...the way I see it, anyway.

Over the past 18 months or so, since I began paying attention to local politics (no apologies for that), there have been myriad reasons to feel not only the standard cynicism, naysaying nihilism to augment the area's decades-old psychic burden, but also disheartedness, disillusionment...and utter resignation.

However, unlike many in Hamilton, my focus isn't the natural one, that of 'the politicians'. It's not that I hold them blameless (hardly), it's not that I expect less than most and therefore aren't offended by what's presented as 'good governance' (ha!), and it's not that I'm eternally hopeful that somewhere in the mix, we're going to see a shining star reveal itself and guide us to a better place. (puhlease.)

I don't focus on 'them' simply because I believe fervently that-

Well, allow me to step back a bit and provide some context.

My instincts in just about any situation regarding people are to innately 'see' what's working, what's not, to frame things according to the available potential...and to come up with better ways forward. Improvements. I've done it in every arena I've worked in, I've done it in friendships and relationships with family...and this proclivity has most definitely been initiated on a regular basis since my 'awakening' regarding local governance.

I'm not 'wired' the way that most people I've met seem to be. I don't have a yearning to 'fix' things. This tendency isn't about me. I'm merely the active observer. 

And though I'm not interested in the seemingly-mandatory urge to flay and lambaste and otherwise pillory councillors when they've slipped-up or maybe not risen accordingly to the occasion, I'm also not interested in mediocrity.

Frankly, I'm not impressed with much of what I've seen at Council performance-wise. There's a lot of room for improvement.

But I'm even less impressed with the behaviour some of those comprising the other part of the 'Great Local Governance' formula: the residents.

It's not surprising that when things are bad, when the general tone of where you are is negative, that bitching about comparatively unimportant things can become a habit.

'What were once bad habits are now vices.'

Hamilton has long suffered from what I have referred to on this blog as a 'legacy-malaise'. It's the effect of having a long-established identity (manufacturing, specifically steel production) slip away, and over the successive decades, have nobody at the wheel with sufficient presence of mind, forethought and constructive vision to steer the city (and by this I'm obviously referring to 'the lower city', specifically the north-end) in an entirely different direction. What's resulted has been this sense of loss, a variation on phantom-limb syndrome, and a general state of inertia across the population. (Newcomers are affected to varying degrees, whether or not they want to admit it.)

When you combine this default state with a series of recent 'stumbles' (or at the very least, perceived stumbles), then what inevitably happens is that people focus their frustration, their anger, their enmity on whatever's at hand.

Witness 'Peggygate', the tempest-in-a-teapot over Mayor Bratina's mishandling of the 'pay realignment' he'd wanted to effect on Ms Chapman's behalf. Previous to this, you could look to the relative nothingness that was the Jill Stephen/Chris Murray LRT imbroglio, yadda, yadda, yadda.

'Desperate times call for desperate measures'. Such as glomming onto incidents such as these, putting on your high-dudgeon suit, jumping onto the rapidly-filling bandwagon, and having at it.

I can understand many on Council wanting to put Mayor Bratina in his place over this. Someone said to me months ago that 'they're all sharpening their knives; it just remains to be seen who plunges in first'. I've heard many a tale about what's been going on beyond public eye- and earshot, so it shouldn't come as any surprise that many/most/all will take what they can get ammunition-wise and run with it.

But the public...?

A public that generally doesn't vote?

And when it does, the majority casts its ballots according to 'name recognition'?

"We must be the change we want to see in the world. If we could change ourselves, the tendencies in the world would also change. As a man changes his own nature, so does the attitude of the world change towards him. ... We need not wait to see what others do." 

Mahatma Gandhi

 "We are the change we have been waiting for."

Presidential Candidate Barack Obama

I find it sad that at a time when there is so little authentic city-building taking place...and please, let's not mistake the number of cranes currently in use with 'city-building', which requires a consistent spirit to be suffusing daily life...that so much energy is being so frivolously wasted on what amounts to a hangnail on someone in need of an intervention...or at the very least, a protracted series of Life-coach sessions. 

I deeply resent the lack of perspective shown by the media as well as the reckless indulgence shown by local pundits and supposed community-organizers.

The witch-hunt that these shenanigans can be characterized as leaving me shaking my head. Especially when considering what the topics of conversation should be. ('Such as?' you may well ask. The proper and honest addressing of the ramification of our 'poverty industry' in Hamilton. The resurrection and rejuvenation of the north-end across Wards 2, 3, 4 and 5. The discussion by the people of Hamilton addressing what they want their city to become. How, in making residents more aware and pride-filled at their own streets and neighbourhoods, that those communities, in being better connected and engaged, can assist in driving the city forward to an entirely better place. Making tangible and visceral progress on eradicating our 'legacy-malaise'. For starters.) 

The only thing that provides me hope is the understanding that as with kids, those smirking and creating witty framings of the current goings-on in Hamilton will eventually grow tired of their indulgent dreams. (Check out this article for some perspective.)

Maybe then we can return to the real task at hand: providing this city with what it needs for the future its citizens deserve.