I’M NERVOUS WHEN COUNCILLORS VOTE UNANIMOUSLY FOR DEVELOPMENT

There is no way to deny progress its credits. I don’t despise urbanizing progress and its resulting development, if it’s handled properly, and is proportional to what we need for the accommodation of near future demand. A lot of progressive developments have occurred in our region, of which I have heartily endorsed. Sometimes, our elected officials however, are spellbound by opportunity, especially ones that promise the moon, only to deliver disappointment. Developers rather like the idea of councillors donning blinkers, to guarantee their focus is on the project they’re selling, and not on the ruffling feathers of constituents.

I spent my early years in Burlington, Ontario, a modestly sized community in the early 1960's. There was no way it was going to remain a small community for long, as everything around it was bursting at the seams. Even when I was going back in the 1970's, it was staggering how fast it all had arrived. I’m pretty sure I’d be lost their today. Yet I have many fond memories of parks, open spaces, ravines where I played hour upon hour, and the smaller town neighborliness a kid recognizes out on the hustings.

It was the same situation in Bracebridge. I loved that wonderful small town, and I realize today, it was due to, well, what it didn’t have. We moved our family from Bracebridge to Gravenhurst in 1989 because we didn’t appreciate the newfound realities of urban sprawl, and the interests of council and the town’s movers and shakers, to make a small, pleasant, convenient community, a city wannabe. The mood of the upper echelon still exists that bigger is always better, and I could not agree with the reckless abandon to which town officials were willing to go, in order to make their dreams come true. Frankly, when the Jubilee Park debacle occurred, and a wonderful heirloom open-space, in The Hollow, on Bracebridge’s Wellington Street, was sold off for a university campus instead, it validated why years earlier, I packed up my family and moved south. I’m by no means the only one to do this. Even though our family was comfortably positioned in Gravenhurst, this was a fight (for Jubilee Park) that went beyond the municipal boundary in principle. As it turns out, it was a pre-amble for a fight right in my own ballywick, that I simply couldn’t believe. Jubilee Park was kind of a warm-up for things to come.

You don’t sacrifice a park, especially an open space in a neighborhood that will increase in residential, commercial density in the next 20 years. People need open spaces, and in a reasonable proximity to their homes. How amazing it was then, several years later, to find that so many folks, who had been silent for the park debate, all of a sudden reared up when it came to selling-off the former high school soccer fields for a commercial interest. The irony was over whelming. The playing field, which was not sold off by the Board of Education, is less than a block from Jubilee Park, which was already more than a century old, yet it was dismissed largely as a waste of good, marketable, commercial space. Many contradictions arose during this period of urban conflict over values and good urban planning. At a public meeting, when I suggested councillors read Jane Jacobs opinions on open space in urban areas, the impression greeted me back...... “Jane who?” One of the best known urban planning gurus didn’t apparently ring a bell.....so it was a mountain of a task to sell that open space concept as “necessary” to a density-increasing community, flying on a wing and prayer that they were doing the right thing by selling off a town asset.

Several years ago, when Gravenhurst Council got the idea to sell off The Bog, our neighborhood wetland here, in the Calydor subdivision, which by the way was one of the reasons we purchased our house in this particular location, it was a sickening feeling, especially after we had just lost the fight (of which I was a part) to save Jubilee Park. What it meant was, there was a new reign of boldness and “yes” councillors who decided to test their mettle, and flog some surplus property.......as a means of cashing in on the pre-recession property bonanza.

What was most shocking to me, and I had seen it as a reporter many years earlier, was the “yes” momentum of council to accomplish particular ends. While I’m a big fan of positivism in all its upbeat glory, Bracebridge Council had employed this, one for all- all for one attitude, to sell Jubilee Park. It was as if the town was being governed by party politics.....only one party, and there were no dissenters on such a huge and controversial matter. I couldn’t believe that no one on that council would budge, or admit to a wee nervousness of selling off such a town asset. I’m pretty sure there was concern but all this was discussed and resolved before it came to public presentation, where citizens witnessed a wall of approval.......which should never have happened to this degree, on one of the most contentious issues of the town’s history. But it did! And I knew it could happen again if we couldn’t stop the negotiation for solidarity that could be mustering in the wings. We couldn’t take the chance this would happen.

I kept this in mind as we worked through The Bog situation, and as a committee we went to work finding dissent before it could be either muzzled or strengthened as a force of unity. We acted speedily and soon discovered some out of touch councillors, who had not yet studied the matter closely, and who might be willing to support a plan to kill the sell-off, if we presented a compelling enough argument. In the case of Jubilee Park there were many compelling arguments but there was not way of penetrating the wall of “yes” votes to “proceed at all cost.”

In the case of “yes” voting as a means of showing solidarity on an issue, or project, there is always an inherent danger of reckless endangerment, especially when it involves adopting something for the community that is controversial. While it isn’t illegal to vote as a unit to accept or deny an application etc., and it is a reality of democracy that pulling support from within is an operational necessity, as with the recent vote on the Long Gun Registry, the problem in a municipality, is the fewer number of votes needed to get a motion etc. passed or declined, and a lot less scrutiny, seeing as the national media doesn’t often show up at regular council meetings to investigate democracy in action. In the case of Jubilee Park, I would have been so pleased to have heard from one, just one council member, that they had been opposed to the sell-off for even one minute of the debate. In our town, I was pleased early on, that there was no clear and unyielding will to sell off the property, and it gave me considerable faith that there was indeed some room to wiggle a counter-point.......and a more willing audience in which to pitch the critical approach concept, to this ill-conceived plan to sell-off property.

It does take considerable courage to be a dissenting vote......a lone voice against an important motion, but it can lead to further debate, and can infuse a wee bit of critical thought into what may have been a done deal. When a mega development shows up on our doorstep, and it seems like a great idea, at least to some, by golly, we absolutely require councillors with courage to question and debate those who are pushing the plan from within........because everyone, especially the proponent or developer, thought it was great project. We’ve bought a fair share of magic beans over the decades and had to deal with plain old beanstalks instead.

Every time I pass Jubilee Park, I feel bad there was nothing I could do to stop its sale. As an historian and environmental shit-disturber, it was a personal defeat as well. When I get home and see this beautiful forest-land and thriving wetland next to my house, I feel so good about the councillors who gave it a second chance, just one more review, listened to all sides of the proposal, and gave us a reprieve.....not because they were scared of our persistence. Rather, it was due to the fact more than a few councillors came, at our invitation, to witness up close, a beautiful, cleansing lowland, filtering the urban neighborhood’s run-off water, before it enters Muskoka Bay, of the larger Lake Muskoka. On paper they couldn’t see the wildlife, sense the trickling of crystalline cataracts, along the myriad creeks running through the canopy of cattails and ferns, or smell the sweet aroma of open spaces of evergreen and leaning old birches (that Robert Frost would have found poetic), and see the trodden down path where neighbors walk their children to see Muskoka at its finest. When they stood on a tiny knob of embankment, and saw the amazing wildflowers, heard the birds and squirrels chattering in the tree tops, and then saw the urban configuration of houses surrounding it, they came away enlightened about what urban planning can do, to conserve the environment and urbanize without great consequence to either partner, still in the name of progressive governance of all resources.....and being contemporary to the key environmental issues of the day. The Town of Bracebridge had other options than to sell off Jubilee Park but they were unanimous......nothing was going to change their opinion regardless the weight of an impressive array of sound arguments from many experts.

We need individual councillors, unafraid of stating their convictions, even if it means rocking the boat of solidarity. I don’t suggest it is a bad thing, all of the time, to vote unanimously, because there are circumstances that warrant this high level of approval. There is however, a time, when a project is so aggressive and altering to the community as a whole, that dissent is the catalyst for negotiation, and potentially, with input that is welcomed, not discouraged, a compromise can be attained without killing a deal. So if I appear nervous when major developments come before our council, there are some precedents from which to draw information. I prefer even a feeble “my heart says,” objection, over a blind approval because it’s what everyone else is doing.

While so far the reader, possibly a council hopeful this election themselves, might perceive that being elected our representative, is more of a burden than it’s worth. It can be burdensome, most definitely. If however, a newly elected councillor, celebrates the democracy that gave them this wonderful opportunity to govern, they will by the same measure, be able to remind themselves of our inherent right of free speech guaranteed by that fundamental democracy. What most often happens, is that newly elected councillors believe that somehow, there was a divine hand that led them to office, not so much the will of the people. I have found quite a few elected reps willing to extend me “the finger,” the moment after they’ve been sworn to the next term of council. From handshake to finger in a matter of weeks from the campaign trail. This isn’t just my opinion but rather the feeling of many, who have also experienced the “distancing” and “indifference” when candidates have achieved what they desired. And while I don’t beg anything more than “responsible government,” from those I vote for, it irks us all to find out just how self-serving elected officials can become, forgetting a lot of the promises made weeks earlier. While most citizens just grumble and say “I knew this would happen,” I’m one of those persistent bastards who doesn’t forget the mandate of responsible government. Even if I didn’t vote for you, well, I still expect follow through on our behalf.

For the councillor, who wants to enjoy his or her term of office, it’s quite easy and fulfilling at the same time. Approach your employers with the same sense of neighborliness and concern, as you did on the election hustings, and we will come to appreciate you as being approachable, helpful, attentive, co-operative and sympathetic to concerns. There is no elected official on earth capable of meeting every demand, or able to offer the concessions to quell every conflict, but what we’re looking for is the good neighbor, who is as concerned about community welfare as we are, and isn’t afraid of mucking it up, to clarify an issue, attempt resolution, offer alternatives, and at the very least, being patient with the flexibility yet durability of democracy in action. We too are unyielding defenders of our hometown, so don’t let our civilian status fool you about the range of our power which we can and will exercise to ensure responsible government when it falters.

We can all learn to deal with each other better. Enlightenment is the key. It always has been. Always will be.