Like that bucket of rubber boots of varying sizes my husband brought back from the Knick, Knack Nook this weekend: old boots to whichever kids outgrew them, new to my kids who will have dry feet on the cheap for years to come.
Like the current discussion on affordable housing – same old story to those who struggled to make a difference on this issue prior to 2008, raising money, attending meetings, writing reports, standing before council. New to those of us who weren’t a part of all that, but have the energy and understand the necessity of taking it on. Hopefully, we don’t have the same old result.
It is the story of the bike park - the one that used to stand on Mt. Gardner road, across from the Killarney Lake picnic area. It took a lot of hard work to build by a group of dedicated community volunteers, and was taken down in a day with no public consultation. That was more than two years ago now. Now that a new group has found a perfect location for a new park, they just have to get approvals from council. Hopefully that doesn’t take too long. Hopefully the new park will be better than the old one. We’ll see…
Like plans to develop Lot 3, the tree-covered chunk of land on Miller Road beside the RCMP station. Well okay, this is pretty new but I won’t be surprised to hear the old pro-development vs. anti-development standard lines that have been spoken on Bowen Island for decades, re-hashed on this matter. I had planned to delve into this for next week’s paper, but Kami Kanetsuka beat me to it (see her letter below).
Heather Hodson came into my office the other morning and started talking about “the hamster wheel of doom.” I really wasn’t sure what she was talking about until I realized that we’re all on it, stuck in circular conversations that leave all of us frustrated at best. There’s no better proof of that than the “This week in Undercurrent history” columns that Maureen Sawasy used to write. Perhaps she needs to get writing again.
If there is one thing I’ve learned since taking this job it is that the people objecting to things want their concerns not only to be heard but also to be felt and understood. The people doing the thing that is being objected to just want to move forward with their vision, wake up in the morning and get things done. They offer appeasement, concessions. These are always inadequate to those sitting in opposition. Conflict escalates. Time stands still. Things happen eventually but all parties walk away dissatisfied.
Enter Chris Corrigan. His job is to make conversations more productive, and he travels the world doing so. He also brings people from all over the world to our lovely island to teach them how to shape better conversations. I hope that by having his perspective occasionally on our pages, we can soak up some practical tips on productive dialogue. I also hope that his stories will help us lift our eyes from our own troubles and conflicts to the world beyond, and shift the island-mentality to something a little more connected. On that note, take the time to read We are not an Island. Maybe with a few new insights we can move forward instead of simply going back to the place where we started.Maybe with a few new insights we can move forward instead of simply going back to the place where we started.
