing an individual in shelter costs $1,450 per month, jail costs $140 per day, psychiatric acute care costs $650 per day, and acute care inpatient over $1,000 daily. These statistics are clearly outlined in your Council-approved London Community Housing Strategy. Therefore, putting money into housing up-front saves us much greater costs down the line.” You can read the whole post here
Councilor Joni Baechler wrote on her Facebook page ” In My Opinion
Some members of council indicated they support the cut in Affordable Housing by $ 1Million because of the “Mayor’s plan” presented to committee yesterday. To be clear, there was NO plan presented. The Mayor simply outlined how he would divert the Affordable Housing $’s. What may have been missed by some councillors was the “KEY MESSAGE” from staff on the briefing note which states: ”The reduced funding from the Program will result in a STRATEGIC SHIFT from the creation of a MAXIMUM number of PERMANENT units to an emphasis on creating shorter term TEMPORARY housing MEASURES”. The plan presented is a significant divergence from the Council adopted COMMUNITY HOUSING STRATEGY. Staff DID NOT recommend the budget cut in this area.As a result of this cut, we will not be able to leverage the same $$’s in order to meet our housing targets ($20 M in municipal housing dollars has leveraged $140 M from other sources). We will construct 75 less units per year which results in the loss of 72 associated jobs. The “temporary plan” does not address the housing crisis as year after year we will fall further behind.The cut to Affordable Housing is permanent. It will temporarily solve a fiscal shortfall on the backs of the poorest and most vulnerable in our community“
Some members of council indicated they support the cut in Affordable Housing by $ 1Million because of the “Mayor’s plan” presented to committee yesterday. To be clear, there was NO plan presented. The Mayor simply outlined how he would divert the Affordable Housing $’s. What may have been missed by some councillors was the “KEY MESSAGE” from staff on the briefing note which states: ”The reduced funding from the Program will result in a STRATEGIC SHIFT from the creation of a MAXIMUM number of PERMANENT units to an emphasis on creating shorter term TEMPORARY housing MEASURES”. The plan presented is a significant divergence from the Council adopted COMMUNITY HOUSING STRATEGY. Staff DID NOT recommend the budget cut in this area.As a result of this cut, we will not be able to leverage the same $$’s in order to meet our housing targets ($20 M in municipal housing dollars has leveraged $140 M from other sources). We will construct 75 less units per year which results in the loss of 72 associated jobs. The “temporary plan” does not address the housing crisis as year after year we will fall further behind.The cut to Affordable Housing is permanent. It will temporarily solve a fiscal shortfall on the backs of the poorest and most vulnerable in our community“
Important in what Councilor Baechler states is that Staff recommended against these cuts and that we will not be able to leverage these dollars and we will construct 75 less units per year.
So despite assertions to the contrary we are left with the same terrible loss at the expense of those that can afford it the least, but if we can focus and share our concerns with Council and the Mayor for just one week ,as so many on twitter and email and by phone have, then maybe, just maybe, we can convince a thoughtful Councilor or a thoughtful Mayor to change their vote and end this tragedy and begin to create a city of opportunity for everyone.
