A mayor should stand up and say something that a lot of people can agree with and do. It's one way that I see the mayor engaging the people, empowering the community.
I talked about the Season for Nonviolence three years ago with Mayor Miller, and although there was some interest we didn't get it off the ground.
Season for Nonviolence is a kind of community bootcamp. It was launched in 1998 at the UN in honour of Mohandas Gandhi and Martin Luther King. Over 350 major organizations: religious, business, arts and educational, are now official co-sponsors.
For the next 64 days I am inviting you, my extended family, to come on a journey. Each day, starting on January 30th, I'll be posting a word or thought to my Facebook account, along with an associated quote or meditation. The first will be "Courage."
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
All Candidate's Meeting
I attended the All Candidate's (dis)Orientation Meeting. Photos weren't allowed, but here's the experience through my eyes:
Some candidates arrived by $80,000 limosines, with chauffeurs. Some arrived by cab. I showed them all up by arriving by a $100,000,000 subway system. I sat for a moment in the Peace Garden outside New City Hall, a beautiful place that's fallling into neglect.
About 50 or 60 people gathered in a committee meeting room, mostly candidates: for city council, for trustees, for mayor. Some were just bystanders who were not ready to jump in, but wanted information. It was a great mix of people, from suits to beatniks to a nursing mother. I might have been the oldest guy in the room.
The city election staff, in a power point presentation, covered the ins and outs. For instance, your millionaire uncle can't fund your entire campaign: $2,500 is the maximum from any one person. The spending limit is $1,200,000. My campaign total budget is closer to $1.80. What I understood is "be impeccable and scrupulous with other people's money." This means reciepts and rebates towards tax credits for any FUN/d/raising.
As I left, I thought: I'd better get some good people around me for this. If this is going to happen, it's going to happen because something bigger than me wants it to happen (and I weight 230 pounds.) So I enter this race humbled by the very idea of it, but if it's possible I would like to give back to the city that has given me so much. I'm not an expert politician, but I know a lot about the potential of people.
So send me your prayers and dreams for the new Toronto!
Some candidates arrived by $80,000 limosines, with chauffeurs. Some arrived by cab. I showed them all up by arriving by a $100,000,000 subway system. I sat for a moment in the Peace Garden outside New City Hall, a beautiful place that's fallling into neglect.
About 50 or 60 people gathered in a committee meeting room, mostly candidates: for city council, for trustees, for mayor. Some were just bystanders who were not ready to jump in, but wanted information. It was a great mix of people, from suits to beatniks to a nursing mother. I might have been the oldest guy in the room.
The city election staff, in a power point presentation, covered the ins and outs. For instance, your millionaire uncle can't fund your entire campaign: $2,500 is the maximum from any one person. The spending limit is $1,200,000. My campaign total budget is closer to $1.80. What I understood is "be impeccable and scrupulous with other people's money." This means reciepts and rebates towards tax credits for any FUN/d/raising.
As I left, I thought: I'd better get some good people around me for this. If this is going to happen, it's going to happen because something bigger than me wants it to happen (and I weight 230 pounds.) So I enter this race humbled by the very idea of it, but if it's possible I would like to give back to the city that has given me so much. I'm not an expert politician, but I know a lot about the potential of people.
So send me your prayers and dreams for the new Toronto!
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Improve through Improv
Over thirty years ago I founded the Canadian Improv Games, which now has tens of thousands of graduates. All these young people put their minds, hearts and endless enthusiasm into creating new ideas and playing around with them from different angles. Wouldn't it be fantastic to harness some of this energy into improving the city where we live?
Improvisation can be used in community building. Before committing billions of dollars and lots of time, let's improvise our way through different scenarios and see if we can make sense of the challenges and opportunities.
Over the next several months I will be introducing the practical and civic applications of the work that I've been involved with for decades, such as
Improvisation can be used in community building. Before committing billions of dollars and lots of time, let's improvise our way through different scenarios and see if we can make sense of the challenges and opportunities.
Over the next several months I will be introducing the practical and civic applications of the work that I've been involved with for decades, such as
- Dr. Jean Houston's groundbreaking leadership work for the UN, empowering indigenous wisdoms
- David Shepherd's decades of exploration into group creativity
- Philip Berg's democratization and twenty-first century application of Kabbalah
- Vern Harper's work bringing First Nations understandings to Toronto as an urban elder
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Howard's Mayoral Musings
Beloved family, known and unknown,
I have tossed my hat into the Mayorality campaign. I've already committed one hat!
My campaign is looking like this: don't vote for me unless you have to. You may have to. What's being offered to us is more of the same, from more of the same. As Einstein said, "We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them." We need a new mind for a new world.
If New York is "the city where nations meet" then Toronto shall be the meeting place for the cities of the world. I call on the wisdoms of the world to create the kind of city we can all be proud of: a green city, a safe and healthy city, and the most creative city on the planet.
So let's have some fun, respect each other, and create the destiny for the new Toronto.
I have tossed my hat into the Mayorality campaign. I've already committed one hat!
My campaign is looking like this: don't vote for me unless you have to. You may have to. What's being offered to us is more of the same, from more of the same. As Einstein said, "We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them." We need a new mind for a new world.
If New York is "the city where nations meet" then Toronto shall be the meeting place for the cities of the world. I call on the wisdoms of the world to create the kind of city we can all be proud of: a green city, a safe and healthy city, and the most creative city on the planet.
So let's have some fun, respect each other, and create the destiny for the new Toronto.
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