Raise the Hammer

While an admirable initiative, to have a conversation there needs to be people who are listening, espcially in this case, the City. We can discuss amongst ourselves as much as we wish but with a city who sits and"listens' to citizens and does their own thing anyway, not once or twice but pretty much always.

Yet despite this much of the population cannot even insire themselves to vote them out. so things continue. we need new voices and new ears at City Hall but too maany don't seem to care enough. So I am having trouble seeing how a survey which will likely be filled primarily by those who already raise their voice and are not heard, is going to affect change.

The idea is that with a solid foundation of principles chosen by the people, we can score current councillors and future candidates against these foundations in order to help people understand who to vote for. Without talking to people first, then there is no way to accurately "grade" our politicians...

I think there needs to be a conversation with residents outside of downtown- with people on the Mountain, Stoney Creek, Binbrook, Rockton, Waterdown - about what they envision the city looking like. While it's great to have the conversation downtown, we'll be stuck in the same circle if we don't engage the other 70% of the City's population. The reality is they vote at higher levels than those downtown, have more councillors, and end up holding a lot of power. Without them, City Hall won't change because they are the majority voice.

Keith,

Thanks very much for your comment. Our upcoming 2014 municipal election will, perhaps, tell our city a new tale.

It would be good, too, to see the ancient divide between down-town and up-town abolished. There are Hamiltonians on the Mountain who want walkable streets, complete and safe for kith and kin, and open to all varieties of transportation. We are becoming, it's true, envious of our down-town, whose lives are being immeasurably improved by complete streets and vibrant neighbourhoods. Think of it: when was the last time someone said that something good was happening on Upper James, not just James?

It's true that suburban councillors, and those residents who live in the suburbs here on the Mountain, have more political weight to their vote. I live in the largest ward in the city, the seventh, and we have one councillor to find citizens and bind them. Our streets carry more automobiles and are two-way, so our needs, predicated upon a sense of place and fittingness, are, understandably, different. We need bicycle lanes and infra-structure (lights, mostly, and pedestrian cross-walks) more than one-way streets.

Political engagement, beginning at the civic level, is essential and should permeate every aspect of our citizenship, especially in the secondary and elementary schools.

The survey will be administered at the door of an equal number of residences in each ward. It may take weeks or months, but it will be thorough and completed long before the next municipal election. We will collect the opinions of residents from every ward and then the data analysis will begin to help us develop a plan forward. Many have good thoughts about what our community could be, some go further and express their ideas through various forms of conversation, but the odds of transformation taking root in our community will increase exponentially if we all take those good thoughts and good words and turn them into good actions. The best way to ensure success is to volunteer to take the survey out to the community. Please consider volunteering at www.CivicLeague.ca. Please consider asking your contacts to complete the online survey and to volunteer to take it out to the doorsteps of the wider community.

"The survey will be administered at the door of an equal number of residences in each ward."

This may be a silly question, but if you're looking to get a clear read, might you not be better served by a proportionate sample size?

Ward 7, for example, has a population 3.5 times that of Ward 14, while Ward 8 has a population twice that of Wards 1, 9, 10, 13 or 15. Going off historical data, there appear to be twice as many eligible voters in Ward 7 as Ward 1, 2, 9, 10, 13 or 15 and almost four times as many as Ward 14.

Fred,

We divided each ward into 14 sections and are seeking 25 surveys, conducted in person, from each section to form a control group. We have capacity to accept an unlimited number of surveys online. The survey contains one question about ward realignment. I get your point though. Please complete the survey and share it with others.

Your project is the biggest ruse in the city. You are shilling for Brian McHattie's mayor's run. Don't couch your efforts in any other way. Also, look at Mr. Pomerantz' environmental record. Nice job, Larry

I'm not sure how you came to this conclusion, but I attended a civic league meeting years ago - well before a mayoral run was anywhere near McHattie's radar. In other words, the league has been working for some time to build resources necessary to gather real input from the people who live in this city - no small task.

Since you are commenting anonymously, I can't guess about your motives, but I can't imagine they are altruistic. Why are you against true citizen input?

bkehounds, I agree with your comment, while I may not agree with every stance Larry takes, he has worked very hard on this.

I think it is important for people to at least look at the survey, fill it out, maybe the data will show a completely different picture of what people want, you might find commonality that was not previousily identified.