Matt Todd's Pursuit of Idyll Minds

An update from my “2 down, 5 to go” post last month…

3. The Mayor’s Task Force on Waterfront Parking has completed its mandate. I presented their 17 recommendations in a report to City Council last week. Some simply ask the City to advance commitments already made, others suggest new initiatives or ways to improve existing programs.

The task force reviewed each suggestion it received. They were assessed according to a set of principles adopted at the beginning of the process. The potential impact on the local economy, taxpayers, social health, ecosystem and the White Rock “experience” was considered.

While all 17 recommendations were endorsed by the majority of members, 13 of them achieved consensus. 5 of the 8 members were appointed by the Business Improvement Association. Those representatives were in agreement with all 17 of the recommendations.

Parking has been a favourite topic of complaint for decades. These recommendations are a determined step toward addressing this Achilles heel of the waterfront business district.

4 – 7. I’m hoping the Spirit Square design will be resolved tomorrow, the Housing Diversity Task Force report will be in front of Council in a couple weeks, the cultural strategy and public art policy will likely be deferred until September, and the Spirit of the Sea Festival planning is progressing quickly. However, over 150 volunteers and at least $30,000 is still needed.

It’s been an incredible year so far. I feel like I’m barely keeping my head above water, but it’s been exciting. Spirit Square park design, Housing Diversity policies for a balanced and inclusive community, Spirit of BC public art policy and cultural strategy, REPUBLIC benefit concert, Spirit of the Sea Festival planning, and smoke-free spaces implementation… all great challenges, great learning opportunities, and great goals I’m proud to be a part of.

The Spirit Square project has been an interesting challenge. I’m overseeing a community engagement process that learned from the pioneering experience of the OCP review. The site is very important to the community and there is a lot of passion about its future, past, and change in general. I’m honoured to play a role in renovating such a prominent park, creating a new social space for the community, and refining the way the citizens are involved in shaping the future of their community.

The Housing Diversity Task Force is getting close to the finish line. There is only one meeting left before they begin reviewing a first draft of their report. It has been a gruelling endeavour — not so much because of the research required and balancing of diverse, divergent needs, but because the task force has no budget for consultants or additional staff time. This makes it a constant challenge to focus enough energy required to move the project forward. But it looks like some of the recommendations could be pivotal for maintaining and improving high quality neighbourhoods as White Rock evolves.

Spirit of BC Committee is embarking on a couple of tasks that will create momentum for cultural initiatives in White Rock. Revisions to the Public Art Policy and drafting of an Interim Cultural Strategy are needed to guide substantial investments already on the books. They sound like boring policy papers, but they would set the stage for the City to take arts and heritage issues more seriously and be much more careful about how money is spent when it impacts White Rock’s culture.

The REPUBLIC is a music contest being produced by the White Rock Youth Ambassadors. Five bands will be judged in front of a live audience in the curling arena. The winners will get a prime time spot on the Spirit of the Sea Festival RE/MAX Stage and recording time with Turtle Recording Studios. It is a fundraiser to create a scholarship with the Peninsula Arts Foundation for local youth studying arts. We meet every weekend to plan the event.

Spirit of the Sea Festival (lots of ’spirit’ going on in White Rock right now!) is preparing for its AGM March 18. The preparations have already begun. Requests for application forms for the parade, vendors and musicians have been rolling on strong and steady. Fundraising is well underway and the production team for this year hasn’t even been established yet! We are desperately seeking people with proven success in marketing and promotions, and volunteer coordination. This rollercoaster seems to have taken off already and I haven’t had a chance to put on my seatbelt.

Smoke-free spaces is a continuing pursuit. I am hoping to build consensus among all cities in the Lower Mainland on a higher standard for smoke-free spaces. It would be better for residents and less confusing for visitors if all local cities had the same rules.

This is an exciting and interesting time for me. To keep this good thing going, I’m trying to keep balance in my life so I don’t burn out before all these goals are reached. Luckily I have good friends to remind me to get out and have fun. And I’ve discovered some new music that keeps my brain from seizing. If I’m able to complete these goals, I’ll be happy no matter what the outcome of the next election. If I’m voted out, I’ll be satisfied with what I’d have accomplished. If I’m re-elected, I’ll get to embark on new adventures.

Last week, I was interviewed by Johan Sandstrom for his White Rock Reporter online magazine. We talked about a number of issues such as transportation, housing diversity, what I see coming in the new year, and why I have made councillor responsibilities my sole employment. Listen to the interview by following this link: http://whiterockreporter.com/node/330

There was an interesting little article in the Globe & Mail today comparing the happiness of people in different Canadian cities and internationally. People of St. John NB not only ranked first in Canada but among the most happy in the world.

“Quebec City placed second on the survey while Charlottetown was third. Moncton, N.B., and Kitchener, Ont., tied for fourth while St. John’s, N.L., was sixth. Rounding out the Top 10, in order, were Saskatoon, Regina, Winnipeg and Halifax.”

 
I have been hearing a lot lately about studies of what they call “subjective well-being” — happiness.

For example… “Countries where average per capita income is between $20,000 and $35,000 have satisfaction rates only a few percentage points above a whole range of countries where income is below $10,000″
– http://www.ukwatch.net/article/what039swrongwith_happiness

What is clear is that it doesn’t have anything to do with the scenery or house you live in, the car you drive or how much money you make. It’s about relationships. It’s about people and how they treat each other.

How we treat each other are choices we make throughout the day, everyday. No matter how big the space we sleep in, no matter how beautiful or ugly the landscape around us, we can choose sufficiency over entitlement and we can value relationships over money. It’s about looking for the positive even if it’s just hope, caring about the people around you even if you don’t know them, and finding satisfaction in what you’ve got even if it’s just life.

In everything we do everyday, we have choice in how we measure our satisfaction with what we’ve got and in how we treat the people around us.

 
So, what are you doing to make your city a happy place?

I finally finished polishing my WALK21 conference notes. My report describes the many benefits of walking and walkable communities — from health promotion to economic development to environmental protection. It is a summary of research, principles and best practices for policy development, public engagement processes, public space design and measuring results.

Click on this link to view the pdf of my report.
Slower internet connection? View this low resolution version instead.

Raw notes from each workshop and presentation are still posted under the “notes from walk21” category of this website. Under “notes“, I’ve posted interesting quotes I found while cross-referencing.

If you have any questions, I’d be happy to talk with you about what I learned at this outstanding, very informative and inspiring conference.

The solution to traffic problems in neighborhoods is not more speed bumps. The solution is an outbreak of civility that slows our rampant individualism. And that is a cultural challenge, not a physical design challenge.

– David Engwicht, author of Mental Speedbumps: The Smarter Way to Tame Traffic. Quoted by Aaron Naparstek on the Streetsblog website.

The typical American male devotes more than 1,600 hours a year to his car. He sits in it while it goes and while it stands idling. He parks it and searches for it. He earns the money to put down on it and to meet the monthly installments. He works to pay for petrol, tolls, insurance, taxes and tickets. He spends four of his sixteen waking hours on the road or gathering his resources for it … The model American puts in 1,600 hours to get 7,500 miles: less than five miles per hour.

– Ivan Illich, Energy and Equity, quoted by Paul J. Tranter and Murray May in The hidden benefits of walking: is speed stealing our time and money?

Richard Louv lecture on Thursday, November 8 2007, at the Indianapolis Museum of Art, for the Eagle Creek Park Foundation.

Because everything must change we might be entering the most creative period in history, because everything must change. Not only to ameliorate or solve the problem, but actually to create a better society.

– Richard Louv talking about climate change and pollution in the same lecture referenced in the previous post.

The truth is, only some people are motivated by despair. The rest of us need something else. In the end, there really isn’t any practical alternative to hope. We need to give that to ourselves. We need to be generous with hope, to ourselves, to our kids.

– Richard Louv lecture on Thursday, November 8 2007, at the Indianapolis Museum of Art, for the Eagle Creek Park Foundation.