Civic engagement – Scripturient

The Very Model of Bureaucratic Inefficiency

Here is the textbook model of bureaucratic inefficiency and council sluggishness that deserves a satirical Gilbert and Sullivan song of its own: Collingwood is conducting a “speed limit survey” through its user-hostile website. What’s inefficient about that, you ask… well, first consider the timeline. This survey is so complicated, so difficult to assemble, so challenging to put online it has taken the town three years to get all of the four vague questions online and ask residents what they think about the idea.* Yes, I … click below for more ↓

Traffic Calming: Not My Job Say Town Staff

No residents have been successful in three years in meeting all the town’s absurdly stringent requirements for investigation of the installation of even rudimentary traffic calming in their neighbourhoods. That’s what Peggy Slama, Collingwood’s director of public works, engineering and environmental services, told council last April. According to the recent story in CwoodToday, “there hasn’t been any traffic calming approved through the process since it was started in 2021.” That’s three years during which the traffic has gotten worse, heavier, and faster, the pollution and … click below for more ↓

Opt-in Polls: Bad Data, Bad Science, and Bad Actors

I was perusing the usual collage of semi-news, trivia, and fluff on CollingwoodToday recently and noticed a poll at the bottom asking “How old are you?” It piqued my interest enough to add my vote. I’m always interested in demographics and statistics, and am curious about changing media engagement, especially now that print media has been scuttled locally. Who is reading it online? And how might that reflect both our community’s demographics and political leanings? But wait… is voting really that simple? Point and click? … click below for more ↓

Collingwood Needs a Communications Director and Plan

Yesterday, the Town of Collingwood sent out an email trying to rationalize the town’s budget and tax increase. That release underscores in so many ways why townhall desperately needs both a person and a plan to oversee and guide its communications. And this is coming from someone who also believes the town should freeze all new hiring and stop building personal empires through staff acquisitions in our municipal bureaucracy.* As a former editor and writer, and someone who still collects and reads style guides and … click below for more ↓

Why is Collingwood So Secretive About its Salt Use?

Road salt is a huge concern in Ontario for its destructive effects on the environment and the infrastructure. Progressive municipalities across the province have been exploring alternatives for years, cutting back, looking for safer ways to manage winter roads and sidewalks. But Collingwood? Try typing “salt management plan” into the search bar of the town’s user-hostile website. Nada. You don’t get any documents; you have to wade through more of the town’s poorly-designed click-fest web pages, trying to find simple information like “how much salt … click below for more ↓

Council’s First Year, Part 4

The final piece in the series in CollingwoodToday begins with an egregious error: “Collingwood’s Town Council, elected one year ago on Oct. 24, 2022, is celebrating their first year in office as a group.” Council’s first year in office began with their inauguration on Nov. 15, 2022. Before that, they had no official status. But local media, eh? Maybe I’m being too picayune to expect accuracy from them, but where TF is the editor? The final part of the series is supposed to be about … click below for more ↓

Council’s First Year Continued Part 3

The third part of the series in Collingwood Today asked members of council what “surprises they’ve experienced so far in their terms.” As a former councillor, I appreciate how stepping into the role for the first time is a bit of a shock; it takes a while to learn everything, everyone, all those policies, bylaws, processes, reports. And, most importantly: how to stand up to staff and represent the residents. Being on council is far more demanding, complex, and challenging than most people expect when … click below for more ↓

The Worst Plan for the Terminals

The proposal for a 24-storey waterfront tower with condos, sticking like the proverbial sore thumb above the skyline, well higher than any building permitted by the town’s height bylaw, simply doesn’t fit. And, frankly, it’s big-city ugly. Boxy. Style-less. Drab. Collingwood deserves better. This is our historic waterfront, after all, and the building will be seen from the hills and Blue Mountain, as well as from many places in town. As a former councilor and newspaper editor/reporter, over the past three decades, I have seen … click below for more ↓

The Challenge of Citizen Engagement

I recently read a good opinion piece in The Meaford Independent, titled, The Challenge of Remaining Informed & Engaged in Municipal Governance in Our Busy Modern World, In it, editor Stephen Vance opines about the difficulties of engaging the public in municipal issues and government. It’s refreshing to see an independent paper in a nation where almost all media is owned by corporations, and even more to read a salient, locally-focused editorial, something sorely lacking in our own local media (among other things).* As a … click below for more ↓