A Garden Law

sPARK = Spontaneous Park

Tavis Ford & I hosted the 1st sPARK (Spontaneous Park) back in 2008. It was on 17th Ave in front of Reid's Stationery. I coined the word sPARK as we were assembling the numerous items we had collected for our Saturday morning mission on 17th Ave SW. I was actually stung by a wasp on my eyelid when we went to move the items from some bike folks who were renting a row of houses and lived behind the old Blockbuster.

The 1st sPARK lasted over 36 hours. Tavis would diligently pay the meter for the 2 parking spots we took up using the new Parkplus system. The Calgary Parking Authority lady who had the beat for our sPARK, got into the habit of just hiding her face and scurried by.

There are pics of the event and a facebook group. The facebook group was decimated by facebook's group migration policy, but many of the comments and picks still remain. http://www.facebook.com/groups/106168613339/

A sPARK google group https://groups.google.com/forum/?hl=en&fromgroups#!forum/publicspacecalgary

There is also a comment on this video from me 2 years ago (Apaulo Agrinaut) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOyCiErp8TE

So, there's some very ironic twists to this story involving John Mar, Tavis Ford, Potatoes for the People,  vacant spaces, OccupyCalgary St Patrick's Island, OccupyCalgary Olympic Plaza, Paul Hughes and a cast of 1000's...

... and here's a little gem that was part of the sPARK theme...

Tripping Babies

Parents know how difficult the transition from crawling to walking can be for a baby. It takes patience and love, but mostly it requires a great deal of encouragement.


Changing the attitude and accountability of government is also difficult. Very difficult. But what happens when politicians vote against the idea of simply researching the reforms? Absolutely nothing happens, as we will find out.


Recently, 11 of our elected officials voted against the initial baby step of researching progressive reform. 


That's right, just the mention of researching and becoming prepared for change and possible engagement with citizens was enough to spook 11 of the 15 members of Calgary City Council. 


For the record, 4 new members of council, Mayor Nenshi and Aldermen Carra, Demong & Keating were the only politicians to embrace the idea of simply researching and developing a pro and con background report on various governance reforms.


Who voted against the incredibly frightening proposition of researching governance reform?


Pincott-Pootmans-Stevenson-Chabot-DCU-Farrell-Hodges-Jones-Lowe-MacLeod-Mar all voted against the Demong motion. 


Ostensibly, this was a simple symbolic baby step towards the possibility of more open and accountable governance. 


11 aldermen tripped the baby.


As citizens, we need to get this baby back on her feet.


~Paul Hughes

Backgrounder:


The essence of the motion was to research:

·         Term limits and whether they have provided evidence of improved governance or not;

·         What audit, overseer and reporting rights should the Province hold or not hold, and of those processes what should be mandatory or discretionary;

·         Taxpayer protection legislation and approaches-experiences elsewhere;

·         Creating an office of City Ombudsman

Here's the complete dirt:


On 19March2012, Ward 14 Ald Peter Demong made the following motion at Calgary City Council:

8.1	NOTICE OF MOTION

DISTRIBUTION At the request of Alderman P. Demong, and with the concurrence of the Mayor, the City Clerk distributed copies of Alderman P. Demong’s Revised Motion NM2012-16.

NM2012-16 REVISED, CREATING CHANGE IN MUNICIPAL/PROVINCIAL RELATIONS (ALDERMAN DEMONG)

ADOPT, Moved by Alderman P. Demong, Seconded by Alderman S. Keating, that with respect to Part 1 of Alderman P. Demong's Revised Motion, NM2012-16, the following be adopted: WHEREAS Recent political discussion has noted that the Province may be open to setting up a different relationship structure with Alberta’s major cities, either through a Large City Charter or by other amendments to the Municipal Government Act; AND WHEREAS the Calgary Chamber of Commerce is launching a Great Cities Event Series campaign to explore new tools, authorities and innovations in financing, funding and managing our cities; AND WHEREAS little formal discussion has taken place with Calgarians with respect to what changes Council might request if such a review of the MGA were to suddenly be approved; AND WHEREAS if such a review were to take place, then it is vital that citizens, taxpayer groups and other involved stakeholders be thoroughly consulted; and they will likely be seeking input into how more accountability, checks and balance, and fairness and equity in public and electoral processes will be assured; AND WHEREAS if The City of Calgary were to initiate such public discussions – prior to any review announcement – and engage sizeable numbers of citizens in the process, the resulting public and media interest might help provide a further catalyst precipitating such a review, which could be vital to Calgary’s best interests in future; NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that Council request the Mayor’s office, along with Administration, and in consultation with other interested stakeholders, develop a proposed action plan, with budget implications, to undertake a broad and open public consultation process that would assist in determining what changes in powers, legislation, rights and responsibilities the citizens might want to see in an amended Municipal Government Act or in a Large Cities Charter, and report back to Council through the Intergovernmental Affairs Committee no later than September 2012 with the cost and schedule for the proposed public consultation process for Council’s consideration.

ROLL CALL VOTE: For: G-C. Carra, P. Demong, S. Keating, N. Nenshi Against: B. Pincott, R. Pootmans, J. Stevenson, A. Chabot, D. Colley-Urquhart, D. Farrell, D. Hodges, R. Jones, G. Lowe, G. MacLeod, J. Mar MOTION LOST

ADOPT, Moved by Alderman P. Demong, Seconded by Alderman S. Keating, that with respect to Part 2 of Alderman P. Demong's Revised Motion, NM2012-16, the following be adopted: AND FURTHER BE IT RESOLVED that Administration be asked to concurrently research and develop a pro and con background report on various governance reforms (Municipal Government Act or others) in order for Council to be prepared to engage the public in an informed and balanced manner, such report to include: ·         Term limits and whether they have provided evidence of improved governance or not; ·         What audit, overseer and reporting rights should the Province hold or not hold, and of those processes what should be mandatory or discretionary; ·         Taxpayer protection legislation and approaches-experiences elsewhere; ·         Creating an office of City Ombudsman; and ·         And any other likely amendments identified by the Administration. The results of this background research are to be directed to Council through the Intergovernmental Affairs Committee as soon as it is possible to do so.

VOTE WAS AS FOLLOWS: For: G-C. Carra, P. Demong, S. Keating, N. Nenshi Against: B. Pincott, R. Pootmans, J. Stevenson, A. Chabot, D. Colley-Urquhart, D. Farrell, D. Hodges, R. Jones, G. Lowe, G. MacLeod, J. Mar MOTION LOST

Black Out Speak Out: Fighting for Nature and Democracy

http://www.albertaprimetime.com/Stories.aspx?pd=3815

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Original DJ

Food Score. How does your community rank?

FoodScore on Twitter

Food Score helps communities assess their food security & food liberty.

A simple, weighted scoring system allows for basic analysis & assessment of the resilience and potential of your community and your local food system.

FoodScore:
1. Has your community conducted a land inventory? 100pts
2. Does your community have progressive & streamlined Urban Ag Zoning? 150 pts
3. Does your community allow garden gate sales? 80 pts
4. Does your community have a community garden with more than 50 plots? 10 pts for each garden
5. Does your community have a Community Farm? 80 pts for each Community Farm
6. Does your community have a Food Policy Council? 100 pts
7. Has your community committed a comparable area of land to Urban Ag as it does golfing? 100 pts
8. Does you community understand the connection between poverty and food insecurity? 100 pts
9. Does your community embrace the concept of a robust local food system and allow small scale livestock such as goats & chickens? 100 pts
10. Does your community recognize and respect Article 25 of the UNHRD, "A Right to Food"? 200 pts
11. Does your community understand the difference between Food Elitism & Food Justice? 100pts
12. Does your community allow citizens access to unused/vacant land for growing food? 100 pts
13. Does your community encourage, facilitate & develop urban agricultural potential? 100pts
14. Does your local economic development office or committee support and promote the opportunities of Urban Ag? 100 pts
15. Does your community have a real, local food Farmer's Market? 75 pts for each Market
16. Do the elected officials of your community have a garden at your city hall or legislature? 100 pts

Baseline score total: 1430 pts
Variable scoring: add 10 pts for >50 plot CG, add 80 pts for CF, add 75 pts for FM
Calgary's score = 225/1555
Rank = Last place amongst 20 Canadian Cities.

Ranking
1. Montreal
2. Vancouver
3. Toronto
4. Saskatoon
5. St John's
6. Charlottetown
7. Kelowna
8. Red Deer
9. Winnipeg
10. Edmonton
11. Victoria
12. Moncton
13. Halifax
14. Fredericton
15. Charlottetown
16. Regina
17. Whitehorse
18. Ottawa
19. Yellowknife
20. Calgary

The Power of Colour: Calgary Public Library

In 2012, Calgary is Canada's Cultural Capital. "A year to invest in our cultural legacy" states the Calgary 2012 site.

Calgary has an overwhelming amount of vertical realty, the type of realty artists & painters love.

Here is a simple project that adds much needed colour to this dreary area of Calgary. The project would take 1 week to complete and cost under $100K.

The Calgary Public Library before...

...and after.