The municipalities of Greater Victoria could find some useful reading in Vancouver鈥檚 new book when it comes to getting citizens more involved with their cities.
A 22-member Vancouver group called the Engaged City task force has delivered what it calls 鈥渜uick start鈥� steps to getting people more interested and active in city life.
Mayor Gregor Robertson points to declining turnout at elections, alienation among neighbours and disconnection between residents and city hall as worrying trends in his city. The task force will issue a detailed report by the end of July, but in the meantime, it has produced 16 recommendations that can be implemented at little or no cost.
Some of the suggestions are so obvious they don鈥檛 need to be on the list, such as encouraging people to tour city hall. Others are natural evolutions of technology, such as creating email lists of people who want to be informed of city events, setting up online panels for feedback and using Twitter to bounce ideas around.
Several of the recommendations are devoted to giving neighbourhoods a voice and a sense of community. One suggests making each city councillor responsible for certain neighbourhoods, to bring forward their issues.
One recommendation is for a citywide Neighbourhood Block Party Day. It鈥檚 hard to envision an entire city turned over to block parties, but it might do wonders in easing the sense of urban 鈥� and even suburban 鈥� isolation.
Getting rid of bureaucratic jargon, making signs like those for planning and development comprehensible to ordinary people, and giving people earlier notice of rezoning and planning issues would all help citizens.
Some of the task force鈥檚 ideas might travel well over the water.
