Gaining Consensus

Proponents of change need to accept that they will fail unless they do the work and have to stop blaming others for their own shortcomings.

Now before I rankle everyone, my point is that change is a far more painstaking process than we wish. It may seem as though I’m pointing my finger but at the same time, I’m looking in the mirror.

At the Artscape Session at the Art Gallery, I listened to an amazing Case study of “The Barns” wychwood where they found that after many council meetings and a too many competing interests, the project was at a standstill

I listened to how the proponents of the Wychwood Barns. This is a project that saw a carolynian forest replanted where a community garden and “green Barn” located. You’d think this project would simply be received as “sunshine, puppy dogs and rainbows”. What opposition could anyone possibly have?

I then listened to how they went to dozens of council meetings, saw every special interest put forward their own competing vision for the land and a project that was paralyzed until..

One group had a vision and went to every church meeting, every neighborhood gathering place. They laid out their plan and vision, obtained signatures of support one by one. They opened a bakehouse on the site and won what they called  ”the battle of the buns”

If this type of work was done by the proponents of urban chickens, I believe the issue would not be one of contention.

I understand and appreciate any frustration they may express right now reading this as I have experienced the same working on positive change that I desire.

“Why should we have to work so hard for something that is so obviously beneficial in other communities?”

I guess thats simply the way it is and more of us need to accept it if we’re going to change our city. The only alternative is the fingerpointing, name calling and blame game that you find elsewhere in our city. It is the alternative of the coward, loser and sloth.

Even what could be considered an easy victory which was the Ward Boundary Review, 5-6 of us had to still work days to gather 500 signatures (actually, over 650 had to be obtained to get 500 that qualified). Doesn’t seem like that much but it was such a complicated issue, almost every signature required a painstaking explanation of why the issue was important. All while trying to prevent the potential signers eyes from glazing over from an issue that could not be described in a sound bite.

I’ve put unsuccessfully put forward issues and petitions on everything from addressing panhandling problems to an ignored april petition on the WEDC and TWEPI moving out of downtown. Its frustrating that an issue I called out over 6 months ago is just getting attention now. Shutting the barn doors after the horses have escaped will likely fail, although nothings set in stone. Fortunately, I can look to Windsor Film Festival, 48hr flickfest my businesses, and many other successes to draw inspiration.

What I’m learning is that change comes slowly and that it cannot be expected without a tremendous amount of time and patience. The failures I’ve experienced could easily be blamed on others but they are failures of my own.

I think that the urban chicken open house was a brilliant idea but too little, too late.

I’ve heard Chris Holt refere to lame attempts to gain consensus on an issue by simply starting a facebook group as “Slactivism”. Its simply an ineffective method to gain support. It could be a tool in a much broader initiative but by itself, most likely doomed to failure

We want change, then we need to roll up our sleeves and get to work, pick one issue at a time and get it done. I believe that once a momentum builds, it will get easier. There are no shortcuts