To dream, perchance to...? Part One

Ryan McGreal, Publisher of Raise The Hammer

Yes, I'm the guy who 'spurred that spirited discussion' both in The Spec and at Raise the Hammer.

But...

But the 'discussion' didn't turn out as I'd hoped. Allow me to first share feedback to Ryan et al during the 'content approval' stage for his article's publication (edited marginally for clarity):

Ryan;

Interesting collation. 

Too bad what it's sprung from hadn't been in-person. 

A few points, as I attempt to stay away from the thrust of my own commentary, still being written:

As I was the one who prompted the conversation, it's been fascinating to see what was 'heard' and how almost everyone (save Sean Burak) processed the challenge and ran down a particular path with their response. One that generally had more to do with incorporating the idea of a supermarket (I'm using this term because there's too strong an assumption that 'grocery store', especially in the same conversation as 'The Hamilton Farmers' Market' just means produce, meat, dairy, baked goods, when that's not what I've been referring to, not if you go back to my initial commentary, here.) into a development possessing multiple uses...when what I was referring to was predicated on the idea of people as a community...and I do mean this in the complete sense of the word...examining their needs and making something happen. 

Can you see the difference? You're talking about development...and I'm talking about community. 

Both valid and important discussions, inextricably intertwined, but entirely different ones in the main. 

When I posited the notion of 'building it ourselves', I was, once again, trying to get a conversation about we Hamiltonians being active, rather than being reactive. We've become a culture of complainers in this city, bitching and whingeing online while -quietly- waiting for manna from Heaven to descend amongst our cynicism. This exercise was merely an attempt to get people more in 'dream' mode, to consider possibilities themselves, rather than be subject to how someone from 'outside', as assisted from the City I suppose, would confer on the downtown core some beneficence, and provide something that while quite reasonable, has in fact never existed. 

What I saw...especially after my efforts regarding Stoney Creek's downtown, in the far, far background of that discussion...was a store that the community had made happen. Not just for the sake of having another good-choices option in the downtown core, but as a strong example of Hamiltonians being able to get something done on their own that is not an event. 

I certainly appreciate what ensued. In fact, I'm downright chuffed at how much was generated in so small a time-frame, given the fact that you were all simply responding to words on your screens. And I believe we've only scratched the surface. (For the record, this kind of 'unfolding' is precisely what I have been yammering on about for what seems so long a period of time, the concept of 'salons', where ideas can be shot back and forth. A rudimentary effort was attempted last summer/autumn with the 'RTHers' get-togethers, which numbered eleven at year's end.)

But I'm still wanting to tap into that other approach, go down that other path, the path more aligned with the initial reason for me challenging everyone: a community-based, community-directed store (yes, in partnership with someone, an 'already-in-the-game' player, if necessary) that would be an immense declaration to all that Hamiltonians do not require their Council to make everything happen, we don't have to wait on developers to gift us their generosity of presence, or even a protracted LRT plan being put in place, that we are quite capable of making things happen on our own, thankyouverymuch. 

(And yes Ryan, this flies in the face of your admonition/aside regarding community and its food choices.)

Oh, and there was nothing overt in my proposition about the $650,000. At no point in any of my commentaries/editorials have I focused on that. In fact, I don't believe I even mentioned it. The overwhelming impetus of my gesture to generate conversation was that we try to play a little and find a way to imagine such an endeavour coming from Hamiltonians. That we consider the possibility of anteing up our brain power, our enthusiasm, our boldness...and of course, maybe even our money. 

But I think that perhaps the main divergence in what I was musing on and what resulted, is a philosophical one. Because almost the entire motivation behind what I talk about isn't how to solve the consternating issues that are unfolding in the city, it's about 'How do we get people more engaged, so that they're contributing more to the ongoing revitalization of their city?' Where most everyone's response was 'How can we find ways to incorporate a grocery store into someone's development?'

I'm hoping you can see the difference. 

Please don't misunderstand me: the collation effort is great, especially if it winds up in The Spec as an op-ed piece. But I need to remind all that this isn't the conversation I'd wanted to nudge people towards. It's a good one, it's a valid one, but until we focus on the most ignored element of this whole equation, the most invaluable commodity if you will, our residents, the dialogue is lacking its most critical part. And to me, this is unforgivable, because we do control our own destiny in this regard. We just haven't (outside the fold of 'active residents') accepted the mantle as of yet. 

Truculently yours towards building a better Hamilton, 

A/

P.S. That throwaway line from the original Facebook page –about a town hall– was an entirely serious one. Until we're actually talking about this stuff in a room, we're going to remain mired.