Mississauga Muse:
Conversation21 Attendance
I think we have to give the city some credit for organizing a largely successful conversation series and avoiding another Mississauga Matters fiasco. They selected an appropriate venue (1315 seat Hammerson Hall), it was accessible to all, ticket orders and pick was easy and the event was well advertised with bus shelters, in the News and at all city facilities. Even my 18 year old cousin and his girlfriend who are usually oblivious to any events happening in the city heard about it and wanted to go to the Justin Trudeau talk, which luckily I had extra tickets to.
AGREE ..yeah, 100%
The only thing I would have done different was to broadcast the talks live on the net and on Rogers Cable for those who couldn’t attend in person.
Let me know when you're runnin' for Mayor, dude.
As for actual numbers, the orchestra level which contains about 613 seats, along with the dress circle 278 seats were usually filled each evening. So give and take a few, at least 800 people were present at each talk, an impressive number given the history of public engagement in this city. The only time I observed the 424 seat balcony used was for Justin’s speech. So that’s the only evening where I would say the number hit 1,000 people. On that note, I thought Justin’s keynote speech was the least inspiring and relevant to Mississauga out of all of them.
AGREE WITH EVERYTHING --AND:
"On that note, I thought Justin’s keynote speech was the least inspiring and relevant to Mississauga out of all of them."
GOOD. That was some dog of a Mississauga-speech. Mayor was gushing all on-about the Inspiration that is the Jr. Trudeau. Glad it wasn't just me...
I thought each part of the series was well attended; also depending on who was speaking the crowd varied, but usually contained a good mix of backgrounds and age groups.
I'll let you know. I have the Lewis one FOI'd and plan on dropping one down for the Trudeau one as well.
As for the thought that a large number of attendees may be city employees, I can assure that was not the case. After spending the last 10 years running around city hall, I know most faces and there weren’t that many in the crowd. That’s one that are most passionate about the future of the city were present, which is a good thing.
Louroz, please don't use "I can assure you that". Every time I get that from a mississauga.ca address, I FOI what comes directly after. Again, the FOI results will confirm.
There was a large presence of senior staff, and I also found encouraging that the entire senior staff team was present each evening. When I spoke about commitment, that’s the kind of commitment I’m talking about. The senior management team needed to hear those ideas and thoughts to drive the agenda in their departments. I also found it refreshing that the city had regular citizens acting as volunteers at the registration booths.
You see that's how we're different, Louroz. You see the entire senior staff there as "commitment". Me, I see it as Cripes, you mean you'd entertain such a big event and senior staff wouldn't be?!
City Affiliation
As for it not being directly on the city’s site, I believe this was a deliberate strategy. At first I found it strange the lack of association with the city, except for a small civic mark on the bottom. However, the more I thought about it, the more it made sense to me as I’ve observed that the public usually doesn’t want nothing to do with any government related project or program, this is especially true with young people and new immigrants.
Have to say that the young and new immigrants are much smarter than me. Embarrassed to say it took me 52 years in Mississauga before I finally decided that I don't want anything to do with government.
As for a lack of a postal code, hell I even lie about that myself, I often use the City Hall postal code when I register for anything online. So you shouldn’t put too much emphasis on those numbers and again the demographics changed according to who was speaking. I noticed a greater number of students during the last session.
Hmm... nutz. You're right. I have to think carefully about what those postal codes might be not telling me....
Commitment to Change by the entire City
When I said “city’s commitment” I was referring to it in a broader sense, beyond just the corporation but from everyone who lives and works in Mississauga. The public attendance at such events, during the Placemaking initiative, the My Mississauga summer events, the vote for the Absolute towers, citizen are showing that they care about the city’s future. Supporting that are the developers, the best example I can think of is FRAM in Port Credit and increasingly developers in the City Centre with their commitment to plan and build great new public spaces and buildings.
I just hope you're right on this one, Louroz. I just keep hearing what one of the speakers said. Mississauga doesn't have the luxury of screwing this up. I SO want it to work out. That fifty years from how people will look back and say 2000-2020 did it right.
Council Meetings and Future Direction of Mississauga Politics
I can see how you can become increasingly skeptical about the political direction of the city, especially if you sit through all those meetings. I use to attend a lot of those council and general committee meetings myself as student, these days I usually catch city council on Rogers, and I continue to pour over agendas, minutes and the budget line by line. Trust me, I hear what you must be thinking and feeling. You can imagine what is said and takes place behind closed doors. However, this isn’t just restricted to just Mississauga, this can be seen at every level of government, even at the Region as you also rightly pointed out. It’s how politicians operate.
So you know, Louroz. If you "pour over agendas, minutes and the budget line by line. " then you HAVE to be seeing what I do. And Louroz, I am painfully aware that it isn't just Mississauga.
But cripes that doesn't make me feel any better.
However, I’m bursting with optimism, eventually with time the current slate will be wiped clean and replaced with fresh new leadership. I have real faith in the people of Mississauga, and I honestly believe the tidal wave of real change is coming sooner rather than later.
I'm happy for you --go for it. I just feel (and it's not like I can prove this) that the city we can be most proud of really is for Everyone. Where Everyone is welcome. Everyone is involved in the Conversation.
The trouble is Louroz, and I have to admit it, I can't ever go back to the way I was --that ra-ra-Mississauga oblivious resident. But more than anything I've lost all trust.
You can't ever get it back. All I can say and I can't wish this enough, about the Future Mississauga? I hope that you're right and not me.
