Hamilton needs effective community engagement

Deeply flawed, obsolete strategies often overlook the most important stakeholders

Every two or three nights, and more often in the summer, our family walks a few blocks to the Hamilton Amateur Athletic Association grounds (affectionately known as H-triple A) for a play at the park.

HAAA has been part of Kirkendall since 1872 when it was the home of the Hamilton Tigers football club, who eventually became our beloved Ticats. Seven Grey Cups have been played there, and once the bleachers were removed, it helped attract a wave of new families to a neighbourhood that had previously been known for biker bars.

If you asked our youngest, Sam, what he likes best about the park, he’d probably tell you he likes the big red swing, and playing pirate on one of the best play structures in the west end.

In fact, if you asked any of his friends in Grade 5, or any of the other kids in the neighbourhood what they like best about the park, you’d get a whole lot of good answers. Playing grounders, the splash pad, shooting hoops, playing soccer, or just lounging in the shade.

If you asked, that’s what they’d tell you. But if you didn’t ask, you would never know.

Then maybe other well-meaning citizens would say that the basketball hoops aren’t that important. They might feel that noisy kids should be shushed by security guards in the evenings, or that part of the park should be set aside for a parking lot. This is exactly what happened when the city asked everybody but the kids who use the park what they wanted at the first meeting of the HAAA master plan renewal on June 14.

Different people use parks in completely different ways. The needs of a senior, which might be shade and a space to talk may be totally different than an uncle who needs a safe place to teach his niece to ride a bike, or a teen who needs to get some air after another battle with mom and dad.

Indeed the same can be said for almost any public amenity, whether it’s the demand for free swims vs. laps at a rec centre, or the ever present tension in our city between cyclists and drivers. The key to making sure everyone has at least some of their needs met is to discover who all of your users are, and to make sure you ask each group of them what they need before making any decisions.

Unfortunately, the HAAA master plan meeting made it clear the city did not know who the biggest user group of the park was or how to reach them.

Notices went out in The Spectator, the councillor’s newsletter, and to everyone within 600 metres of the park. The staff, when challenged, clearly felt they had done a good job of getting the word out.

But no outreach was made to the very active home and school associations of the four schools nearby. No outreach to local youth-oriented groups like Scouts, Guides, the co-op playschool or the martial arts school. And worst of all, no effort was made to hold the meeting at a time when young families might be able to attend. The meeting was from 7-9 p.m., and although a few parents of young children showed up, by 8 p.m. all of them had left to put their kids to bed.

I don’t think for a moment that any of this was a deliberate attempt to exclude anyone; staff were merely following the standard, deeply flawed process for engaging the public that exists at our city hall.

Instead, Hamilton needs a renewed focus on thinking critically and creatively about how to reach the people that our government is serving.

Every project manager should understand the importance of a stakeholder map. They should know who to keep informed and who to consult for decisions. It seems the city isn’t taking even this basic step when embarking on public consultation efforts, and that needs to change.

The neighbourhood already has an award-winning process for public engagement. It’s called ForWard1, and it lets citizens decide how to spend $1.5 million of area rating money for the ward each year. The ForWard1 process has been one of carefully considering who the stakeholders are, figuring out the best way to reach them, and then balancing their needs.

ForWard1 recognizes that if you provide people with good information and make it easy to contribute to the discussion, people will do just that. Last year around 600 people in the neighbourhood voted in the process.

In the end, if everyone has their voice heard, HAAA can remain the jewel of the neighbourhood that so many people feel it is. There will be space for kids to shoot baskets, to play grounders, and to splash in the water, while their friends learn to ride their bikes, and their neighbours play Frisbee, go for a run, or just sit in the shade. All different uses, which will all be possible if everyone gets to have their say.

‘‘ Hamilton needs a renewed focus on thinking critically and creatively about how to reach the people that our government is serving.

CATHIE COWARD THE HAMILTON SPECTATOR Hamilton’s H Triple A park meets the many diverse needs of the local population. But City Hall is not doing adequate or effective community engagement about the future of the facility, argues area resident Jason Allen.