The "Stickyness" of Local Government Systems

I went to a meeting recently where council staff, who have not been in their jobs for very long, told us all that all we needed to do was make submissions to the Council so that we could get our issues addressed.  They didn't have a whole lot to say when a number of people noted that they had been making submissions for years and they seldom get local issues addressed! It's even worse when the Council realises that the community were right 10 years later and as a result, fixing the problem has become a lot more expensive.  I've seen the same thing over a number of years, and forums and it begins to seem like putting the focus on submissions is a way of distracting energy away from the places where the real decisions are made!

I'm intrigued at how a system with some pretty good and well meaning people in it can be so impervious to efforts to change it!  Its also interesting that players in many different parts of the system are frustrated - councillors, community board members, advocates, businesses, and council staff.  Part of the problem seems to be the environment in which local government in New Zealand operates.  They are governed by legislation which limits what they can do.

Furthermore, in Christchurch at the current time, we are operating in some unusual conditions in which our national level government has chosen to remove or undermine both out City Council and our Regional Council.  Part of this is due to being in a disaster recovery environment, and part of it came before the earthquakes struck when elected members of the Regional Council were sacked and replaced with Government appointed commissioners.

All this makes it entirely difficult to work with local government.  Instead it seems that we might be better to start trying to work with other important players in the system - local businesses, for example.  A difficult thing given the nebulous nature of the the business world - even more nebulous that the world of local government!

Reflecting on the last year

Its been a busy year and is now perhaps time to get this blog up and going again. Where are we at in Christchurch?
Well, there were more traumatic earthquakes during the last year but they are getting less frequent and, it seems, smaller. The Central City is much worse than it was back in March last year because many buildings that looked ok back then have been demolished. Our national government has gone against all advice from international best practice in disaster recovery and set up a new Government body (CERA) which is overseeing the "recovery". I put recovering in ""s since at this stage it seems to largely mean the demolition of our City and the undermining of our Council. As Bronwyn Hayward suggested in a press article it might have been a lot more sensible to spend the money on supporting the Council and its staff rather than coming in and undermining them and lessening their capacity to act.

At this stage over a year since the devastating Feb 22 earthquake, we have demolished approximately half of the buildings that have been lined up for demolition which means we are not going to have a central City for some years to come, and if any of the new buildings that have been put up are anything to go by, Christchurch is going to distinguish itself by being the ugliest city imaginable! Still, some good things have also come out of this disaster and I"ll talk about them in my next blog post.

MORE Earthquakes

I live in Christchurch New Zealand which has just had is second strong earthquake in less than 6 months. It has been awful in many ways to see my city devastated - many familiar landmarks are now simply rubble and many of those still have dead bodies waiting to be retrieved. it is a terrible time for families and friends waiting to have the deaths of those reported missing confirmed.

At the same time it's amazing to see the way many people rise to the occasion by getting out to help and also to see the number of people who would like to help but who have not been able to find a way to do so. Those who can dig are off removing mud that has come up from the ground - "liquefaction" but many people are unable to dig or perhaps like me unable to dig for long without putting out their backs or something similar.

I think we have done better this time around but, of course, there is more to do. Yes, I think we have been able to look after each other within communities better this time but we also need to be able to work and establish contact across communities. My area, for example has not been so badly affected, but people on the other side of the City have been. The issue has been how to connect with people over there who could do with a hand. This is challenging because many people are without power, phone or internet. On top of this it appears that local organisations are not necessarily using the resources that they have here. The local red cross for example has chosen to use international assistance for visiting those in need whilst their local volunteers have been put off because normal services are not operating. Many of the local people are looking for ways to get out and assist others and it would seen that the need for this is certainly there.

It seems that there is quite a need for coordination at local level as well as at City, regional and national levels. Should we at local level develop our own plans for how to manage disasters independently of the official civil defence channels which are more focused (rightly) on the big issues that arise at times like these?

Keeping up the energy in community work

I'm reading a book on Insight Dialogue by Gregory Kramer and reflecting a little on how we behave in relationship and also how deep our patterns of interaction in relationship are. I"m finding it a fascinating book with a lot of useful stuff that is helping me think through the patterns I"m observing in myself in doing community focused work.

Kramer observes that we (human beings) have a need to be seen and to be recognised that comes from our need as infants to survive. He notes that if we don't feel valued or recognised we can become despondent and withdraw from what we are doing. This of course is the basis of 'extinction' and is a tool that many parents use to stop unwanted behaviour in their children by simply ignoring that behaviour. If we feel ignored we can withdraw - or, of course, we can try something else!

This struck a chord because I've been observing in myself a certain lack of energy around some of my voluntary community focused activities. I realise now that this is actually a lack of confidence and perhaps a certain nervousness about putting myself out there. It also comes from this need to feel that what I do is valued and the realisation that I really need positive feedback. Another thing I notice is that for me it seems to be easier to notice the setbacks than the successes and this also means I"m more likely to become despondent rather than energised. While it may make sense to give up on something that does not appear to be working, it is clear to me that I must also recognise that community initiatives take considerable time to build and to get going.

So my aim is to remind myself about some of the small things that I observe coming out of this work that I might be able to use to keep my energy levels up and to keep on moving rather than letting things slide and peter out. Another important aspect of this is the need to find ways to help others to feel valued when they are doing this work, and if they are anything like me that does not need to be big or complicated - sometimes it is simply telling them you appreciate what they do.

The point of making submissions?

I posted something like this on my greenpress blog but it has got lost and I found myself talking to someone about it the other day so thought I'd write it here.

Sometimes the whole business of writing and presenting submissions is depressing and feels like a waste of time. Once a plan is in draft, it seems to me that very little is likely to change. However despite our best efforts, this process is still all that we mostly have at least in our little corner of the world.

However I was talking with a local councillor who gets to hear all these submissions and she noted that unless people like me DO write and present submissions, people like her (who are in the minority on Council in terms of being a little Green and slightly left wing) cannot defend that perspective. So my writing to suggest safer measures for cyclists or pedestrians does have a purpose even though actually very little comes of it through the process.

So now I write fewer submissions, but when I write them, I think of them as placeholders rather than necessarily as instruments of change. I guess I"ll just have to cast around for the latter (if such things are possible in our current political climate here in Christchurch).

Designing services to get people meeting

Now here is an interesting idea! When a courier calls, what if they left the package with a neighbour rather than taking it back to the post shop. Then people have a reason to knock at the neighbour's door and so to meet their neighbours. I like this idea because I must admit that I find it difficult to knock for no reason!

Reflecting on the Good things of the last year

Its holiday time again, and it also a new year and a good time to reflect on all the things that have happened over the last year. For many of us in Christchurch, it's easiest to remember the earthquake (and for me to remember having a car accident and breaking a few ribs about a month later) and to forget that a lot happened last year. It is for this reason that I keep a note in my diary of what happens each day and what I get up to.

I started doing this because I found it was too easy to get to the end of a week and wonder what I"d actually filled it with. I also found that I would somehow forget the enjoyment I'd had as part of my 'everyday' life. About half way through last year I also did an a community education course called the Science of Happiness and from that time on I've pretty much kept as part of that diary, a note about the things I am grateful for - good things both big and small that happen to me on a daily basis. Again it has taught me how easy it is to take these good things for granted. Keeping a note of them at the end of each day keeps them more at the front of my mind.

So as well has having an earthquake and a car accident (as a result of which I discovered what a lovely supportive group of people I know), going back through my diary has helped me remember that I've set up a new business, I had some wonderful work experiences of which the best was probably at Easter handing out questionnaires to people in Deep Cove, a magical place in Southwestland (New Zealand). I met some great people (too many to list here) and have developed some new friendships, and started a community newsletter which I think people do appreciate and which has certainly helped me get a handle on what happens in my own community. I am grateful for the people that I meet and work with in various ways and grateful that I"m able to contribute into a range of activities and spaces and to the lives of others and that they do the same for me. One of the most wonderful things that happened for example was a group of people turning up one Saturday morning and helping me recover an area of my garden that was lost under weeds.

So while there have been some things about the last year that made it challenging, quite a lot of good stuff has actually happened too and its fantastic to be able to reflect on that.