Fourth Wall: Good News

This series features highlights from the ongoing exhibit The Fourth Wall: Transforming City Hall. The exhibit, on now at the Urbanspace Gallery, considers possible avenues to break down the barriers to participation in civic life that exist at Toronto’s City Hall.

The Fourth Wall identifies a number of areas for improvement to step up civic engagement at City Hall. Examining best practices in other cities and major gaps in this city, the exhibit yields 36 recommendations. While there is certainly much room for improvement, the City is undertaking a variety of initiatives that deserve acknowledgement.

Fourth Wall: Upgrading the Clamshell

This series features highlights from the ongoing exhibit The Fourth Wall: Transforming City Hall. The exhibit, on now at the Urbanspace Gallery, considers possible avenues to break down the barriers to participation in civic life that exist at Toronto’s City Hall.

Previously, we discussed how the geography of local representation has changed in this city over the past two centuries. Like it or not, these days 100 Queen St. West is the heart of our local democracy. Yet, very few citizens walk through the buildings (heavy!) doors to attend council meetings or find out more about how to get involved with the City. Here are a few simple ideas to make City Hall more hospitable to citizens.

Fourth Wall: Hop to It! Instant Runoff Voting

This series features highlights from the ongoing exhibit The Fourth Wall: Transforming City Hall. The exhibit, on now at the Urbanspace Gallery, considers possible avenues to break down the barriers to participation in civic life that exist at Toronto’s City Hall.

 

In previous posts, we’ve discussed how City communications and election scheduling could help to improve Toronto’s elections. In this post, we’ll discuss changes that could be made at the ballot box.

Elections are supposed to deliver a City Council that represents and reflects the views of voters. Yet, in practice, our current municipal voting system misses the mark. ‘Winners’ in local races often do not represent a majority of voters. Indeed, Councillors have been recently elected with as little as 17% of the vote. Campaigns often turn negative as candidates try to persuade voters that their opponent is a poor choice. Voters resort to ‘strategic voting’ and new candidates are pushed out of local races to avoid vote splitting.

Fourth Wall: Choosing When We Choose

This series features highlights from the ongoing exhibit The Fourth Wall: Transforming City Hall. The exhibit, on now at the Urbanspace Gallery, considers possible avenues to break down the barriers to participation in civic life that exist at Toronto’s City Hall.

It’s fair to say that there is room for improvement when it comes to municipal elections. With 51% voter turnout in Toronto’s 2010 race, ideas that enhance voter engagement and increase the accountability of our elected officials should be explored.

Anyone who has hosted an event before knows that if you want to maximize attendance, you should hold it on the weekend. While Toronto’s elections are held on Mondays, most other beloved city-wide events are held (at least in part) on weekends: the Calvacade of Lights, Pride, Caribana, Nuit Blanche and many, many more. Elections are successfully hosted on weekends in other Canadian cities – Montrealers and Vancouverites cast their ballots on Saturdays.

Fourth Wall: Our Elections – Back to Basics

This series features highlights from the ongoing exhibit The Fourth Wall: Transforming City Hall. The exhibit, on now at the Urbanspace Gallery, considers possible avenues to break down the barriers to participation in civic life that exist at Toronto’s City Hall.

Elections. They are one of the first things we associate with citizen engagement. Whether voting or running, elections represent a significant opportunity to shape your local representative body. The following three posts in this series will deal with changes that could be made to the City’s election process to improve engagement, beginning with the City’s election outreach and communication efforts.

In an era of low voter turnout, the City’s election website is an important tool for attracting potential voters and making it easier for them to execute their civic duty. Unfortunately, in its current incarnation, the election website is incomplete and awkward to navigate making it difficult for voters to access even basic information. These screenshots from September 2010 make this point clear – we have not yet achieved Web 1.0.

Fourth Wall: The Impact of Citizens’ Associations on the Culture of Civic Engagement

This series features highlights from the ongoing exhibit The Fourth Wall: Transforming City Hall. The exhibit, on now at the Urbanspace Gallery, considers possible avenues to break down the barriers to participation in civic life that exist at Toronto’s City Hall.

Citizens in many cities (including Toronto) choose to engage in the local decision making process through various forms of self-organization. Residents associations and other citizens groups, when organized effectively, can raise the voice of local citizens in the policy development process and contribute to a culture of civic engagement. Toronto has a rich history of citizen organizing, one that could play an even greater role in today’s political climate.

In previous decades, Toronto’s residents associations have provided a structure for citizens to engage at the local level. While some associations remain active today, others have faded into non-existence. One possible reason for this decline could be the lack of support associations receive from the City. There isn’t even an official list or map of existing associations. (David Topping has recently rectified this).

Fourth Wall: Participatory Budgeting

This series features highlights from the ongoing exhibit The Fourth Wall: Transforming City Hall. The exhibit, on now at the Urbanspace Gallery, considers possible avenues to break down the barriers to participation in civic life that exist at Toronto’s City Hall.

Reposted from Spacing

As the 2012 budget discussion heats up, citizens are liable to feel that their priorities are not reflected in the proposed spending. Emotions surrounding the spending decisions and the process by which they are reached are justifiably intense – these choices shape the city around us.

The public is invited to engage in this process through a series of consultation events and activities (this year’s festivities begin December 7th). As Councillor Ford put it this past year, “we always listen to the people.” Yet many participants walk away feeling like their participation hasn’t made an impact on the outcomes.