Local Motion: The Art of Civic Engagement in Toronto

uTOpia

by Dave Meslin (Editor), Christina Palassio (Editor), Alana Wilcox (Editor)

It’s election year in Toronto. Mayor David Miller is leaving office, and leaving behind a nagging worry that it might be harder than we ever anticipated to get anything substantial accomplished from within City Hall. Maybe, just maybe, we can get more done from without.

Shifting from the ‘what’ of the previous uTOpia books to ‘how,’ Local Motion presents an in-depth analysis of civic engagement in Canada’s largest city. Decisions about the things that matter to us most on a daily basis – our schools and roads and houses – happen at the city level. So, how do we influence these decisions? What motivates ordinary citizens to take action and improve their community? How do neighbours organize together? Does City Hall help facilitate engagement, or stand in the way? Local Motion explores how we, as citizens, can make a positive change in our city.

Essays by politicians and senior journalists explain what makes one city, Toronto, tick and stall. They explore electoral reform, civic organizations, ethnicity and racism, the press gallery and grassroots activism, offering up ways in which the people who live there might help to make their city a better, more humane one. Former Winnipeg mayor and current Toronto Centre MPP Glen Murray asks why we’re ‘consumers’ and ‘taxpayer’ rather than ‘citizens.’ Journalist Bert Archer looks at Torontonians' success at stopping things and asks why there isn’t more activism that starts things. Mike Smith considers the ‘creative city,’ John Lorinc looks at community responses to crime and Catherine Porter studies neighbourhood action. Denise Balkissoon explores how culture and ethnicity factors into the vote, Jennifer Lewington tells us about the role the media plays in city-building and how you might exploit it, while Hamutal Dotan rethinks zoning. Kelly Grant asks if there's room for us in city budgeting. Edward Keenan looks at how our elections could become more engaging, Hannah Sung depicts the lives of a few activists and Jason McBride studies how the private sector manages to get so much done.

Taken together, these twelve in-depth essays paint a citizen-focused portrait of a city in transition, offering up myriad ways in which the people who live there might help to make their city a better, more humane one.

Genres: Nonfiction

200 pages, Paperback

First published August 31, 2006

About the author

Dave Meslin is a writer, organizer, builder & convener. He lives in Markdale, Ontario with his partner and two cats.

Reviews

[Steven Lee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Local Motion is a collection of short essays or pieces about engaging in local politics and achieving local change in the city of Toronto. While the book is exclusively focused on Toronto and Toronto issues I think it's valuable to point out that the lessons gleaned in this text could be applied to a wide variety of settings. The authors of the pieces are notable contributors to Toronto's intellectual and cultural life, and the subject of their pieces are activists - big and small.

The topics vary from getting city hall to say yes, improving civic engagement, running for council, and dealing with bureaucracy - to name a few. I wonder how much the information contained within will work going forward to the future, but my gut instinct tells me that the fundamentals remain good.

Essentially, a big thrust of the book seems to point towards small, local engagement in politics. It's the politics of going door-to-door and having face-to-face meetings. This is not about social media or radio ads or something like that. It's much more about a flyer in a mailbox at most. As a result I think some parts of this will remain true no matter what.

I think this book is useful in giving some hope to people who want to change politics, especially if they have specific goals. An underlying theme is definitely the power individuals and organized groups have over their government and that they can make a difference. I think that's a valuable thing to hear and something most people discount too readily. It's a quick read and is valuable to those who want to start making changes and are looking for a place to start.

[Robin Marwick · Rating 5 out of 5]

What it says on the tin. This is a very local book, and boy is it timely for those of us who feel like things are going badly wrong at City Hall. (Note, though, co-editor Dave Meslin's recent update to his essay.) Still, offers some hope.