Fostering a more generous city

I have not yet told you, dear reader, why I decided to create this blog you are currently reading. There is a reason and that reason isn’t particularly obvious and so I feel it would be good for me to let you know what is the purpose of all of this effort.

The name of this blog, The city is here for you to use, is an homage to an essay and book written by Adam Greenfield. It is also the name of a song by The Futureheads.

I will go to another place, nowhere special just another town
You should come to the other place, make it special and make no loss
Make it special and make no loss
Cover the cost, cover the cost,
Cover the cost, cover the cost, cover the cost, cover the cost
Cover the cost, cover the cost, cover the cost, cover the cost
These extra expenses make brilliant senses
All you have to do is take your chances
Cover the cost, cover the cost, cover the cost, cover the cost
These extra expenses make brilliant senses
Extra extra
These are the things that make it better
Are you ready for the city? is the city ready for you?
Don’t you know you have to choose? the city is here for you to use
Are you ready for the city? is the city ready for you?
Don’t you know you have to choose? the city is here for you to use
Are you ready for the city? is the city ready for you?
Don’t you know you have to choose? the city is here for you to use

Songwriters: Barry Hyde / David Craig / David Hyde / Ross Millard
The City Is Here for You to Use lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group

I love the phrase the city is here for you to use because when I read it I think of a generous city that – no matter who you are or how much money you have – you can enjoy public parks with water fountains, public bathrooms, public concerts, wild spaces and trails, safe schools, playgrounds, and park benches. When I think of the phrase, I think of cities like Montreal, Portland, and Copenhagen.

I think the city of Windsor can be a more generous place. We, as residents, can and should decide to give a little more individually, so that we can invest in our shared city which will provide benefits to all. I think we must do this because of global warming. But while I encourage everyone to turn and face the grim problem of climate change, I want to encourage everyone to resist the temptation to bunker down and become a prepper. Instead, I share the position of consultant Charles Montgomery, author of the book Happy City:

The message is as surprising as it is hopeful: by retrofitting our cities for happiness, we can tackle the urgent challenges of our age. The happy city, the green city and the low-carbon city are the same place, and we can all help build it.

Happy City, The Book

That is what the name of this blog is trying to evoke. But it isn’t it’s raison d’être.

I created this blog to help foster a more generous city through civic action between elections.

Voting is not enough. Residents must know that there are ways they can actively participate in the betterment of their neighbourhoods, their downtown, and their city as a whole – beyond casting a single ballot every four years.

I believe that for much of the population of Windsor, voting does not feel that it lends itself directly to improvements that they can feel and appreciate. The turnout rate for last year’s municipal election for the city of Windsor was 34.7%. Without a significant change, it is likely to get worse. To many people, I would surmise that local politics appears to be a game that only a few seem to be playing.

“To cover political life as a game played between elites tells citizens that politics is a spectacle to be watched, not an activity to be participated in.”

Lisa Ferguson tweeting about the article, Stop covering politics as a game from Neimanlab

There are ways to combat the politics as a game framing. Years ago, the Poynter Institute pioneered an alternative means to cover elections:

The idea was very simple: campaign coverage should be grounded in what voters want the candidates to talk about. Which voters? The ones you are trying to inform. 4/ This came to be called the “citizens agenda” approach to campaign coverage. It revolves around a single question. Here is the question: “What do you want the candidates to be discussing as they compete for votes?” From good answers to that everything else in the model flows. 5/

Jay Rosen: twitter, Thread Reader

In Los Angeles, the average turnout rate for their municipal election is 9%.

Some brainstorming ensued and resulted in a simple goal: Find one person unsure of whether he or she was going to vote and make that person care about the election.

“We looked over census and voting data and looked at the people that were really unrepresented at the polls,” Muller said of how the station’s potential voter was selected.

“We imagined this non-voter would have to be someone who was under the age of 44, someone who’s a non-white voter, someone who has real interests that are affected by city decisions,” she said. They settled on Al, a chef and restaurateur, because he best represented someone “who had some real stakes in this election.”

And thus, #MakeAlCare was born. The station wanted its efforts to have a wide reach, so coming up with a hashtag for social media was a must. There was a methodical approach to researching and producing the series but it was not advocacy.

141- KPCC makes one voter care, It’s All Journalism.

Likewise, I want to make you, dear reader, care.

But again, my personal mission is to not increase voter turnout. The goal of this blog is to help foster a more generous city through civic action between elections. That being said, I believe that a city that is clearly responsive to its residents will ultimately result in more civic engagement, including voting.

So why does this mission feel so hard?

One answer to this question is that Windsor has a tradition of electing Strong Mayors. This means that the most efficient way to make change in the city is to privately petition the mayor with your idea and if he likes the plan, he can shape the budget and whip the City Council into providing the votes necessary for your idea to be made manifest.

But we need to remember that there must be other ways in which concerned residents can work with city employees, with city councilors, and even the mayor to make our city a happier, safer, and more generous place for ourselves and our neighbours.

Let’s discover those ways together.