Yesterday I headed through the morning snow to the Jack Singer for CivicCamp 2.0.

For more info on CivicCamp go here: www.civiccamp.com

It’s basically a group of Calgarians trying to promote civic interest. A resounding theme to the day was how important inclusivity is. People at CivicCamp want more members and they want different types of members. My suggestion for this is that CivicCampers need to make as many friends as possible with as many sorts of people as possible. It’s hard to get people to care about things that we might care about- in my mind the best way is to make an effort to care about what other people care about.

It’s a bit of a difficult action plan though because it maybe sounds too new age to just say people need to make more friends. Either way, I encourage anyone reading this to join CivicCamp- you are welcome and wanted regardless of who you are or what you believe.

The day started with a few words before we broke into groups to talk about 10 different pre-set topics, or new topics if people wanted to start their own.

They were:

-great public spaces
-a city and region of vibrant urban villages
-an integrated, interconnected, sustainable and equitable transportation system for all people and modes (walk, bike, bus, train, auto, air)
-coordinated development of transportation and land use
-affordable housing
-a social environment in which diversity is respected, human rights are protected, responsibilities are fulfilled, individual and community progress is supported, and cooperation prevails over conflict
-an intimate connection to the land and the food that sustains us
-child, youth, and senior friendly development
-transparent, fair, and citizen-driven governance
-a network of citizens that can respond quickly to issues

I decided to join the ‘child, youth, and senior friendly development’ group because attracting families to downtown is a part of my platform and I wanted to learn more of the issues around it.

Only one other person wanted to talk about this so we merged with the group interested in ‘a social environment in which diversity is respected, etc’.

The group ended up being about 10 people, and our moderator was James Schwinn (from Aixecar International- www.aixecar.ca). Our task was to discuss the issues and come up with 2 action points that we felt would help, then present the points to everyone else.

We talked about how some of the keys to youth and elderly friendly development were a need for amenities, safety and barrier free mobility (a term I learned that means mobility free of economic, physical and all other barriers). In this discussion I also learned about 60/40 lights and 70/30 lights. On busy streets (like 11th and 12th avenues) lights are 70% for the one way traffic with only %30 to cross the street. This makes getting around on foot much more difficult for people with young children, the elderly and people with disabilities. The people in my group, myself included, wanted to see more pedestrian friendly measures in neighborhoods (like changing 11th and 12th avenues into two way streets).

When we discussed the second topic our focus drifted to disappointment with city Aldermen. We had to refocus to come up with action points that all citizens could take part in rather than just work that other people need to do better. We decided that we could be a part of making sure the Aldermen are held accountable.

To address the need for better representation on council we decided that our action point would be specific to CivicCamp and would be to make a ‘cabin’ (this is what CivicCampers call smaller ‘focus groups’) that focused on civic politics. The purpose of this cabin would be to promote accessibility to the political process, demand responsibility from current representatives, mobilize people, help select or encourage community leaders to get involved in the process and to encourage diverse interest.

Our second action plan was to create inclusive discourse. We decided the best way to do this would be to encourage CivicCampers to talk to as many people as possible about civic issues. We felt that coffee shop type municipal political talks with people on the bus, co-workers, people you disagree with, people who are older and people who are younger, would be the best way to help increase voter interest and to promote a healthier democracy in Calgary.

The group nominated me to present our actions points and then we broke for lunch. Brown Bagging for Calgary Kids provided the lunch and while we ate Chris Turner presented a slide show from his recent European vacation. He outlined successful models of civic planning he saw and how we could implement those practices in Calgary.

Then it was my turn to present, I had a 2 minute time limit and I think I may impose a 2 minute time limit on all future public speaking engagements. It made things much easier. The other groups presented, we had a short Q & A and we were done.

It was a great day and a very good opportunity for me to meet some very good people and to reconnect with some of the more politically active people in the city. It was great to see people who deeply care about this city getting together in an open and accessible setting.