This post was submitted by Sarah Arthurs.
As many of you know, because many of you were participants, Alderman Bob Hawkesworth, with the facilitation of Bob Chartier and the support of volunteers, organized and hosted two gatherings designed to facilitate discussion regarding significant Calgary issues. The most recent event, Conversation Calgary II , on October 31 was attended by 200 people who were given one page conversation starters (read them in pdf form here) on various topics including:
What if Calgary had effective citizenship and participation? by Roger Gibbins
What if Art was considered an essential service? by Mary Roza De Coquet
What if Calgary made local communities the focus of Economic Development? by James Schwinn
What if Calgary committed to be the Sustainable energy capital of North America? by Senator Elaine McCoy
What if Calgary understood its quality of life depended on nature? by Rob Abbott
What if Calgary committed to being a socially just community? by Janet Keeping
What if Calgary were designed around people rather than cars? by Gian-Carlo Carra
What if Calgary inspired us (and we inspired Calgary)? by Dennis Bathory
What if Calgary planned for the end of cheap energy? by David Hughes
This is an initiative worthy of attention for many reasons.
In these events there is modeling for a different kind of Alderman, an elected official who sees their responsibility including bringing their neighbors together to discuss common issues. This shifts a number of things. It changes the role of Alderman from service provider to partner and convener and it invites resident to behave as citizens rather that consumers. Rather than Alderman as public servant who does what we want – meeting our needs and requests, the Alderman instead becomes one who can identify significant community opportunities and provide occasions for us to attend to them together.
The customer model in which elected officials exist to satisfy citizen demands is a disservice to community. . . . Elected officials are partners with citizens not suppliers. The most useful role that elected officials can perform is to bring citizens together. They have convening capacity like no one else in a city but it is way underutilized.
Peter Block, Community: The Structure of Belonging
This convening model is important in Calgary for two very specific reasons. Voter turnout in our last civic election was 33%. As voter turnout slides, the very backbone of our governmental system is weakened and the representative legitimacy of our officials plummets. Aldermen have a unique opportunity to engage their constituents in civic and community issues and to help address our democratic deficit.
As Calgary’s development initiatives turn inward due to increased fuel costs, decreased city budgets as will as increased support for sustainable communities as demonstrated by the marked citizen support for Plan It, Aldermen are going to need to take the lead in helping their neighbors reap the benefits of this opportunity. We need them to be leaders, helping us to not get stuck in our very human, knee jerk, negative reaction to change (the only thing that likes change is a wet baby!). We will all be together on the learning journey of how to do development within the context of an established neighborhood versus a farmer’s field. . .
Shout outs to Aldermen Bob Hawkesworth for exploring this manifestation of the Aldermen’s role and this kind of relationship with his neighbors and constituents. It takes a great deal of integrity and intention to begin something new; especially when you don’t know how it will be received, where it will go or exactly what to do next. I am glad he is modeling to us how aldermen can convene citizens, joining all of our diverse voices to create the Calgary we want. As we consider the kind of civic leadership we need in 2010, we should be evaluating our Aldermanic choices based on their capacity to convene citizens in genuine and productive dialogue.
