Thursday 22 September 2011

Nelson: The buck stops (w)here

The Transit Update in the Committee of the Whole meeting, Sep. 19, 2011, packed a startling surprise for Council! and the Whole - it was not so much an update as a revelation. Several, actually.
Needing everybody present - with the exception of City Manager Kevin Cormack and probably Mayor Dooley - to deconstruct most of what we had (been fed) before on the transit-issue - and reconstruct with what we were force-fed now by Kevin Schubert, BC Transit. His organization running us, working it - seemingly since the new buses were bought - at least.
Which actually they weren't - a crucial distinction with consequences! So why did we think they had been bought - and left to believe this?
No explanation!

But later for that. First, members of the Whole - with concerns regarding primarily the discontinuation of bus-service on Sunday - were given time to voice them. With Council making empathetic clucking-noises. Much of this voicing of concerns eventually proved to be pointless, what with all predetermined/digested for us already - this a show only!

I will start at the beginning and walk through this as it unfolded - as I read, saw, heard it unfold.

When City Hall became conscious! of budgetary problems at the beginning of the year, it looked at where/how to trim expenses, based on those of the preceding year. What jumped at them seemingly big-time - and out of nowhere? - was that their uberbuses had been costing a lot - too much - to run, feed, maintain. Surprise!? So - Council decided to cancel bus-service on Sunday, in an attempt to stitch-up the unnoticed-for-a-while hole in their pocket. This and route-cuts, but the latter didn't seem to be a major issue with the public attending the meeting.
Sunday was the evening's IT.
So who kept on refilling this pocket? With loose cash from where? I know little about financial matters like this, but doesn't a budget - planned and locked-in at the beginning of the year - take care of the year? If so - why this surprised flutter at the end? When exactly did who realize that costs were getting out of hand. Were these costs - seemingly discovered at some point during the year budgeted at its beginning? How? Who?
What's with last year's budget?
No explanation!

The announcement of Sunday being cancelled could have been the end of that topic - probably was hoped to be - if the Whole hadn't started to get uppity.

Some said then and at the meeting: Dump 'em and get smaller ones. Councillor Macdonald - always ready: There are no smaller buses; nobody is building them! Anywhere! At all! We may have to go to China to look for them there!
Oh, Donna! Seriously!

Others said: Why didn't you determine operating-costs before you bought them? Now we are to give up Sunday-service because of your poor preparation!
No explanation!

And: It seems weird that these buses were bought - just like that! - as soon as they weren't needed for the Olympics any longer.
The possibility that they were bought because of their Olympicness is not at all strange - seeing that Nelson over time cloaked its identity-issues with stuff even weirder. Mind you - if really so, I could totally get behind this urge to get them - touched by the glorious flame. Because I - a secret from my past - once sat on the same toilet Liz Taylor had sat on prior, in a Toronto hotel! My movie days! I mean - I didn't see her, but she and Richard stayed in that particular suite for a while, so she must have! I will never forget that in my whole life! So, you see, I could sympathize!
But back to just like that - above. According to Mr. Cormack - in the Whole meeting - Nelson had needed new buses for many years, so getting these should not have been a surprise. Yet to doubters the decision seemed too quick - no shopping around first. No basic questions asked or answered.
No explanation!

Another question making the rounds: If Nelson had needed new buses for years - why wasn't all that recent evaluating done earlier, to get ready for appropriate buses within an appropriate system? Instead of running it now, in no time at all - and after the (much-questioned) fact!
No explanation!

And here comes the hook to hang all else on for Council? and Nelson as a Whole - answering questions by implication. At least. The BC-Transit's man on the spot said in this meeting: BC Transit owns a fleet of buses - all the same - and communities needing buses lease! them from BC Transit.
Not buy them just anywhere! So this particular bus - an all-eventualities kind, with all (BC Transit) things considered - is what Nelson got. Was given! Leased by Nelson's city manager - or something. Council-vetted as such?
The system - seemingly for the first time - here explained by Mr. Transit ever so reasonably, soothingly - all except the costs of Sunday.

Council - suddenly? finding themselves up to their necks in no-choice buses and consequences - just as dumbfounded as "we", although "they" should have known the kind of deal they were signing-off on to have these buses roll into town.

Due diligence and transparency all over the place.

At issue - here/now - is Mr. Cormack's and BC Transit's interplay in all this: We seem to have been misinformed, left uninformed; Nelson leased - not bought - these buses, with all that may entail; smaller and/or different buses never seem to have been an option; with only one choice? of bus to lease from only one source - figures of probable additional costs must have been easily available and projectable.

Unless this is another "location-specific" situation.

If operating-costs were known - as they must/should have been - most of them must have also been expected to become a fixed fact.
Council - kind of maintaining a dazed cool after the meeting's big BC-Transit whopper - neither probed the obvious with City Manager Cormack nor with BC Transit's Mr. Schubert. Or Mayor Dooley.
Honey, not in front of the children!

This is not a one-off - if Nelson is stuck with these buses, Nelson is also stuck with these costs, and that money has to come from somewhere for the duration! Like - years. Thus - if they drop Sunday and certain routes this year - what will they drop come next year's budget?

An idea - something positive: The city could rent out - BC Transit willing, bless their little heart - the buses as advertising billboards to corporations - in BC, nationwide. Culturally responsible sponsors; floating fun-murals for a fee! Can you see it?

A somewhat subdued Mayor Dooley talked about all this (what?) being for the better eventually - specifically a regionally integrated transit-system to address all area-transit needs. That would be good - look at the Trail situation alone - but - I mean, come on! - the idea is Utopian. He also  told us that - despite the perception that there had been - there was no disagreement between Nelson and BC Transit. In the meeting anyway - this had never come up. So his statement may have come from a defensive place. This should not come as a surprise; Nelson may have/should have been resistant to BC Transit making the city's transit decisions. Or not!
Regardless - even if I should be somewhat off the mark with my perception of the Sunday-scenario and observations during the meeting - lack of information, transparency, accountability, even misinformation on the bus-issue since Day 1 leaves much room for interpretation. And resentment towards the players. City Hall would be well-advised to keep in mind: in politics perception carries more weight than fact.  
Right now, right here: Sunday! And what actually got us through the week! 
Explanations!

According to Mr. Schubert, there will be several more consultations with the public, over a period of time. What else is BC Transit working (on)? He looked relieved as he turned away - finished with this round.
What is vital - when it comes to meaningfulness of these consultations - is that Council becomes fully informed for and totally open in these meetings, and that the Whole - at the same time - shows determined concern with staying-power.
With all due respect - in order for the Committee to be OF the Whole instead of FOR the Whole - may I suggest that all officials sitting behind a microphone use it.
Local news-media must stay on top of developments probingly and keep the Whole informed fully! Megan Cole's Transit cuts spur on crowds, Nelson Star, Sep. 19 - although extensive, considering what she had to work with - did not reflect the urgency behind the Sunday-crowd's presentations.


Council has not been doing well with big-money items for some time: It shopped - and continues to shop - a big chunk of horizontal/vertical land and lake to a developer without financial backbone; it shopped the cinema to a seemingly unexplored/secured financial partnership; it got on the bus with eyes wide-shut; and time will tell about the heron-post's installation.

This evening was a P.R. disaster for all doers involved - actually City Hall period!

City Manager Cormack - appearing unfazed - said in the meeting that other places around don't have bus-service on Sunday either. So there! This sort of reasoning by comparing - the thinnish comfort of company - justifies a lack of willingness. Part of his job - but!
Nelson taking steps - and through them growing-up and into an (id)entity all its own - we don't manage yet.

Well-primed Mr. Schubert did not offer us any comfort to take home. While Slipstream Donna - after all was not said and not done - found his "recommendations" during the meeting "quite brilliant".





Election!
All the explanations you can eat and swallow!







Monday 12 September 2011

Nelson: Strings attached

Remember last year's Funky-Monkey business, when the owner of that eatery had the affront to paint its outside in a color/shade city hall deemed unsuitable? And the ivy! Permits and the Community Heritage Commission (CHC) for (a few) days (only)!

Councillor Donna Macdonald - as she will - chimed in with: The CHC makes those decisions, and those decisions are made in accordance with a by-law. This although she a) - is not 
                                                                   
an active member of the CHC but the Cultural Development Commission (CDC), whose job - if anybody's at city hall - this color-decision actually should have been, seeing that the Funky Monkey is not a "heritage building", and b) - there is no such by-law. She seemed to be giving the shop - her shop - away, what with little cultural developing and heritageing being done then and now and these two commissions seemingly in a bit of a territorial dance. Or not!

Now - Councillor Macdonald does have Nelson's Arts & Culture Portfolio as well, and she could have been coming from that angle (whatever it may be) - but according to the city's Cultural 3-Year Action Plan - "The City of Nelson does not have a clear understanding of who and what comprises our cultural sector." The city's lack of a clear understanding of culture is the arrhythmic heart of its Comprehensive Cultural Policy - and this extensive and generally vague paper leaves much room for interpretation. And the paint-job - though funky - wasn't art.
So! What!
While Kim Charlesworth - the CHC's regular member from council and with the same portfolio - did not enter into this.

This non-existent by-law and Nelson's Heritage security-blankie were eloquently addressed subsequently in the Nelson Daily News by Alice E. Mayrhofer, former chair of the Downtown Business Association and former city councillor.
A whammer - "I believe we have now exhausted the idea of heritage".

I am writing about this in connection with Chris Shepherd's Was it a conflict of interest? Is it a big deal?, The Nelson Post, 26. Aug, 2011. He was looking at what was perceived by some council members as a possible conflict of interest or bias in regards to an issue before council and Councillor Bob Adams.
I will not look under rocks but present info which is openly available to show a little of the interconnectedness of some fixed points at city hall with other fixed (and sort-of fixed) points in the community - strings leading anywhere/everywhere and sometimes into seemingly knotty situations.

For me there are several jumping-off points in this article and responses to it:

1.
Shepherd says "...but when it comes to process and our government, I think it's important to follow rules exactly."
I agree, provided there are clear rules and processes - in the "cultural sector" this is not clearly the case. I will stay with this sector as an example, because that's where my interests mainly lie - Nelson's culture consciously and comprehensively being de/refined as a growing-up process. I wish.

Usually rules and processes are initially locked-in with the best intentions, but when they lack focus - thus practical applicability - and/or foresight, they may be tweaked bit-by-bit in avoidance of the drudgery to articulate a need/vision, set it down in bullet-proof form and work it through council as an amendment. Yawns all around Chambers.

In Nelson politics are very personal, and business is very personal, and the personal can't be just dropped when it comes to either. A small-town thing. You see Blue Velvet? The social scene is very personal in a different way, because with the interconnectedness of it all "out there" - necessitating a lot of smiling - socially Nelsonites tend to belong to very private cliques, in which they can safely let hair down and gossip flow. Nelson runs on conservative furtive. Sulky, too!

2.
Shepherd says "What of other groups that have members of council as members?" This - again - in relation to possible conflict of interest between council-business and councillor. There are such groups with members who are councillors - the RDCK Board, the Library Board, the Capitol Theatre, the Touchstones Board and others of no interest in this particular scenario. A city-hall construct.

Donna Macdonald (CDC):
RDCK Board (Alternate)
Library Board
Capitol Theatre (Alternate)
Touchstones Museum Board
CHC (Alternate)

Kim Charlesworth (CHC):
Library Board (Alternate)
Capitol Theatre
Touchstones Museum Board (Alternate)
CDC (Alternate)

Although the 2010 Annual Report lists Councillors Macdonald/Charlesworth as liasons with the Nelson & District Arts Council, "job descriptions" of these two councillors on the City's website do not mention this. There may be a connection through their web-site mentioned and nowhere explained Arts & Culture Portfolio - but who knows!

The alternate takes over when the permanent member is absent. Even though an alternate is not a regular member attending regularly, surely she/he must be and is in the loop - just in case.

To keep things here (at least) as simple as possible I will call the organizations listed above (and on the city's website under the councillors' names) "Tier1" - the most rarefied - and those in a still close but somewhat wider orbit around city hall "Tier2".

Community Heritage Commission By-Law NO. 2684, amended as BY-Law NO. 2773, states under 2.j:
"For the purpose of this section, an alternate shall mean a member that (sic) may attend meetings and have all the same rights as a member of the commission, in the absence of the appointed member ONLY." ONLY is capitalized in the by-law text.
Despite this very emphatic by-law rule, Councillor Macdonald - alternate - has attended CHC meetings as participating member, even though the appointed member from city council was present.
She has also repeated her unsupportable claim that the CHC is making color-decisions according to a by-law and was corrected again - this time by Stephen Fowler, President - Nelson & District Arts Council (Tier2, possibly Tier2+), CHC member, CDC member.

Aside from members from council, the CHC and CDC can have members which are members of each other. Some of these members - at the same time - are basic members or members in leading positions or board members in several of the same organizations the two members from council above are interchangeably active in - directly/indirectly. Deep breath! Then - a small number among the basic members are as well the actual hands-on, go-to members of just about all there is going on projectwise - period - in culture-town. No spotlight on them. You got all that? Told you I'd keep it simple!
And above all, political, economic, social ambitions - thus agendas - hover. And smile as fast as they can.
Although this cross-breeding memberwise is in some cases city-hall initiated or at least sanctioned - probably as a nod to practicality/efficiency - it ultimately must lead to clubby old-boy/girl inbreeding. The alternate-member-from-council job-swap on Tier1-boards and the CHC/CDC alone appears a bit too close - when all is said and done: they are 2 council members out of 6.
The extraordinary speed with which the heron swizzle-stick was put through council-paces by a single person - without due process and transparent paper-trail made public - may have gained impetus through this all-in-the-family. City hall closed ranks; leading members of two Tier1 organizations wrote testimonials to soothe the public with formulaic nothing new - filling-in no blanks. But prominently published in the Nelson Star - not as letters of support but as Cultural Commentaries on the Editorial Page (see earlier post below - Nelson: Pigeon feed).
Attempting to make it all palatable to the plebs and seem legit.

"Conflict of interest" and "bias" - I can't go there directly here with their legal impli/application, but I have concerns along non-legal/dictionary lines, and when -
3.
according to Chris Shepherd - Councillor Macdonald talked about "an issue of bias" in relation to Councillor Adams and the Nelson & District Housing Society - I got real excited like!

Most of the club-members' activity is self-contained, not generally known to the public. Not necessarily secret - just exclusive. This sort of info is scant officially - but going it big as gossip when discovered. There is an overall disconnect between city hall plus adjuncts as an organism and the public. No inspiration coming from there! Without info made public there's no need for accountability, yet the public has to take responsibility for this as well - it doesn't demand to be informed, it doesn't demand accountability. And this well-established factor is built into city hall's decision-making.
I am - and surely most Nelsonites are - at least vaguely appreciative of what council is doing for the city, but what the Royal City's administration needs to do in this context - to appear transparent and user-friendly - is a public accounting of all groups and boards council members and commission members are involved with locally - official and private.

Now back to Front.

When the Funky Monkey's colors became electrified last year - the NDCC was still covered in dried blood (see earlier post below - Nelson: (T)arting-up the place). Then a most amazing thing happened more recently: the NDCC changed colorwise from dried blood to Pharmasave-at-Easter, and the Funky Monkey changed from funky electric to - dried blood! You noticed? A switcheroo! I don't know what's behind the Funky Monkey's move and who signed-off on it, but I have a little something to tell about the NDCC color-thing.
A sample illustration of the preceding:

The RDCK (Tier1) - with the CDC's and Touchstones Board's (Tier1) Councillor Macdonald as its alternate - gave the job to come up with "lively" colors to David Dobie, Touchstones Board (Tier1) as well as CDC member. 
I found this color-scheme unsuitable, let him know and was informed by him that Nelson needed color, the NDCC staff liked it, and the Cultural Heritage Commission had signed-off on it.
So I go: Why not the CDC, as culture/arts/here/now - instead of the CHC, as heritage/here/yesterday? I mean - the weirdness of that logic, seeing that neither the Aquatic Center nor its new colors are heritage!
Dobie: "The CDC does not have a mandate to officially comment on colours for the city (other than unofficially, off the record and from a personal point of view), this vetting of facades is and was done by the Heritage Committee (sic) and recommended to the city that these colours be approved."
Which the city did without further - any, actually! - ado.

It is true that the CDC does not have a specific color mandate in the non-specific Comprehensive Cultural Policy. Actually - there is no CDC according to its by-law. No by-law! Yet the CDC has made its presence felt, without necessarily being bound or binding itself to a nailed-down "process" "to follow the rules exactly." They are big on art, and you have art - you have color, no?
Neither does the CHC have a by-law based color-mandate; its work is: by recommendation only running preservation and restoration of heritage stuff. But at least it has its very own by-law! Vague as well! The CHC has obviously also been tweaking that into something it wasn't initially and isn't now meant to be officially. Yet is today!
With Dobie's statement coming from nowhere - there is no color-mandate on the books anywhere! You want it? Anybody?

Oh yes, in the meantime, the Library (Tier1) has adopted the NDCC's (Tier1 through RDCK) complete color scheme for its new improved website - just as insubstantially Pharmasave-at-Easter (see earlier post below - Nelson:Cooking the books).

Currently the CHC has little to do but polish door-knobs. If there is no agenda - there is no monthly meeting. That little! While the CDC has created a niche for itself with stuff vaguely artistic - it specializes in tidying-up. So, could it be that these two commissions have placed themselves in a symbiotic relationship through their interchangeable members from city council and Tier1 boards - dividing work coming up when suitable?
Who's to know? And if so - who's to tell?
What rules, Chris, what process?

I have looked at these two commissions and an interconnectedness between them and some off-city-hall groups/individuals only. And not very deeply at that. There are more councillors, more groups, more commissions, more committees at city hall. Which mustn't be about personalities and convenience but clear rules and open processes run by/running it.
The job of city hall needs to be two-pronged: making stuff happen and constantly adjusting the rules and processes applied to that. The more foresight (imagination!) in crafting rules - the less need for amendments later on; the stronger the rules - the less room for interpretive contortion. With the public informed/involved all along! Only this will lead to sustainability - cultural growth.

According to Who's in? Who's out?, Nelson Star, 7. Sep, 2011, councillors - who want to run again or haven't decided yet - want new faces at city hall. When Ubiquitous Donna says it's "advantageous to have some fresh people with new ideas and new issues and new energy", she needs to keep in mind the possibility people like that - the bright , young things - may replace her, based on exactly those attributes! Her and everybody else making the same rather disingenuous pre-election noises.
The current old faces, with old ideas/issues and low energy seem to need a fix to be able to continue for another 3 years. Nelson ought to think carefully before voting for someone who wants to make it on someone else's juice. But even if they manage to limp back in - using some foresight (imagination!) here - what if/when the new ones run out of energy because the old ones absorb too much of it - a Twilight-moment! 



Anybody with decency out there - good with knots, too?







Tuesday 6 September 2011

By name

                              




Ming bu zheng ze yan bu shun

Calling things by their proper name
is the beginning of wisdom.

                           Chinese proverb





Sunday 4 September 2011

Nelson: (T)arting-up the place

Empty two foil-tubes of Nestle Instant into favorite cup; fill half with boiling water - Americano; lighten with 2% condensed milk (after tossing back a shot straight from the can) - Latte; stir-in a chunk of dried cane juice - my caffeine beverage! Being the sensitive type, I needn't wait long for the kick - my goal! Have you noticed the price of condensed milk lately? Through the roof! What's with those cows!

Having earlier talked the Art Walk, the next step is to - this morning - nail down my long-held views on local coffee-house art. There's a poor-cousin connect - Art Walk is Nelson's presentation to the world of juried-best-of-the bunch, as-good-as-it-gets local art within a limited time-frame, and coffee-house art is what's presented all year around - juried by Aunt Helen. Both pretty much represent Nelson's fine arts at their finest "out there" - burnishing earnestly its idea of being the most arty small town in Canada.


As an interesting aside: for the recent Culture Walk - inviting the public to "meet people behind the scenes at galleries and museums, visit studios not normally open, shop for original art or fine crafts and experience special events planned only for this weekend" - only 12 culture hot-spots within this very broad spectrum signed-up in Nelson.

On to coffee-house art. Now, coffee-house art is not officially juried but chosen based on the places' decor, owners' preferences and relationships. Mainly relationships. And it shows! Here a generally accepted standard of quality is largely absent, because coffee-house proprietors focus on selling gallons of coffee and stuff to dunk - coffee being a food item with one of the highest profit margins anywhere in anything. Coffee-house art - no so much. I am talking painterly integrity issues in these settings and often personally feeling offended by them - embarrassed too, because this is what visitors see during the whole year.
If a coffee house walks the Art Walk, for the duration quality may be higher but not necessarily high.

Yet I have this image - from my travels and life abroad (possibly also nouvelle vague cinema). Cafe chic - brilliant people and a very few dramatic cutting-edge pieces, displayed/lit to maximum effect. 
Cafe - coffee house.

Restaurant-art here usually is on the same level; art at Gallery 378 mostly is more decorative than fine; the quality of exhibits at the Nelson Library fluctuates widely - rarely excites; and I can only take so many installations at Touchstones.

The coffee is beginning to make me crazy - I'm ready for downtown!

Sidewinders. For years this place had the dubious distinction of consistently having by far the worst stuff of them all on its walls. But they've come around - they saw the light! They hung two long, rectangular mirrors horizontally on the stuff-wall, with just enough space in between for - right now - one floral offering. The place now feels light and uncluttered! One can breathe! An exception among the Royal City's coffee houses.

You may worry that I will take you to all of them in the Baker corridor - there are many - but fear not, I couldn't bear it either. I've had my cost-effective caffeine-fix and don't feel particularly needy this morning.
Just a few, just a few!

Next - Oso Negro, the mother of them all. The whole place a matinee - everybody's in (on) it; waiting for a cup of coffee in a long line is an opportunity. Oso Negro is IT - one's 15 cool Nelson minutes. So who needs flat stuff on the walls? Nobody, really - but painters wanting to be part of cool and hang their cool-by-association output here are legion, the list is long. Neither here nor in other coffee houses do patrons pay particular attention to the walls - I feel self-conscious about checking-out the poorly hung landscape-overload of no distinction on Masonite, priced absurdly.

An awkwardly painted tree - and this tree multiplied - means that the painter lacks basic facility for painting and shouldn't tree publicly - even at Oso.

Ward's Art Walk display is discreet bed-sheet patterns straight from Canadian Living.

Grounded - yet another Art Walker - presents consistently put together, untitled pieces in "acrylics, sand and coffee"! I kid you not! The painter is an Emily-Carr graduate - feeling entitled to some substantial cash possibly because of it. And - size being everything - the larger the pieces, the more expensive.

Everything is priced everywhere - Art Walk and regular coffee. I see next to nothing which transforms the space it occupies, gives it substance, makes me feel - more. Shaky egos aiming for significance. Some say that painters here paint so many landscapes because the are deeply influenced by the landscape they live in. Stuff and nonsense! They paint them because they wouldn't know what else to paint! But for some reason paint they do! Not must! Do!

Sunday-painters attempting to cross over into Monday.

With each additional poor replica of the real thing more residue, streaks, smears - I mentioned them before - are dulling/dumbing-down Nelson in layer upon layer, more and more deeply into the banal. And kept there with the encouragement of the Cultural Development Commission (CDC) and its single-item focus - "fine" arts.

Yes, yes, yes - I know - rude, cynical, brutal! But if you put it out there - with a price attached yet - be ready! You may say: it's easy to be bitching about everything; what does he have to contribute towards significance? Aside from the fact that I am acknowledging the situation - lots!

Here goes:

1. Depose
Cancel Art Walk for good after asking the following questions and truthfully answering them - copping to obvious trends:
1a.
How much - per year - has putting-on Art Walk cost over the last three years? Never mind where the money came from - ultimately it is the tax-payer.
1b.
How many pieces were sold directly - venue to buyer - per year, during the last three years?
1c.
How much income was generated - per year - during the last three years from direct Art Walk sales?
1d.
How much money was generated - per year - during the last three years from indirect Art-Walk sales (artist's studio to buyer)?
1e.
How much additional income was generated through their own merchandise/services by establishments lending exhibit space to Art Walk (Art Walk-ins)?
1f.
How many "true" fine-arts-focused talents have been discovered and significantly furthered by Art Walk during the last three years?
1g.
Could it be that Art Walk - with its situation-determined standards - actually furthers a self-proclaimed "artist's" self-deception?

There has been a steady influx of people from larger urban centers over time - most of them with a gluten-free bend and attracted by the same here - but it is doubtful that a fine-arts focused "true" talent would come to this area which offers scant possibilities for artistic development coupled with economic reward - unless already established artistically elsewhere. There surely have been focused talents here over the years - but why should they waste much time in Nelson, instead of exposing themselves to serious art-scenes/markets in larger urban centers. Those from here and driven - go! Whichever - today Nelson's Art Walk and coffee-house exposure are a fool's paradise.

2. Propose
But there is an across-the-board talent pool in the Nelson area which should be nurtured/exposed in regional first and then wider possibilities. With knowledgeable patronage under a clearly intentioned/defined city-umbrella - there probably would be enough artistic "product" found here to make Nelson actually begin to matter in the arts - period - and help it grow in self-confidence instead of empty ego. Have a hands-on entrepreneur take over as talent-scout, promoter, agent, manager for local and area talent. At this point local talent is largely on its own, fragmented. Bring them together! Nelson is small enough to make this possible!
2a.
A stronger focus on itself - starting with a major mindscape adjustment - must come from the center - city hall. Of the people - for the people! The plaza in front of it is underused and its upkeep too labor-intensive and costly. All lawn should be tiled over - trees and picnic-tables kept, planters and more casual seating added.
(Example: Vancouver - between the Drive and  Britannia Library - has a shady and restful space, with comfortable and sturdy chairs - seemingly haphazardly strewn about. Actually they are permanently and securely fastened to the ground.)
The raised triangular flower/bush-bed should be tiled-over as well - sometimes function as a stage, podium, sometimes as exhibition space.
The whole newly practical/useable space then will be inviting and open to theme-specific, low-key, daytime events - like exhibits; theme-markets, small acoustic lunchtime performances! Food carts during lunch! Cross-cultural!



Give this project a name which then becomes the name of the plaza. Involve the public in all phases of the process - cultural development - and introduce name choices from historio-cultural Nelson.
Learn from the name-and-color fiasco of the Aquatic Center. For lack of interest/imagination it turned into the Nelson and District Community Center - called thus by nobody ever - with a dried-blood (my description) paint job. At the time - seeing that we already had a White Building and a Pink Building - I asked reasonably in the Daily News: what is the color of well-being (no answer) and suggested we call the Aquatic Center's new incarnation That Bloody Building. Alas - no takers! City hall is not big on humor! Yet!
2b.
The funereal hush inside city hall must be busted through with color - as in paintings, photos and posters. Start with the lobby. The 2nd floor corridor is particularly mind-numbing and evidently not conducive to creative problem-solving - neither are Chambers and offices. The whole long corridor-wall opposite the one with pictures of yesteryear's liverish-faced city-hall personages needs to become a juxtaposition to it with today's concerns in color.
2c.
Have the same conduit - talent-scout, agent, promoter, manager - take over supplying open-to-the-public places - White/Pink/Bloody Buildings, the hospital, doctors' offices, clinics, library, banks, stores, hotels, restaurants and coffee houses with quality and location-specific art work. Old - new; loaned - donated. Cross-cultural. Year-around. Part of Nelson. Nelson.

3. Transpose
3a.
The first time I walked into the Pink Building's Victoria entrance - years ago - and saw Fred Rosenberg's photo by itself (then!) I was stunned! Transformation of a non-descript space into a space with wit and grace.
Even a single piece can have (must have!) transformative powers - transformation is not achieved through an onslaught of pretensions. When it occurs it is felt, noticed because of its nature. Addition just intrudes, clutters - Art Walk is clutter, as is coffee-house art!
3b.
After I had been thinking about this consolidated year-around approach for a while, it was validated for me by a restaurant owner who had become increasingly frustrated with artistes and wished for a system to provide him with what he needed for his walls whenever. This prompted me to suggest to the CDC to approach the Royal Bank as a possible participant in showcasing local artwork; the RBC agreed and starting with the current Art Walk now has two free-standing vitrines on its floor - displaying mostly remarkably insignificant pieces of silver jewelry.




Not quite transformative - but a beginning!


Nelson has always been strong in crafts, and crafts play a substantial part in Nelson's economy - fine arts do not! It would seem reasonable to connect these disciplines - giving crafts their rightful place and acknowledging the not-so-much position of fine arts in the Nelson-scheme of things. Arts-and-crafts. Then there are literary arts, music of many sounds, dance, video and what-not. And what about cross-cultural origins within these disciplines? Bring them together - as a cultural fact - and begin to actually inhabit the Royal City's "art-town" gestalt.


4. Propose
Fantastic - you say? Change - you say? Impossible - you say? Imagine city council - as individuals - making its work a creative process - together! Imagine the Arts Council getting creative by saying: enough already with those trees! Imagine the CDC pursuing development within as crucial before coming-up with its new 3-year action plan on the cultural development of the greater whole. Imagine the Community Heritage Commission (CHC) realizing that - with whatever little there is to do heritagewise at this point - they might consider that ultimately they too are dealing with culture. Imagine Touchstones touching and becoming touchable!

And - above all - imagine the gluten-free set becoming involved in matters civic as the most basic cultural building-block and creatively keeping all the above en pointe!







Well - alright - but just half a cup!