Matt Todd's Pursuit of Idyll Minds

I don’t know what’s worse, that White Rock politicians (elected and activists) rely so heavily on fear, blame and guilt to try to control one another, or that White Rock citizens fall for it.

Nothing’s stronger in this community than the pride of the people. Unfortunately over the past few decades, there have been too many ransom notes pinned to that pride.

The result is a massive accumulated debt of public trust. The City’s independence has been used as collateral too many times.

At some point the weight of that debt will overwhelm the value of the City’s pride and independence. Many are saying that has already happened. Read on »

cognitive dissonance
noun Psychology

the state of having inconsistent thoughts, beliefs, or attitudes, esp. as relating to behavioral decisions and attitude change.

I agree with the points made by Mr.Hughes in his letter printed in today’s Peace Arch News.

I also agree that the sidewalk replacement took far longer than it should have. That’s why I kept asking Council to stop insisting on micro-managing then dithering on the town centre streetscape. The torn up street was left incomplete while City Council decided to not decide before finally accepting what had been planned right from the start. The Councillors now complaining that it took too long to finish the sidewalk have absolutely no one to blame but themselves.

Below is Mr. Hughes letter. Read on »

Demanding “better” design results in developers or property owners comparing their proposed project to the worst they could theoretically design.

It would be far more effective to articulate principles, standards and goals expected to be achieved.

How do we help the community become more sophisticated in its approach to development?

When I light my hair on fire, I get burned and it hurts. What is the city going to do about this? It is clearly a safety issue that should be addressed immediately.

parochial
adjective
• having a limited or narrow outlook or scope: this worldview seems incredibly naive and parochial.
• narrow-minded, small-minded, provincial, narrow, small-town, conservative, illiberal, intolerant.

White Rock needs a new City Council. If you have the capacity to think long-term, process new information quickly, and think beyond your own pride, please run in the next election. White Rock needs you.

Messages coming through loud and clear from residents:

• I want more public input, but I don’t want to attend any meetings and can’t be bothered to fill out forms or watch for notices.

• I want a quiet city but I don’t want to walk.

• I want clean air but I want to drive everywhere I go.

• I want lots of parks and green space, but I want to park in front of my destination.

• I want lower taxes, but the City should solve all my problems for me.

• I think the City has too many bureaucrats so I want them to be accountable by publicly listing every dollar they plan on spending with proof that it will work, then report on every dollar they spent and prove that it was worth it.

• I want to live in a small town but expect all the same services as a big city.

• I want waterfront parks but I don’t want the City to lease BNSF land.

• I agree that public spaces should be accessible but I don’t want White Rock to change.

• I want White Rock to invest in parks where the most people will actually use it, but I think the Spirit Square should be beside the White Rock or on East Beach.

• I bought a house with only one parking space even though I have two cars and it’s all the City’s fault that I don’t have anywhere to park my other car.

• I bought a house in a floodplain but it’s the City’s fault that it floods during storms.

• The City doesn’t listen when I’m complaining about how they never listen to me.

There is at least one Marine Drive restaurant owner who continues to act as though the reason his business is failing is because of the Spirit Square project that will begin construction in September. While I (and many others on Council) have been trying to have a dialogue about how to make it easier for customers to visit Marine Drive businesses, it seems he’s more interested in attempting to stop the park expansion – as though the project not proceeding would resolve parking problems on the beach.

The Mayor has created an opportunity to address some long-standing transportation and customer service challenges on Marine Drive. Rather than take advantage of the opportunity and work with the City on solutions, he just wants to complain about the Spirit Square. These are issues that have been a problem on Marine Drive for decades and will continue to be the achilles heel for waterfront businesses with or without the Spirit Square. It would be incredibly short-sighted to waste this opportunity for the sake of trying to sabotage Spirit Square.

If the real goal is to create an exceptional, special experience for visitors to the waterfront, then all merchants ought to be looking for ways to improve transportation systems so that their concerns about the Spirit Square will be resolved. Anyone objective or with any knowledge of urban planning knows that well-planned public spaces are good for business.

If transportation is the issue, then let’s focus on that – let’s put in place solutions to the real problem. It would be counter-productive to defeat the Spirit Square for the sake of parking – that won’t solve the problem and would just waste an opportunity to refresh and improve the focal point of the waterfront.

At least one restauranteur has read my previous post and sent a contemptuous retort.

The intention of the post was to illustrate how some of the personal insults I’ve been subjected to could be as much projection as reflection. I really don’t see the point of this contest of who’s smarter or better in business. It would be easy for me to throw stones back, but how would that help?

Why can’t we just focus on the challenges and solutions?

A mistake I keep making as an elected person is assuming that everyone wants to approach dialogue with an open-mind, interested in learning and trying out different perspectives. I also keep forgetting that a lot of people aren’t willing to take responsibility for their own choices.

It seems sad now that my intention with this Spirit Square process was actually to build trust in the community. I had hoped it would become an opportunity to learn together about urban planning and public spaces. I thought that empowering a group citizens to represent their own organizations would get more people engaged in a meaningful and constructive way. Clearly I failed in that regard. I believe the resulting design was a great success, but the process did nothing to build trust in the community beyond those who participated.

In hindsight, I can see that there were things that I could have done. But I still don’t think it is reasonable to say that the outcomes were predictable. To some degree they were, but with very little available staff time and no other resources, there’s not much I could have done different.

Mr. Riome of Frond’s did say that I should have walked Marine Drive to personally talk with each merchant knowing that most would not make contact even though they have questions or concerns. And he’s right. I should have done that.

Am I the only one who finds it ironic that people who own failing businesses are accusing me of having poor business skills? They who say their business is on the brink of failure tell me that the process I have undertaken to design the expansion of a park is poor planning.

The people who now tell me they are rallying to have me unseated in the next election didn’t bother to call or meet with me during the 3 month Spirit Square design process — a series of workshops at which they had a representative who was supposed to share their ideas and concerns.

They claim that the only solution to new competition from the surrounding community is for the City parking program to adapt. They say the only reason people are going to these chic new restaurants is because of an abundance of free parking close to the door.

Enough of the blame game and finger pointing. Let’s get on with creating new reasons for people to come to the beach and making it easier for them to do it.