I'm –regularly– asked 'OK, Bub; what exactly are you proposing in terms of getting people more involved, in 'increasing the relationship of engagement between residents and their Councillors in local governance'? Give me some examples!'
Here then, is a framework of one aspect of what I'm talking about. A kindasorta 'hierarchy' culled from a recent correspondence dealing with have a sufficiently-informed populace that could reasonably participate in referendums such as one for LRT:
How can we move forward unless the general level of understanding increases?
If it increases on the level of the residents, then the Councillors would be 'forced' to increase theirs, and then our discourse level improves...
To this end, there are tiers.
-Anyone who blogs about their neighbourhood, their community, their city, is the first tier.
-Raise the Hammer, The Hamiltonian, et al have provided the second. The dissemination of non-Main Stream Media information via articles and editorials that further expand the scope of understanding, as well as providing a forum for discussion.
-The third tier is massively-more-engaging-than-
-The fourth would be a video-segments element such as the proposed TED/Christopher Hume-esque 'This is Your Hamilton' series. Explorations of the city on myriad levels, providing sorely-absent historical insight and social context, and in doing so, stimulating perspective.
-The fifth is salons and seminars. Opportunities for a deeper exchange of ideas, concepts...while actually learning about those aspects of modern urban realities that affect Hamilton and Hamiltonians.
-The sixth is town hall meetings. We don't have a tradition of these in Hamilton, but they can be an extraordinary tool for civic engagement on so many levels. I believe they have the potential to be truly city-changing.
I'll take a closer look at all of these in an upcoming post.
