Category: Planning & Policies

Policies, plans, economic development, strategic planning, sustainability and future-looking ideas for local municipal politics.

17 Pages of Blather

Collingwood / Council / Ethics and behaviour / Planning & PoliciesOne Comment

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Zero point zero zero zero three eight. That’s the percentage of the population of Collingwood who made the effort to comment on council’s much-touted, revised, 17-page code of conduct before it was approved, Monday night. That’s 0.00038%, based on an estimated 21,000 residents. In other words: eight people. Only eight people out of 21,000 cared enough about council’s efforts to pump the bureaucracy to comment on the proposed code. Eight people. I hope they were all residents. One, I’m told, was a member of council, so if you take that person out of the equation because that’s what he or she ……… click below for more ↓

Fortuna: Why Plans Fail

Books & Reviews / Collingwood / Council / Ethics and behaviour / Planning & Policies / Psychology & Sociology / Social Order & Disorder / What I'm Reading NowOne Comment

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Niccolo Machiavelli used two words in his book, The Prince, to describe the factors that influenced events. In English these are virtue or character (virtu), fortune or chance (fortuna). Only virtue is internal – our nature – and although it manifests as voluntary action, it can only be somewhat, but not entirely controlled.* The other – chance or fortune – can make the best-laid plans of mice and men go aft agley, as Robert Browning wrote, regardless of our efforts to the contrary. In Chapter 25 of The Prince (What Fortune Can Effect In Human Affairs And How To Withstand Her), ……… click below for more ↓

Tourism and Collingwood

Collingwood / Council / Development & Growth / Ethics and behaviour / Planning & PoliciesOne Comment

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Tourism is the world’s fifth fastest-growing industry and growing at five percent per year. A recent story on CBC Radio this week suggests growth has been even higher for Canada, thanks to our lower Loonie: at least six percent. According to the Tourism Association of Canada, in 2013, Canada’s tourism industry: Represented more of Canada’s GDP than agriculture, forestry and fisheries combined Generated $88.5 billion in economic activity Was responsible for more than $17.2 billion in export revenue despite a growing travel deficit Generated $9.6 billion in federal government revenue Fostered 628 000 jobs across the country, spread across all 308 ridings Tourism ……… click below for more ↓

Strat Plan Wrap Up: Addintional Comments

Collingwood / Council / Development & Growth / Ethics and behaviour / Planning & PoliciesOne Comment

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Yes, the web page really does call for “Addintional Comments.” Well, I suppose consultants aren’t hired for their spelling or grammar. Otherwise there wouldn’t be all that bizarre capitalization or the missing punctuation. But you’re here to read my summation of the Collingwood’s fledgling strategic plan, not my editorial critique. Which is pretty simple: woo-hoo. I reiterate that a strategic plan can be either practical and pragmatic, or woo-hoo. This one is woo-hoo. By which I mean it is airy fairy collection of generalities, seasoned with ignorance, ideology and irrelevancies and very little actual direction. Well, most woo-hoo plans are. They aren’t ……… click below for more ↓

Strat Plan Part 6: Culture and the Arts

Collingwood / Council / Development & Growth / Ethics and behaviour / Planning & PoliciesOne Comment

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The fifth and final objective in Collingwood’s developing strategic plan (the woo-hoo plan) is culture and the arts. For something so important to the community, with such a huge potential, it encompasses a mere two goals. Disappointingly, neither of them relate to its huge economic potential, which everyone else seems to understand except this committee and its council. “The rapidly evolving global economy demands a dynamic and creative workforce. The arts and its related businesses are responsible for billions of dollars in cultural exports for this country. It is imperative that we continue to support the arts and arts education both ……… click below for more ↓

Strat Plan Part 5: Healthy Lifestyle

Collingwood / Council / Development & Growth / Ethics and behaviour / Planning & PoliciesLeave a comment

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I suppose we can all agree that a healthy lifestyle is better than an unhealthy one. And to a certain degree, a municipality can help residents choose a healthier one or at least give them opportunities to pursue it. But you have to ask just how seriously committed a municipality is to a healthy lifestyle when it sells pop, candy and junk food in the vending machines its own recreational facilities. How committed to a healthy lifestyle is a council many of whose members take the town hall elevator up a single storey rather than make the effort to walk ……… click below for more ↓

Strat Plan Part 4: Economic Vitality

Collingwood / Council / Development & Growth / Planning & Policies / Taxes / User fees and costsLeave a comment

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What, you may ask, is meant by the term “Economic Vitality” – the third objective in our town’s strategic-plan-in-the-works? Apparently it’s one of those motherhood statements people make on soapboxes and campaign platforms that have little grist in them to mill into actuality. Sure, we all want a town that has a lively, thriving economy. but how do we achieve it? No one has an answer – not one-size-fits-all answer. certainly it isn’t found in the woo-hoo strategic plan. The economy’s health depends on creating a suitable, supportive environment that both attracts and sustains business and commerce. Let’s start with an ……… click below for more ↓

Strat Plan Part 3: The Waterfront

Collingwood / Council / Development & Growth / Ethics and behaviour / Planning & PoliciesLeave a comment

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The waterfront. It defines us geographically, historically and culturally. What could be more important to Collingwood than its waterfront that covers the entire northern border of this sleepy, lakeside town? Well, pretty much anything else it seems, if you you’re on Collingwood Council. Pick the most irrelevant, pointless, self-aggrandizing effort – like rewriting the Code of Conduct or flying around the country to party at taxpayers’ expense – and this council will eagerly pounce on it as a priority rather than deal with waterfront issues. Council is determined to hold up growth and development on this all-important area until sometime ……… click below for more ↓

Strat Plan Part 2: The Shuffle Game

Collingwood / Council / Development & Growth / Ethics and behaviour / Planning & PoliciesOne Comment

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In the second part of my critique of Collingwood’s woo-hoo strategic plan, I will look at the shuffle game. This is where consultants give contestants – I mean participants – a limited series of options and ask them to shuffle these around in order of their perceived priority. Then the results are collated and the one whose list looks most like the final version wins. There are five separate lists given to contestants. Think of them as strategic plan bingo cards: Accountable Local Government Public Access to a Revitalized Waterfront Economic Vitality Healthy Lifestyle Culture and the Arts Participants get ……… click below for more ↓

Strategic Planning, Part One: The Woo-Hoo Factor

Collingwood / Council / Development & Growth / Planning & Policies8 Comments

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There are, in general, two kinds of municipal strategic plans. One is pragmatic and practical. It tells you what you need to build, fix or replace, when you need to do it, how much it will cost, and where the money will come from. This is the stuff a council grounded in reality can use to budget, plan sensibly, and maintain the community’s infrastructure. It’s a roadmap that leads to a well-defined destination. The other kind of plan is best described by the term woo-hoo. It’s an airy, feel-good exercise that spews forth happy catch phrases, the more nebulous the better. ……… click below for more ↓

Fiddling While Rome Burns

Collingwood / Council / Ethics and behaviour / Planning & Policies4 Comments

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You know that legend about Nero fiddling while around him Rome was burning? It’s a popular metaphor for political cluelessness, for inaction, procrastination, for politicians oblivious to the important business of the city while they play games. For municipal leaders who focus on the petty, the trivial, the irrelevant and the self-serving, while major issues are ignored. Pretty much sums up Collingwood Council’s record to date. Fiddling with irrelevancies. To be fair, they’ve only been in office eight months and probably haven’t got around to focusing on important things. Still, you have to scratch your head and wonder why council wastes its collective energy on ……… click below for more ↓

Another Secretive, Self-Serving Committee

Collingwood / Council / Ethics and behaviour / Planning & PoliciesLeave a comment

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This week, Collingwood Council passed a motion to appoint the Block Five to a new standing committee. The standing committee system, you will recall, is a system of secretive committees that operates predominantly out of the public eye, with limited council attendance, and often without even media presence. Committees conduct town business beyond the pale of accountability. Here’s what they passed (in a 6-3 vote*): THAT Council approve the Striking Committee recommendation and appoint the following members to the Environmental Services Standing Committee: Deputy Mayor Brian Saunderson, Councillor Tim Fryer, Councillor Cam Ecclestone, Councillor Kathy Jeffery, and Councillor Deb Doherty. Saunderson and Fryer are, ……… click below for more ↓

Nailing Collingwood’s Door Shut to Business

Collingwood / Council / Ethics and behaviour / Planning & PoliciesOne Comment

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Councillor Deb Doherty seems eager to cement this council’s already ugly but deserved reputation for being hostile to business. This week she made a motion to re-open the always-contentious sign bylaw, apparently in order to impose draconian restrictions on business signs THAT Council direct Staff to review Sign By-law 2012-110 with respect to sign height and any other revisions or amendments as deemed appropriate by the Chief Building Official; AND FURTHER THAT the report be presented through the Development and Operations Standing Committee not later than August 31, 2015. Sign bylaws are necessary, but always contentious to debate. Municipalities want to limit clutter. Business owners ……… click below for more ↓

Reincarnation as a Consultant or a Psychic?

Collingwood / Council / Development & Growth / Planning & PoliciesLeave a comment

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  A wag met Nasrudin. In his pocket he had an egg. “Tell me, Mullah, are you any good at guessing games?” “Not bad,” said Nasrudin. “Very well then: tell me what I have in my pocket.” “Give me a clue, then.” “It is shaped like an egg, it is yellow and white inside, and it looks like an egg.” “Some sort of cake,” said Nasrudin.* Should I have the chance to do my life all over again, I’m not sure which career I would prefer most: a psychic or a consultant. One takes money from people because he is ……… click below for more ↓

The Antis at Sunset Point

Collingwood / Council / Development & Growth / Food & Drink / Planning & PoliciesLeave a comment

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There are always those who don’t want change. Any change upsets them. Anything that’s new, different, exciting, challenging or just unusual bothers them and want it stopped. They want a steady state, where nothing happens, nothing changes, nothing is new. Stop growth, stop development, stop change. Some of them are the ‘last in’ crowd – the recent arrivals who don’t want any more newcomers because newcomers will change things, and they will change the reasons the ‘last-in’ group came here. They want to be the last ones to arrive and to shut the door after themselves. They want things to ……… click below for more ↓

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