I've been away from London for almost a year now but try to keep up to date as much as possible through this forum, some Londoners blogs and yes the LFPress.. Recently I've been following the Planning Departments "Rethink London" (The official Plan review)I found it to seem very interesting from what I read as well as what is up on the
website .
I was wondering if anyone on here was one of the 1300 people there? any thoughts on how it went, what you think the next year will bring? I was actually pretty surprised to see that no one on the SSP was commenting on this event happening.. or anything about.
Below is one of the many articles, I believe this one summed it all up the best:
They’re ready to ReTHINK the city. Are you?
By IAN GILLESPIE, THE LONDON FREE PRESS
Maybe we need an inspiring pep talk, like the "fight for every inch" speech delivered by actor Al Pacino in the football film Any Given Sunday.
Maybe, as authors James Collins and Jerry Porras described in their book Built To Last, we need a "big hairy audacious goal" - an objective that's questionable, but not impossible.
Maybe we need a big tasty carrot, or a scary-looking stick.
But Londoners, I think, desperately need something to shake us out of the municipal malaise that's covering this city like a wet wool blanket.
And maybe we'll get that with ReThink London.
The year-long conversation with residents, launched Thursday at the London Convention Centre, is designed to set the goals and targets for a new city master plan.
Although it's essentially a land-use planning exercise, the brains behind ReThink London are clearly aiming at something bigger, as evidenced by the program's five themes: How we live, how we green, how we grow, how we move and how we prosper.
Of course, those themes will likely generate some familiar topics of discussion.
Among them: the plight of downtown, the role of heritage, the future of transit and transportation (particularly bicycling), the city's relationship with Fanshawe College and Western University, the limits (or not) of suburban growth and the contribution of arts and culture (including the perennial question of a performing arts centre).
But will those subjects and suggestions - most of which have been examined by The Free Press in our What's London series exploring the city's identity - be enough?
For the past 25 years, London has settled comfortably into a vision of itself as somewhere safe, comfortable and convenient, a nice place to live, but someplace you wouldn't need to visit.
Battered by job losses (particularly the galling situation at Electro-Motive Diesel), embarrassed by scandals (like the banana-throwing incident at the John Labatt Centre), disgusted by social unrest (the drunken debacle on Fleming Dr.) and emotionally pummelled by testimony at the Tori Stafford trial, Londoners have no dearth of recent reasons for being down in the dumps.
For many observers, there's been no sparkling sense of civic purpose since the lead-up to the 2001 Canada Summer Games, when thousands of flag-waving Londoners braved rain and cold to show their support.
For all too many, the Forest City has become a sort of velvet coffin, a second-rate city ruled by consistency and complacency. But if it works, maybe ReThink London can prod more Londoners to replace "settle" with "superlative."
There is, however, a danger.
As former city councillor Sandy Levin recalls, we went through a similar exercise 16 years ago with Vision 96.
"In 1997, I got elected with a bunch of other first-time city councillors, many of whom had no connection to the Vision 96 process," says Levin. "So it went out the window."
If that happens again, says Levin, this city could alienate a whole new group of emerging activists.
"If current council doesn't get behind this and if they just pay lip service to the ideas, then the process is going to be a waste," says Levin. "If you really want to turn people off, don't implement anything they want."
So, the challenge is twofold: Deliver some sparkling ideas, then commit to following them up.
Only then can we shake the moniker of mediocrity that still hangs above our door.
Threaded Mode