The complete Spec article.

As the online version this morning had offered up a truncated version of my commentary, here it is in its entirety:

The 'hero' is Us: A Vision for Hamilton

'the commons'

'collaborative consumption'

'network weaving'

‘social media’

'The Internet'

All of these are examples of modern interconnectivity. All are expressions of ‘community’. Perhaps it’s no surprise that in Hamilton, where we’re mired in frustration and cynicism, trapped in a sad loop of indifference and bleating, passivity and caterwauling, where we’ve begun a tradition of producing ‘late to the game’ circuses, we haven’t made good use of their potential.  

Which is why contrary to what Hamilton citizen leader Graham Crawford's posits in his recent Spec commentary 'Hamilton needs a hero' –suggesting that we could use an outside force such as Senator David Braley to help us sort out the current HWDSB/Mac dilemma– I believe that the true, long-term 'answer' to what ails us is...

...us. 

It's wonderful when we have solid talents with strong voices on Council. When there’s better personnel in play, you have the potential to rise well above mere 'maintenance' and instead approach 'leadership-with-vision'. And it's great to have benevolent developers and thoughtful corporate and institutional entities working in concert with our elected officials to create projects that improve Life in Hamilton. 

But these situations aren't the norm. You can’t count on them being part of the mix at any given moment.

However, turning away from these variables has us addressing the one element that's missing from things unfolding in sensible, visionary ways more often: an engaged, organized, participating citizenry. 

And when I use these descriptives, I'm not talking about comments posted on Spec articles, or on community activism forums such as Raise the Hammer and The Hamiltonian. And I'm talking about something more substantive than the casual contributions on a Facebook page. 

I'm talking about, ultimately, a concerted city-wide effort of neighbourhood associations. NAs, if you will. 

I'm talking about the single most powerful concept available for our use, an untapped expression of community, one that’s never been seen in full force in Hamilton. 

We have in excess of a hundred and fifty historically recognized neighbourhoods. 

The City officially acknowledges less than fifty NAs...and I'll state bluntly that not all of these pass personal muster. (While some are plainly inactive.)

Moreover, some wards do not have any NAs. 

So to what degree is effective engagement happening? Where is the needed back-and-forth unfolding? With a scattershot approach, even accounting for ‘community meetings’ and availability via phone and email, how can any councillor stay on top of things, save for dealing with complaints or putting out fires?

Instead, imagine a scenario in which we had NAs in every ward. Imagine most neighbourhoods properly represented by NAs. Imagine that each one had a 'charter', that each one was organized, active, with residents energized at the street level, neighbours invested in their communities, where events such as litter pickups weren't necessary because stewardship was a daily occurrence, where pride-of-place fuelled community spirit sufficiently that apathy was replaced with inspiration. 

Imagine a scenario where councillors worked with their wards’ NAs on a constant basis towards a clearer, more vibrant vision of what their streets, their communities, their wards, their city could be. 

Yes, we need great councillors in place at City Hall. Yes, we need visionary leadership from our mayor. And yes, we need to encourage the participation of developers, corporations and institutions who are on the same page and want to help contribute to the kind of Hamilton we're able to conceptualize and articulate. 

But more than ever, I’m convinced that 'we, the people' are the greatest potential force of change. By seeding, propagating and cultivating NAs.

It wouldn’t be easy. Making NAs into a major player at the table, creating a Federation of Hamilton Neighbourhood Associations, producing a 'congress'. Because inertia, our 'legacy malaise', the practicalities of Life in a city endeavouring to re-invent itself amidst some pretty striking inequities across its landscape, all these are challenges. Not to mention those 'players' disinclined to cede 'power'.

But surely our city is worth the struggle, especially when you consider that this has never been attempted here. Not from boundary-to-boundary, not in this way, not ever. (But it’s  certainly present elsewhere; the 'Federation of Calgary Communities' immediately comes to mind, but there are scores of others across North America, the UK and Europe.) That's the 'downside'; it's never been done here. The upside? The benefits attached to it are bountiful. 

Our city requires no external 'hero'. The future of this city is ours. 


The future of this city is us. 




M Adrian Brassington