Following is my presentation to the first of the new Council's Committee-of-the-Whole (COW), 22 Dec. 2014.
Plus a Hugs & Slugs addition. God knows I try!
One successful selling-point of a candidate for the previous Council was: holding regular cafe-get-togethers to gauge the pulse of Nelson. These get-togethers promptly didn't materialize because the reality of a Councillor's work predominantly is ever-growing stacks of paper and meetings of often seemingly no other purpose than to have reports written about them and agree to meet again sometime. Thus time/energy-constraints soon may seem to leave little room for availability to the great unwashed. And - of course - Councillors do want/need a life and possibly have to make a living. As in Councillor Morrison very absent in the inaugural Council Meeting (and this COW).
Go, Councillors, go!
Having a good-as-new Council - there is an opportunity for the beginning of a new phase. Unfettered by previous habits of self-preservation: campaign-promises actually could become all-inclusive reality. And if not all-inclusive - just more-inclusive would be good!
The COW's Public Participation component of 15 minutes.
Anyone in the audience can voice concerns within 5 minutes tops. Leaving room for 2 more. If there are only 2 - theoretically - they would have 7 1/2 minutes each. And if there is only 1 - he/she would have all 15. This was not the case in the previous Council. It was 5 minutes for 1 or 2 or 3. In fact, in one of my presentations the Chair reminded me that I had 15 seconds left. While I was the only speaker.
After 31 presentations I know exactly how much (actually how little!) information I can pack into 5 minutes - and how much (actually how little!) feedback I could expect from Councillors then. Just in case - I always sent a copy of these presentations to Mayor, Councillors and City Hall's P.R. man. I will continue to do so, also provide links to new posts on my mostly Nelson blog - warts and all.
Councillors - to give credence to the COW's name - need to proactively urge the Whole to attend and participate in these meetings - reconsidering the public-participation process. Like - if more do come and want to speak: how will 4 or 5 or 6 fit into the given 15 minutes?
As a matter of course - dates of the upcoming Regular Meeting and COW must be announced in bold print on City Hall's monthly full back-page in the Nelson Star. Although suggested by me to Councillors several times in the past - this was never done.
Example 2:
The Council Column in the Star - with individual Councillors writing it in a rotation-system.
While the idea was - and is - a good one: its reality usually was a report of City Hall plans, actions previously already known to Nelson. Kept personally non-committal, mostly coming from we've-been-very-busy-and-are-very-excited-about.
Here also - with new Councillors not carrying City Hall's historical baggage - is an opportunity for them to express thoughts about their job in relation to Nelson. Ideally talking about an issue only if clearly identified with, arriving at a definitive conclusion - if not solution. The public has had enough of vague campaign-style concerns with even vaguer answers.
This column - carried on the Star's website as well - is a perfect vehicle for a Councillor putting him/herself out there and asking for the public's input. Not in Twitter-snippets but a thoughtful contribution to the Whole, expressed in a few contextual sentences, actually deliberated prior to commenting.
Someone on Council will have to initiate contact with the Star over this - now! Part of that conversation must be: currently commenting there is possible only for Facebook-Friends - this hardly in the spirit of together, community, listening, inclusive, advice and relationships! The lengthy justification for using Facebook only clearly punched-out for the Star by the Facebook-machine itself.
Any criticism here of the previous Council is only brought-up within the context of factual as-it-was - and how to improve on it.
And with that my 5 minutes are just about up.
Hugs
Clearly it is not enough to just vote for the most promising promising whatever - a guessing-game at best, wishful thinking. Bound to disappoint!
Neither is it enough to just promise to get votes.
To make it all work after election: it is the voters' responsibility to keep those elected on track with issues/concerns presented consistently - keep them from getting derailed. That's the deal with participatory democracy (admittedly not big in Canada!). A proactive group-thing. The Whole - as City Hall calls it.
There are several ways of connecting with Mayor Kozak and Councillors by e-mail. The simplest is to message them directly:
Mayor Kozak
dkozak@nelson.ca
Councillor Adams
badams@nelson.ca
Councillor Cherbo
rcherbo@nelson.ca
Councillor Dailly
mdailly@nelson.ca
Councillor Morrison
jmorrison@nelson.ca
Councillor Purcell
apurcell@nelson.ca
Councillor Warmington
vwarmington@nelson.ca
This address-pattern applies to all of consequence in corporate Nelson.
Just because you don't take an interest in politics doesn't mean politics won't take an interest in you.
Pericles
430 BC
Slugs
Of course - local news-media must be instrumental in presenting all voices. Yet the Star - generally not the most adventurous in City Hall coverage to begin with - instead of moving closer to facilitating this participatory democracy is moving further away from it by making commenting by the electorate selective.
Facebook-Friends Only! All Non-Friends To The Back Of The Bus!
But - if comment you must: Facebook is right there to I could (and will!) just eat you right up!
I contacted Bob Hall, previous editor, about this long ago, and his reply was a few key-words/phrases from going-on-forever Facebook (NOT Nelson Star) Comments: Frequently Asked Questions, to be accessed by clicking on Commenting FAQ, at the very bottom of each page of the Star's website.
Kevin Mills, current editor, did not respond.
Right!
Worst Spammers of 2014 places Facebook 3rd for sending 263 e-mails on average per user.
More on spam immediately below in
Telus Like It Is!
30 Nov. 2014
Star(s):
Karen Bennett
publisher@nelsonstar.com
Kevin Mills
editor@nelsonstar.com
So get involved!
Do something!
Images:
Keith Haring
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