Hamilton Civic League Official Launch

[emge]

Hamilton Civic League Official Launch

Date: Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Time: 7:30 p.m.
Location: Workers Arts and Heritage Centre,, 51 Stuart St., Hamilton, From Main St, head north on Bay St past Barton St and turn right at the next stop sign onto Stuart St. 51 Stuart St is halfway down on the right hand side.
Contact: For more information, please visit http://www.hamiltoncivicleague.org or contact:
Larry Pomerantz: pomerantz@mountaincable.net; 905-516-1877
Jane Christmas: chrisja@mcmaster.caWhat kind of a city do we want? Are our elected officials setting priorities that are leading us in the best direction? Our citizen-led non-profit organization intends to answer these questions and more. Our goal is to significantly increase voter turnout for the 2010 municipal election. Please join us as we unveil our plans at 7:30 PM on September 30th, at the Workers Arts and Heritage Centre at 51 Stuart St, Hamilton.

http://www.hamiltoncivicleague.org (http://www.hamiltoncivicleague.org/)

[astroblaster]

this is a great opportunity for all us Hamilton fans to get organized and try to create real change, rather than just complaining online.

hope to see some of you there.

[highwater]

Will be there.

[emge]

I'll be there also!

I was in Guelph tonight and ended up talking to a woman about her experiences (as a citizen) with the Guelph Civic League. She just kept going on and on about how informative it was, how helpful it was in making her aware of what was happening, and getting people involved and voting - that they were aware what choices affected them and what the priority issues were, and that their votes affected what their politicians did.

I sincerely believe that the Hamilton Civic League can do the same.

Even if you just become a member (http://civic.historicalhamilton.com/) for the e-mail updates, I encourage everyone to sign up. There's lots of opportunity for involvement for people who want to do more, as I know will be discussed at the meeting.

[realcity]

"To maintain the apolitical nature of the Hamilton Civic League by basing decisions and actions on hard data, research, and community input rather than a political, personal, business or organizational agenda."

---------------------

that is so brilliant. I wish everyone voted like this. Instead everyone gets all "I'm and NDPer", "What? I can't believe you support Harper". "I only ever vote Liberal".

[FairHamilton]

Sorry guys, we'll be on an airplane heading back to Hamilton (arriving at TCCA, then GO Bus to Hamilton) at that time, so we'll only be there in spirit.

[emge]

Glad to know you'll at least be there in spirit- if you haven't already, you can become a member (http://civic.historicalhamilton.com/) online, then you'll find out what happened at the meeting and what's planned next via e-mail.

[FairHamilton]

Already a member.

[emge]

:tup:

i'm very interested to see how far this will go in Hamilton

[emge]

From today's Spectator:


Hamilton gets new league of its own
Andrew Dreschel

Their first goal is to boost voter turnout in next year's municipal election.

They're also talking about putting together a report card on the voting records of city councillors.

They've already got a website, not-for-profit legal papers, a four-member board of directors, and a few dozen members signed up.

Now the time has come for the Hamilton Civic League to take the big plunge and formally throw its doors open to widespread public participation.

Can this new grassroots organization change the political face of City Hall?

Who knows? But they're certainly going to try.

"What we're aiming at is to heighten the community's understanding of municipal politics and the role it plays in their daily lives," explains chair Larry Pomerantz.

The group launches this Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. at the Workers' Arts and Heritage Centre on Stuart Street in the North End.

If you go, bear in mind the meeting place is intentionally symbolic.

The seed of the organization was sown there last March when Annie O'Donoghue from the Guelph Civic League - the citizen group they're modelling themselves after - came for a visit.

According to Pomerantz, an overflow crowd of nearly 200 left that meeting energized about the possibilities of making a difference in the direction Hamilton is going.

Several weeks later, the idea of giving hamilton a league of its own took root.
Pomerantz says the non-partisan group will be dedicated to encouraing citizens to become more informed and engaged in local issues. that not only includes helpnig people understand the challenges facing the city but supporting more people to run for a seat on council.

"We're not saying that the current councillors aren't doing a good job," says Pomerantz.

"We simply want the best people available to lead us. And if theer are better people, the community will decide that."

Whether the group develops any traction remains to be seen, of course.

But if the Guelph Civic League is anything to go by, they might very well be a force to be reckoned with.

The Guelph group began in 2004 with 50 voting members. Today it has a mailing list of about 14,000.

They committed themselves to increasing voter turnout from 36 percent in the 2003 municipal election to 50 percent in 2006.

They fell far short. Turnout only rose to about 40 percent.

But, coincidentally or not, the Guelph mayor and eight of the 12 council incumbents were swept from office that same year.

(Voter turnout in Hamilton in 2006 was 37.6 percent, marginally down from the 2003 election.)

O'Donoghue says the group continues to make a difference through facilitating and hosting stakeholder forums, conferences, and meetings, all of which contribute to Guelph's growing reputation for community engagement.

Pomerantz, who for many years headed the local Earth Day organization, says one of the Hamilton league's first taks will be to form working committees to survey the city's 15 wards to find out the priorities and values of each community.

Then, before the 2010 election, they'd like to show people how councillors have voted in comparison to those values and priorities.

Besides Pomerantz, the board consists of Jane Christmas, Brian Kowalewicz and Meredith Broughton, who respectively bring to the table communication, technical and organizational skills.

Pomerantz says there are no barriers to joining the league, but there is a suggested donation fee of $35.

For more information, visit hamiltoncivicleague.org (http://www.hamiltoncivicleague.org/).Or, if you went to get in on the ground floor, head down to Stuart Street Wednesday evening.

Andrew Dreschel's commentary appears Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
adreschel@thespec.com
(905) 526-3495

[astroblaster]

tonight!

[Blurr]

I went but I left early.

I was hoping for a non partisan meeting as stated in their mission.

When Larry Pomerantz (the creator of the league) started mentioning and quoting the highly divisive Michael Moore's new movie Capitalism: A Love Story I sensed that the likely hood for a non partisan group was low. He mentioned at one point "Democracy not Capitalism!".

Shortly after that it turned into a bit of a left wing love fest.

I was expecting it from the crowd, but not from the creator.

[Zaz]

Wow, that's disappointing. I almost made it there last night, but I guess I didn't miss much.

Any other perspectives?

[astroblaster]

I went but I left early.

I was hoping for a non partisan meeting as stated in their mission.

When Larry Pomerantz (the creator of the league) started mentioning and quoting the highly divisive Michael Moore's new movie Capitalism: A Love Story I sensed that the likely hood for a non partisan group was low. He mentioned at one point "Democracy not Capitalism!".

Shortly after that it turned into a bit of a left wing love fest.

I was expecting it from the crowd, but not from the creator.

The league is committed to staying non partisan. We all have our own political views, of course, but I know that's not what Larry or the rest of the board wants the League to be about.

I have forwarded your comment to the board - I guess everyone has to be more careful with letting personal views come up if we want to achieve the broad based support the League is looking for.

Please don't give up on the league based on this one comment. Instead, I'd invite you to keep watching, and help make sure the League does not stray from it's non partisan vision.

[emge]

I went but I left early.

I was hoping for a non partisan meeting as stated in their mission.

When Larry Pomerantz (the creator of the league) started mentioning and quoting the highly divisive Michael Moore's new movie Capitalism: A Love Story I sensed that the likely hood for a non partisan group was low. He mentioned at one point "Democracy not Capitalism!".

Shortly after that it turned into a bit of a left wing love fest.

I was expecting it from the crowd, but not from the creator.

While it was certainly a potentially divisive thing to reference, I didn't think the point being made was at all anti-capitalism.

I'm sorry you got that impression. We will have to be more careful about referencing that type of material in the future. I'm also sorry you didn't stay for the rest of the meeting to hear who else came out and what type of a group we have to start. We don't have a board that wants to affect the outcome of the league. The only "input" we get in the final product is that we'll each be one of hopefully thousands of people who take that survey.

Our biggest committment from the start has been staying non-partisan and not pushing our own views.

HCL is very committed to reflecting what's going on in the community - a mirror as it were. We're not interested in warping the mirror to reflect our own views - in fact, one of the main things we want for our surveys is to make sure they're properly randomized, don't use leading questions or ask t them in an order that encourages any particular response.

If you think there's an issue, that makes your involvement all the more important. If you think there may be an imbalance, we need you to step in and say so, not remain on the outside. This is supposed to be an opportunity for people to say "I want to move Hamilton forward together" -- and although we all have our own views, the league is about asking the community and mirroring what citizens find important, not promoting our own issues.

[Blurr]

I will keep watching and getting involved. I just want make sure the business community is involved in this group. I should have mentioned the point last night, but failing that, thanks for forwarding the complaint.


I fully support the board and applaud their initiative. I am happy to sign up as a member, and pay my due.

I do not wish to create a rift at all. I just want to state my opinion that being as inclusive as possible will yield the best results.

As an aside, I am interested how the business community is involved in the Guelph league as a comparison.

[highwater]

Glad you're keeping an open mind Blurr. Larry mentioned the Chamber of Commerce as one of the community groups they would like to reach out to. If you had stayed you also would have heard several speakers list the lack of jobs as their main concern (it's certainly one of mine). Also, a member of the Canadian Taxpayer's Coalition spoke at length about some of their concerns. Issues of transparency and accountability transcend political leanings - at least they should. Stay involved! :)

[adam]

The name "Hamilton Civic League" suggests its purpose is to be a forum for people who live in the city.. not just those left-leaning or right-leaning or either extreme. Is this the case?

[emge]

Yes, that's definitely the case. I think it's safe to say that often the initial attendees can be more left-leaning, but we had a decent mix.

One of the things we've been discussing, and mentioned again last night, is how to ensure we have representation from a variety of Hamilton stakeholders across the spectrum, not just the squeaky wheels, or those who tend to embrace this form of participation naturally. I think a part of that is helping people realize the potential benefits across the spectrum from raising engagement and participation - especially the business side of things.

http://hamiltoncivicleague.org/

Our Vision
All eligible Hamiltonians will vote in the next municipal election as informed, empowered and engaged citizens in order to bring about positive change to our city.

Our Mission
Our mission is to develop an all-inclusive, non-partisan civic league representing Hamilton community stakeholders to encourage and inspire our community to become informed about local issues, to raise community involvement in local democracy, and to promote accountability, accessibility and transparency in our municipal government.

[emge]

Not trying to bump this up, but thought I could put in a couple updates that should help answer some of the questions that are/were being asked. Here's some of the documents we've been working on and were just able to put up now:

1. Focus and Timeline (http://hamiltoncivicleague.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=13&Itemid=14)

2. The agenda (http://www.hamiltoncivicleague.com/files/HCLRevisedAgenda.pdf)for the first working group meeting is also up - it has the focus and timeline attached to it as well in PDF form

October 14, 2009: Working Group Meeting 1
Time: 7:30 p.m.
Location: 145 Main St. East (Basement of the Canadian Youth Ballet Ensemble building)

This is a meeting for those interested in discussing the direction of the Hamilton Civic League. For more information read the agenda for this meeting. (http://www.hamiltoncivicleague.com/files/HCLRevisedAgenda.pdf)

The building is accessible by bus routes 1 and 5 and free parking after 6 p.m. is available at the municipal lot beside Shakespeare's Restaurant, just east of Walnut.

3. Partner Organizations (http://hamiltoncivicleague.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=14&Itemid=15)
some of the text from the site: "... Our goal is to be affiliated with a diverse group of organizations, businesses, and government, across the entire spectrum.
Partner organizations are a voice to their members for the Hamilton Civic League Some partner organizations may also provide assistance to the Hamilton Civic League, such as skilled volunteers or other forms of assistance.
As we call for accountability, transparency, and accessibility in local government, we also commit to acting according to these principles in all of our partnerships."