This song keeps running through my head:
If there’s something strange in you neighborhood
Who you gonna call? (your councillor)
If there’s something weird
And it don’t look good
Who you gonna call? (your councillor)
With apologies to Ray Parker, composer of the Ghostbusters theme song.
More than three years after I left council, I still get calls from residents, still get stopped in grocery stores or when I’m walking my dog, dragged into conversations with residents unhappy with local politics and how they’ve been treated by this council. Specifically by members of The Block Seven.
I get asked about snowplowing, about why we don’t have more stop signs, about off-leash dog parks, about tree planting, about our utility bills, taxes, sidewalks, the BIA and pretty much everything else. I think I’ve been approached by more residents and town staff to discuss local issues these past three years than I was ever approached when I was actually on council.
I listen politely, remind them I am not on council and cannot do much as a private citizen, then I always ask, “Have you contacted someone on council about it?” And every time I get one or more of the following responses:
- I tried, but they wouldn’t listen.
- They won’t answer their phone (or email).
- They brushed me off.
- They wouldn’t give me a straight answer.
- I don’t trust them.
- They never returned my calls (or emails).
- I tried but they couldn’t understand my problem.
- They told me to speak to someone else on council.
- They told me to call someone on staff.
- After what they did to our hospital, I don’t want to speak to any of them again.
- I did but they’re as thick as a brick.
- They talked down to me.
- I did and they promised to look into it but never got back to me.
- I did and they promised to look into it but nothing ever got done.
- And so on.
Well, it’s not true of everyone at the table, of course. Only The Block. Seems many residents find The Block uncommunicative, impolite and inept. Not a surprise, given their love of secrecy and deception, and dislike of learning and reading. Of course, no one ever claimed we elected the best, just that we elected a clique of self-serving people with private agendas and vendettas. But I’ve said that before. But that’s not where I was going. This post is about how to elect people you can speak with, by improving our election process.