It should be no surprise that I am big on using your right to free speech, among other things, to become engaged in the political process. I’m not talking about running for elections, but maintaining a level of accountability from your government – and that includes libraries, police force, politicians and other public servants.
On my part, I am one of the many people tasked with getting as many people out to the public consultations for the central library as ever I possibly can. I really don’t care if you like the idea or not – the reality is that it belongs to Halifax and so Haligonians not only deserve to have a say, but at some level have a responsibility to use their say. If you cannot make it out physically, why not view past ones from u-stream? Here is a Wordle for some of the things said so far. You can also use #hfxnewlib Twitter tag to send a message out to the architects as well. (PS. The next consultation is on August 25th, 2010 from 7 to 9 pm (doors open at 6:15) at Pier 21.
There are a few other efforts that I’ve noticed on the web, looking to get the community more engaged in the political world.
- The Trade Centre has created a website to promote discussion of the new convention centre proposed for downtown.
- Peter Kelly has initiated a WordPress blog where he plans to share ‘ideas about our community.’ I found this little post on HRM’s sister cities, Hakodate and Norfolk, VA to be pretty interesting.
- Among others, Mayor Peter Kelly, & Councillor Dawn Sloane seem to be pretty engaged on Twitter, while Twitcoast offers a fun approach to getting the gyst of council meetings. (Note: if you are a councillor and want me to mention you, just let me know and I’ll add you to this list).
- Capital Health (HRM’s hospital) has done a great job of increasing public engagement efforts as well. Including a presence on Twitter and the opening of a social capital venture called the Mindful Mango.
What initiatives are you seeing from the public sector that are working to get people more engaged in the political process?
People who aren’t being followed by Councillor Sloane will notice that she’s protected her Tweets for the time being. You have to be vetted, at least. And that’s cool, it’s completely fine – it’s just not the same as having a public Twitter account. I’d remove her from the list until she goes (back?) to public updates, or at least put a note in the list to that effect.
In other news, now I’ll have to be tasteful when I make fun of Mayor Kelly… j/k😉
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