Encouraging words from President Peter MacKinnon...College Quarter can't start soon enough.
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Town-gown link enhances culture
By Gerry Klein, The Star Phoenix June 25, 2009
When University of Saskatchewan President Peter MacKinnon surveys the land south of College Drive between Cumberland and Preston Avenues, his face becomes uncharacteristically firm.
It's not the student athletes practising on the fields, or the people moving to and from the residences that he focuses on as he scans this
block known as the Campus Quarter. Rather, it's the future that he sees -- a future that includes more residences, an ice rink to replace the dilapidated Rutherford Rink and, the piece that brings a determined glint to his eyes, a fine arts performance centre.
This, he says, is part of his mission for both the university and the city.
Lots of talk and planning have taken place over the last couple of decades on how to accomplish the important growth of the province, campus and city. Chambers of commerce and business groups have prepared reports, councils have proposed tax incentives, civic administrators have drawn up policy changes and planned neighbourhoods, and campus officials have developed complex and rigorous integrated planning schemes and set international standards. Even this newspaper has launched series of discussions about how to advance Saskatchewan's and Saskatoon's economic development.
When MacKinnon considers the need for a performance arts centre, it isn't only to provide needed space for the university community, but also for the entire city. It will also help enhance Saskatoon's already high reputation as a city of culture -- one that landed it among the top spots in Canada in a recent magazine comparison of cultural cities and helped acquire its bragging rights as a cultural capital of Canada a couple of years ago.
By the way, that designation was recognized again as recently as this week, when Federal Heritage Minister James Moore wrote to congratulate Saskatoon for its "long-standing commitment to the cultural development of its community and the inclusion of its First Nation population ... Saskatoon has explored its potential to grow as a creative city and to highlight its abundant artistic talents."
When the university, then the community and finally the province set out to convince the country and the world that the U of S campus was the logical place to build Canada's flagship research facility, the mission was accomplished by an unprecedented level of inter-jurisdictional and multi-group co-operation. So universal was the effort that internationally renowned researchers became convinced to move to Saskatoon after being regaled by restaurant servers and taxi drivers with minute details about the workings of a synchrotron.
What is unusual about MacKinnon's mission is that, in Saskatoon at least, it is all in stride to have a university president pondering a top-shelf development on Campus Quarter that will be at least as important to the entire city as it is to his institution.
In a city that continues to thrive in one of the most serious economic upheavals of our times, it is easy to lose sight of how unusual and fortunate is this connection between town and gown.
The university owns some 18 per cent of all the land within five kilometres of Saskatoon's core, including the block north of College Drive. In order to reduce infrastructure costs and lessen Saskatoon's carbon footprint as the city grows, City Hall has set increased population density as one of its planning missions; the university will play a critical role in that.
These various areas of interfaces between the university and city, from the cultural to the economic and social, have become so common that they are often invisible. In many ways, however, they are better than gold.
In explaining the increased number of six-figure salaried civic employees, City Manager Murray Totland last week pointed out that City Hall has to compete with the private sector and other cities for professional staff. But it isn't just money that keeps the cream of the crop in Saskatoon. Headhunters haven't been rare, either at City Hall or on campus, but a lot of top public officials -- including, no doubt, people such as Totland and MacKinnon -- remain in Saskatoon because of the cultural, social and intellectual advantages to be found in a city that shares such a close connection to a vigorous institution of higher learning.
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Besides the congratulation from Moore and an award from the Saskatchewan Urban Municipalities Association for Saskatoon's social housing program, City Hall also received recognition this week for its culture of openness.
The Government Finance Officers' Association of the United States and Canada awarded the City of Saskatoon its Canadian Award for Financial Reporting. It's the sixth time Saskatoon has won the award, and the second time in as many years. It was cited for its constructive "spirit of full disclosure."
As Totland told council Monday, this is simply a reflection of the culture of openness that has always existed in the bureaucracy.
Awards are nice, but sometimes action is even more impressive. Twice during Monday's council meeting, this commitment to openness was discreetly demonstrated -- both times by City Clerk Janice Mann, who also serves as the city's privacy commissioner, information officer and electoral officer.
When council was asked if a camera would be installed in a new recycling centre on Primrose Drive, she pointed out that, to protect people's right to privacy, the city only installs security cameras when there is no other option to offer personal protection. That need hasn't been demonstrated at the Primrose site.
But in a more telling incident, Mann, who I have known to take her responsibilities seriously from the day she took office, reacted immediately when she thought she saw a citizen being denied access to council chambers.
A man with a long beard and disorderly hair, dressed in an old sweatshirt, faded jeans and running shoes without socks, was quietly questioned by a new security guard and sent away.
Mann quickly sent her assistant to instruct the guard to go after the man and make it clear that he has the right to see his local government in action.
It was an act that escaped the notice of most, but said more about Saskatoon's culture than any award or national recognition.
© Copyright (c) The Star Phoenix
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Here's one for ya, what if the City of Saskatoon and the U of S merged and became one entity, what would that look like...this is more of a thought experiment on my part. What are the practical advantages and disadvantages, structure of government, operations...
(curious wondering is what I do best).
For now we will keep em' close together
