Another New idea

Everything happens for a reason, right?

People keep telling me this but its often hard to believe it, particularly when you've endured a number of months of unemployment. However, last night's Beers with Jas (perhaps the title of an ongoing discussion) has given me faith once again in the marvels of our universe.

When I was 17, it was a very good year, but alas, that's a digression. Ahem, when I was 17, I had the good fortune to indicate positively in response to my Accounting Teacher's question: 'Who likes Baseball' and again to the question: 'who is looking for a part-time job this summer?' Turns out old Ken Hernimen knew Bob Eamon who would be leading the Ticket-selling efforts for the start-up Double A Eastern League Baseball Team, The London Tigers. Providence was smiling.

For the next 4 years, I would work for the London Tigers as a Ticket Seller and Parking Attendant at London's Labatt Park. Its how I met my ex-wife and while that didn't turn out so well (though there are many good memories too) it seems that fateful summer love may lead to something new and much greater.

While out with Jas, it came to mention that Jim Chapman, host of AM980's Jim Chapman News Hour, recently discussed his interest in hiring someone, or creating some entity that would provide Londoners with information about the activities at London City Hall. It's an idea I've had from time-to-time since returning to London in August.

For those of you unfamiliar with London History and currently scratching your head wondering how these two seemingly random events connect...Jim Chapman was also the bane of my existence for a number of years - but in a very jovial and positive way. Jim wrote a song that for years played on a constant loop in my brain. If you haven't already guessed, Jim wrote the famous lines..."Its the crack of the bat, the smack of the glove, the sounds of the game that everyone loves, it's London Tiger Baseball! Tear 'em up Tigers, Let's Go!"

21 years after that fateful summer, I am back in my hometown, with a head full of knowledge about City government, ideas about the causes of London's ills and ways to solve them. I've been wondering recently how to get Londoners informed about what is going on at City Hall.

For instance, my parents consistently wonder how Toronto taxpayers can complain when their City taxes are equivalent to London's and yet enjoy a multitude of services. This of course at the same time as all properties are taxed based on their Current Value Assessment. This means a house worth 300,000 in Toronto pays the same dollar in taxes as a 150,000 home in London.

The answer of course is obvious to anyone with a knowledge of Property Taxes and Urban Economics. The answer lies in the question of population density. Toronto packs 'em in. This is why Toronto residents can get an answer from their Councillor who represents a similar number of residents as a London Councillor while having a staff of 3 to assist her. The question is not "why are Toronto's taxes the same" but rather "Why are London's taxes so high relative to the services provided?" Simply put, urban sprawl costs more to service and London has urban sprawl like Horton's has donuts!

This is but one of the areas that I wish to educate Londoners about. We can choose to all live on cul-de-sacs in sprawling subdivisions but we have to understand the trade-offs of inefficient services, expensive taxes, poor air quality, poor transit, low quality jobs in car-oriented business places, un-walkable neighbourhoods, traffic gridlock, etc.. These problems only get worse as infrastructure ages without the density to pay for its replacement.

So...how do we get Londoners to care? How do we get behind the garage and into the living rooms? Civic Engagement. We can fight for a City that works or we can sit back and allow developers to continue to build highly profitable subdivisions further from the center of town, while 'brownfield' lots get skipped over. Or we can challenge our City's Mothers and Fathers to think of a post-carbon (its coming) future where driving is the last choice, not the first. We can redevelop existing lands within the City's boundaries while preserving valuable green space on the edge of town from being paved over. We can stop forcing deer to commit hari-kari off bridges in the Northwest end of town. Soon enough, the high costs of our wasteful energy use of the past 30 years will catch up, as resources are depleted and those green areas will prove valuable for small-scale farming and recreation.

There are, I'm sure, great things at work, fantastic ideas about London's future that we cannot even explore due to the costs of servicing our sprawling City. The deep thinkers, the Richard Floridas and Jane Jacobs of the world know that Cities are the future and that the successful ones are those that enable arts, culture, sport and creativity.

Its time to ask Londoners to think more deeply about how we grow. But they can only be expected to think wisely if they have the information necessary to do so. Current news media does a poor job of informing Londoners about their civic government. The London Free Press is run out of Toronto and carries little deep coverage of London City Hall. A Channel News, is run, more or less, out of Toronto and carries little deep coverage about London City Hall.

So...how do we grow City Think London. Jim? If you've got the funding, I've got the ideas.

We start with Civic Engagement 101. We cover City meetings of all kinds. We profile the existing Councillors. We profile City bureaucrats and let Londoners know who they are. We delve deeply into the issues about taxation and growth. We look at who funds election campaigns. We seriously look at the amount politicians are paid compared to what is asked of them, we ask how much they have at hand for staffing and serving constituents. And we track the votes and report them. We create transparency and accountability of politicians, developers and residents.

And we hold our own meetings. We engage the residents of this City by inviting guest lecturers to meetings that get us to think more deeply about the kinds of communities we'd like to live in. The London Urban Institute might be a name we use for that work.

So...Jim. I hope you'll remember me, 21 years after the year we met, in the Press Box above Labatt Park, that field of dreams that represented my hopes for a better future. And I hope, like me, you see Providence smiling as the sun rises on this day after Remembrance Day. Let's make London an engaged City.