Author: Peter Ratcliffe

Duff is back but I understand that he’s deep into a “Man-Cold”.  As men are sometimes baffled by estrogen, women can just never understand that there’s something about the presence of testosterone that exponentially multiplies the effects of the common cold in some men.

Today I may ramble a bit, bear with me or click on another link, the joy of the internet is that there’s no required reading if I’m not entertaining or engaging you. I may remain inspired enough to find the time to post from time to time once Duff returns.

I’ve looked at the couple of weeks of moderating and contributing to this blog as an opportunity and a privilege, and I’ve used the experience to try to learn some things about blogging. I have not had as much time as I would have liked to contribute, I have a day job that’s had challenges over the same time period.  If no one feeds a blog with content number of visitors and page views drops rapidly. That’s my first lesson of blogging; you need to feed this blog beast constantly.

My second lesson is that blogs tend to attract mostly like minded people, which can be both a good thing and a bad thing. Growth of ideas and development of movements and democracies by intelligent dialogue is important to me, so understanding all sides of an issue helps one find the center that the majority will approve. I came into moderating an existing group and was able to have some great learning experiences and exchanges of ideas. I gained new respect for a number of our readers who comment regularly.

By being a shameless self-promoter and cajoling people on Facebook to read and share, we set some records for both visitors and page views. I learned that the majority of people who visit don’t comment or even mark the post as a “like”. We know someone has been reading but we don’t actually know what you’re thinking.

When writing for the weekly paper formerly known as the Hudson Gazette, I considered our paper the deeper end of discussion, opinion and local government and the other local weekly was the shallow more social end of the spectrum. On Internet discussion, Facebook is mostly a social place where people are “friends”. I purposely have few “friends” on Facebook as my main purpose for using it is to have near real time pictures, video and news of our grandchildren. I find Facebook a nearly impossible place to engage in deeper discussions that might change people’s views, life philosophy or politics or educate yourself to change.

This blog experience has inspired me to learn something of WordPress, the open source platform that this blog is running on. It appears that, in a modern world, being without an ability to communicate your message on the Internet will leave one effectively mute in the near future. I’m a technician and prefer to understand the underlying process and technology and so I’ve stretched myself to learn some things. Visit one of my own first admittedly not well designed website to see some examples of my day job’s products at: http://t-slots2go.com/tslots2go-home-page/rpt-motion-inc-examples/. Not as hard as I expected it would be, but it only took a few hours much of that gathering pictures.

Democracy, especially in the US, has abandoned ideas and policy as selling points and has instead become a high stakes media game. I believe that this trend is a reflection of how the younger generations are becoming engaged and mobilized by political parties. I fear for the isolation of the older and not connected parts of our society, but they’re less and less important to getting elected. Democracy by leveraging media and social media may bring the USA some unexpected challenges that will test the checks and balances designed by the founding fathers.

I started thinking seriously about the failings of modern democracy in about 2009, based on the low voter interest and high levels of apparent dissatisfaction in Hudson. I should clarify that, because I believe the vast and silent majority is quite satisfied. Long before that I had simplistically blamed apathy for every evil of our system, today I see things differently and blame a combination of things with apathy being only one component of why people aren’t getting involved.

Social media represses most people’s willingness to speak up and risk judgement, and so do blogs. Small communities are among the worst places: without a solid vision from leadership they can divide easily into small herds of like minded people with each group often having a fairly narrow vision. These groups can have disproportionately big voices and the silent majority simply won’t engage them.

Probably the most isolated group in any small town is the Mayor and Council, especially if there are any contentious issues or angry people in town. They mostly hear good feedback from their supportive friends and harsh criticism from special interests, past opponents and future mayors in waiting at council each month. At the council meetings I’ve attended, I’d estimate criticism and complaints outweigh compliments by about ten to one.

Because I don’t believe small town or large country democracy is working well these days: I am actively looking for and thinking about ways we might reform the governance of small towns so that the governments that we elect can might have some real time feedback from the silent majority during their term. We need ways to engage people to speak honestly without fear of judgement within a small town, or simply people an anonymous way to give a thumbs up or thumbs down to any given idea that the leaders or citizens might have. Until that day, we all need to treat our local democracy with the respect it deserves and the effort that is each citizen’s responsibility.

Have a great week ahead and give someone words of love, a hug, or just a casual compliment or encouragement. We’re all on this random space rock together, and our journey is finite and of indeterminate duration. My advice: treat the gift of today as a special event not to be missed.

It’s all attitude.

Start of my day, early and easy to be pissed: Almost an hour on the phone with Mumbai to update credit card info (old card was fraud victim) on an annual renewal software license. They need better systems, the guy spent a lot of time waiting for “the system” to respond.

I knew he was in Mumbai, because I always announce where I am and ask them where they are. Since the time was going to be wasted anyway, might as well chat. It was 1:00am in Mumbai when we chatted, he had five more hours to work.

Some of those guys are fun to talk to and today’s guy spoke perfect English and more importantly had great comprehension. They’re trained to be polite and answer any question you ask while you’re waiting. Remember this was an American company customer service portal.

He commented that “you have a lot of Indians in Canada” and told him that we value our immigrants from India. Our immigrants can aspire to great things and the highest levels. He was happy to hear that we have an Indian Defense Minister who had fought for Canada in Afghanistan.

Another re-run Weekly Itch Column from 2008, advice that fits well for individuals and communities

My simplistic view of life decisions has the foundation of my understanding that when faced with any decision in life we really have only three choices: Ignore, Change or Accept.

As complicated as we may want to make decisions or events, boil it down and when push comes to shove these are only these three choices. This viewpoint has made my life simpler; hopefully sharing it with you might help you with your next challenging decision.

Ignore is the life equivalent of picking up a problem or challenge that lies in our path and tossing it into a backpack we’re carrying. We must now carry the weight of the problem with us at all times. People who chronically ignore problems or decisions eventually can’t shoulder the weight of all the problems they ignore. Sooner or later many crumble under the load they’re carrying. The total load of the backpack spills around them and they are often unable to cope with all of these problems or decisions now facing them. The world around sees a sudden train wreck, but it may have been years of ignoring that caused the crash.

Change is the second and often the best choice, but change comes with some basic rules and a requirement for work. You can change a lot of things you don’t like. You can change your attitude or right wrongs you have caused. You can change yourself within reasonable limits of what is possible. You can lose weight or exercise more, change your hair colour or clothes. You absolutely can’t change other people unless they truly want to change themselves. So, if your planned solution to a problem that bothers you is to change someone else, it will almost certainly fail.

Change is the constructive form of dealing with a problem or challenge. An example: you want a better job, you might need a better education or updated skills to land it, so you decide to go back to school and change yourself to allow that progress. Almost always, the choice to change something involves work and time, but ends with more value in your life. Choose change wisely and the work you must do to make change becomes an investment that yields more happiness in life.

To successfully change anything you also need a realistic view of your own willingness to do the work, as well as your capabilities to make that change. Example: If I suddenly announced that I wanted to quit my job and become a professional ballet dancer, any who know me would howl with laughter. I’m a really big guy, way too old to start a ballet career even if years of cycling and fading eyesight has made me comfortable in Lycra. I could pursue ballet all I wanted, but not being realistic about my skills and ability to change would likely guarantee failure unless it were in fact a comedy ballet. Work hard for the possible instead of dreaming of the impossible.

Change requires a good hard honest look at yourself as well as being realistic about both your capabilities and true desire to change. Honestly will help decide if you can actually change something. If you really stink at or hate science, don’t plan to become a doctor. Unless of course the extreme passion you feel for becoming a doctor makes the hard work to survive the science a small issue. Recognize your weaknesses and plan to work really hard at them and almost anything you want is possible.

Before giving up on changing something or someone, it’s important to make sure you’ve given your best shot at it. If you’ve taken your best effort at changing a certain part of your life and haven’t succeeded, then you must move on understanding that no matter how hard you might work the changes you want just won’t happen.

Accept is the final choice. True acceptance is usually difficult and comes at a price, but you only pay that price once. I’ve shed my tears over my impossible ballet career and have moved. Seriously though, accepting may be hard work and giving up on unrealistic dreams, but leads to more peace in your life.

We must often find ways to accept the limitations of our life that were caused by life events out of our control. We didn’t cause those problems, but we must either carry them around with us or find ways to accept the results. We’ve each been randomly chosen to carry some extra load through life, and must eventually accept that if we don’t let it crush us it will make us stronger.

If something that really bothers us can’t realistically be changed, we must work to accept it. We could ignore it, it will still bother us and we’ll waste energy every day of our lives carrying it around with us wishing it were different. From time to time, I try to empty that backpack of problems I’ve ignored. I find a quiet time and dump them in plain view so I can begin work on changing what I can and accepting what I can’t change.

I accept that this gift of life we have is of limited and unknown duration, not always fair but always fatal. I will leave this world with exactly what I arrived with. I accept that to live well I must take responsibility and work hard to build value in my own life. I accept that I have responsibilities to my family, my community, my world and myself. In exchange for those responsibilities I earn the right to enjoy my life here for hopefully a very long while.

I’m watching the Donald Trump phenomena happen with fear. I’ve given Donald my own rapper name, D. Tea Rump, because from a tiny rump of the very angry and very right wing Tea Party faction within the Republican Party, he’s leveraged bully tactics, angry right wing rhetoric, impossible policy and his high profile persona to close in on victory.

Tea Rump now threatens to become the nominee for all Republicans, and Tea Rump might actually become President of the most powerful country in the world. World leaders and average citizen are shaking their heads. What started as a joke website, started by a DJ on local radio, inviting refugees from Trump to move to Cape Breton Island has over 800,000 hits and has hit CNN. Crazy stuff is a happening just over the border because the majority is too silent.

Democracy today addresses the needs of only passionately committed and unafraid citizens. Modern political structures, major media outlets and even social media groups isolate all sides of any issues into opposing groups of like minded people. The middle of the road citizens, often called the silent majority, just want peace and good government until the next election and because of their silence aren’t important to politics any more.

What small percentage of people will allow lawn signs to show their colours during an election? Getting visibly involved or speaking publicly on any issue carries the risk of judgement, especially by circles of friends you travel in.  I saw brilliant advice on a sign in the parking lot at a golf course in Alberta: “Please leave your cell phones and politics in the trunk of your car”.

Governments today spend all of their time and energy battling and answering to those who oppose; the other side is always wrong and all the noise generated is negative. There’s little time left for socializing with and understanding the needs of the silent majority and the opposition. In that environment, silence feels peaceful and safe, until the agenda gets pulled too far to one side.

Social media, including Blogs and FaceBook pages are not the answer as they divide and attract comments and dialogue from only the like minded, committed, self-interested, strongly opinionated and those who lack any fear of judgement. Social media sites are hard work to control, clearly they’re public places and subject to all available legal recourse should they slander, defame or promote hatred.

I don’t remember the author, but I once read a fearsome analysis and prediction that US democracy could only last 200 years. The US was formed in 1776, so the best before date expired in 1976. Political power is in the hands of the money, the money is more and more concentrated and the average voice just can’t be heard. Doesn’t that sound like a Bernie Sanders speech? Bernie’s got great ideas, but he’s always been an oppositional politician and I don’t think the US would elect him if he actually gets nominated.

Since the McCarthy era, the vast majority of Americans don’t really even understand the differences between social democracy, socialism and communism. The money is happy having everyone pay their own way, because they themselves can. Democracy should involve a collective willingness to charity towards the disadvantaged and good democracy helps without judging the cause of that disadvantage. Money runs both sides of every democratic political structure, and money often sets policy that barely tolerates the average citizen.

I’ve spent years casually pondering the challenges of modern democracy, and for a time I thought the internet and social media might give a better voice to the silent majority. Instead I think the deafening noise of mass media and social media have driven the silent majority further from view and being heard. I’m convinced the revolution we need is involvement replacing silence.

How can an average citizen actually contribute to the public discussion without being visible?  Start small and do something is my best advice. I’m not exactly known as silent, but once was, so I know the process to begin to be heard.

Not every day for me is political, it’s more like a hobby where I try to make some time each week. Lunch at my desk is often a productive time for my personal interests; yesterday I spent probably 30-45 minutes on the following:

I quietly sent two emails to our Member of Parliament on issues that I’m passionate about and that I don’t care to discuss on social media or this blog. I sent a couple of calm constructive emails to our Mayor and Town Council with suggestions that I  won’t discuss publicly, so that they may have a chance to quietly consider my points and act if they see benefit. If they don’t act, I won’t take it personally because I can’t understand the totality of the community needs and resources as they can.

I also interacted, out of public sight, with number of people that I know to be committed to our town and who are on several sides of several issues I’m interested in. Mutual respect is a key element to those relationships and often hard to build.

For mental sport, I participate in a very small and very passionate political discussion group, not with like minded people, but a group with mutual respect and a full spectrum of political stripes. We get angry with each other’s points out of public sight and slowly we come towards a common vision closer to the center on many points.

I hope more people choose to get involved at every level of democracy; the silent majority must start speaking in a calm constructive voice. Just do something, please.

It’s re-run season for a few days, and I’m not commenting on current events but instead re-running a past column or two that I think were of merit and had some constructive ideas as we look forward again.

Yes, I know that I risk some blame for the Eco Trolley idea, but the much joked about concept of Eco Trolley is an exceptional one that implies that Hudson of the future has multiple points of interest to engage visitors and be busy with enough visitors to require local transport. Worthy goals, some of which I hope we can reach one day soon.

Weekly Itch #61 Published Hudson Gazette July 2, 2008

If Hudson is seeking a big box resistant retail core, we should consider openly attracting and really supporting artists and galleries. Those who come seeking art will come to browse from far and wide and must eat along the way. We’ve got some great eats in town for them and room for more. Some of our restaurants are already galleries for local artist’s works, so the core idea is already here in a small way.

The annual Hudson Studio Tour’s success convinces me that we have a fine base of artists that can draw a crowd within our reach. We need to create the environment for more top-notch artists to come to Hudson and settle down. We’ve got the ideal eclectically friendly community of people. We’ve got a picturesque semi-waterfront village locale, and tons of local character and characters for added interest.

Ideally, we could eventually attract those who teach art and run schools for artists. Example: week long course in fine woodworking brings midweek customers year round for bed and breakfast and after class theater, libation and eats.

We’re missing some of what we need to really make a go of it but I’ll jump to an end vision of a town and walk you quickly through it. Leaving the car behind we ride the free Hudson shuttle. The shuttle runs continuously and picked us up at from the early train at the Vaudreuil-Dorion train station that it services several times a day on weekends.

On Cameron, in the working artist friendly redevelopment of the Daoust dirt and equipment yard, you’d see an open post and beam building erected by local craftsmen. It has a common open gallery with flexible rental artist studios attached on two levels. Painters, weavers, jewelers, quilters, and the quieter smaller arts would fit well here.

The gallery would be staffed on retail hours and present the works of artists who rent the studios and keep a percentage of sales to support staffing and overhead. When the artists are in studio working, they could choose to open doors from the gallery to their studio to visitors, creating a direct link between artist working and customer and a beehive of interesting activity. The old Medicentre might be developed into a similar concept if space demand and structure permitted.

Walking towards Main road we find options for eats or sweets along the way.  We’re drawn downtown to interesting old buildings like Legg’s and Habib’s, their ground floors now commercial galleries full of non-local artist’s work.

The community center is buzzing with activity as one of our artists has booked it for a one-day course teaching the fine points of his form of art. Courses and showings are promoted on the HudsonArtists.com community website and through town funded promotions to attract both Montreal area residents and tourists.

The early weekend Hudson Arts and Theater train is pulling into the station. The Village Theater now offers courses and seminars and hosts a busy sold out weekend schedule year round. Theater people eat and buy art, so before or after the show they browse the community or hop the Hudson Shuttle to Finnegan’s for an hour or two in the summer. Some of the train riders, walk or shuttle to the Yacht Club to enjoy learn to sail days that brings additional day revenue and potential future residents and members into the Club for a summer day each month.

Meandering down Main Road, we notice the new Hudson Fire Hall Complex, which looks old enough to be part of town but is new and finally big enough to actually fit all the equipment and work safely. Upstairs it contains a commercial Hudson fitness center run by and used by the firefighters. Also a few rent subsidized apartments rented to active volunteer firefighters above the equipment bays.

Behind the Fire Hall complex, after the artists started coming, the Public Works yards and administration were moved away from the retail center to somewhere more function appropriate hidden on the edge of town. Heavier larger art is done here in a series of rental lofts for sculptors, potters, wood carvers, and glass blowers. Artists here include anything bulky and not requiring noisy equipment that would disturb close village neighbors. Long established Hudson artists still occupy the rental buildings across Main Road and because of growing customer traffic more wait for space to open up.

Hopping the next shuttle towards Finnegan’s, we get off at the Thomson Park artist’s community surrounding the parking lot across from the park. Few close neighbors to disturb with machinery, the lofts here include fine woodworkers and cabinetmakers and a small woodworking school where a local real estate agent is currently teaching a small group building Windsor chairs. The Thompson Park Café offers sandwiches and the Park is a great place to sit and enjoy the sunshine and lake views before we hop the next passing shuttle to Finnegan’s and spend a couple of relaxing hours browsing.

It’s getting late and we notice a booth at the flea market that makes reservations in all the Hudson restaurants. We quickly get a confirmed table and time at our choice of restaurants and hop the next shuttle back to Hudson for dinner before we head home to the city on the late train.

Could it happen? What would it take? Examples do exist of similar communities that are artist and restaurant centric. I’ve been to a few interesting ones on our travels. Over time they become successful destinations for locals day-trippers from the city and tourists from afar. It wouldn’t happen overnight. We’d have to have vision, cooperation, creative re-zoning and strong purposeful leadership to attract investment over time. Define the end product and manage the path to get there.

I’d rather live surrounded by creative artists, great art and fine food than surrounded by empty shops, modern strip malls and fast food.

I gave my wife Diane a wonderful little counter-top hydroponic edible herb garden for Christmas with the latest LED grow light. You don’t even have to get your hands dirty: Fill it with water, plug it in, add some nutrients and seed pods, and then wait while nothing happens for what seems like the longest time.

Everything germinates at different times; we were sure two of the six pods were duds and would never germinate. Suddenly, a single tiny shoot on one pod appears and then another, then they start reaching for the artificial sun. With time, all six pods sprouted and with more time the plants stretch and mature to compete with each other. After a few months, we’re overwhelmed with a variety of herbs and have more Dill, Thai basil, Cilantro, Mint, Italian Basil, and Parsley than two of us can use.

I’m moving away from commenting on Hudson as a topic, as the world has many interesting and important topics and problems. I’m planning to eventually seek a wider audience on a wider variety of subjects and try to step on fewer toes locally. I will change my Hudson role to back being a single voice citizen attending council meetings and discussing issues on all sides privately where I feel there is merit.

I’ve explored some of Hudson’s many divides, via discussions and dialogues on this blog and private conversations. Hudson has groups and individuals standing on different sides of many issues, not always respecting each other. In the middle ground between all sides is scorched but very fertile earth. Weeds are the first thing that grows in this place and weeds are overrunning our garden: the weeds of anger, distrust, hurt feelings and disrespect are encroaching from all sides including council, town employees and citizens at large. Our community has not enough hope and is starved for progress and good news.

There is a massive disinterest from the silent majority of constructive community gardeners who wisely won’t choose or speak on any side of most arguments. I understand and respect that decision to silence because disrespect and anger are just not the way of the vast majority of the good people of Hudson.

I’ve seen similar and significant attitude problems from all sides, and I have tried to plant some seeds by suggesting exactly the same solutions to both sides, both with my public blog comments and by emails and discussions which will remain private and confidential.

I’ve weathered distrust and anger from both sides of several issues as I’ve tried to lay foundations for some bridges that I personally think need to be to be built, lest we waste the balance of this council’s mandate and install another completely new group that can never satisfy us without our collective cooperation and mutual respect. Hudson chews up and spits out council after council, reducing the effectiveness of the next one.

I’m prepared to have none of my ideas come to fruition, and would be excited if even one took root, but I will never take credit for any that do because I have only provided a few small seeds to a starving community in a place that I know is capable of growing small ideas into great things by cooperating. My no risk offer: The first side to make a public move on one of my ideas that succeeds can take all the credit if it works, and if it fails please blame it on me for ever suggesting it in the first place.

Now is the time for each side of every divide among us to not just plant some of their own quality seeds on our scorched earth, but to nurture the many good ones that survived scorching and the new ones that may sprout as a community of friends works together. We have an underutilized wealth of knowledge, energy with time and willingness to volunteer, but we’re perpetually fighting among ourselves instead of pulling weeds and tending our community garden. We are indeed growing some hate among us, time to stamp that out.

I’m not a gardener good at nurturing; I’m a planter of ideas and hopes and certainly a facilitator of forcing discussions we wish to avoid. I’m not a patient enough man to wait the time it will naturally take for ideas to take root and grow, so I’m forever disturbing tender soil to the detriment of not yet established roots. Plus, I’m only one person and deserve only one voice while our leaders have seven voices and the mandate and validity of election to understand and speak for the majority of Hudson.

Hopefully, one or more of the seeds I’ve tossed onto this scorched earth will germinate and grow.  I know that if I am to have any positive effect, I must step back, move on to other more global or spiritual ideas in my blog posts and we’ll see if there is indeed any good idea planted and any fertile ground in this scorched earth we inhabit together if something sustainable germinates.

I will continue to moderate and engage in constructive respectful forward looking discussion on my past blog posts about Hudson, and hopefully on lots of future ones on other subjects. I will attend council meetings whenever I can and I am always available for one on one or small group forward thinking discussion that doesn’t involve anger.

Never underestimate the very real possibility that honesty will cause both sides to react badly for exactly the same reason: Truth hurts.

Anyone who knows me, or has read me  will know that I’m seriously flawed by my unwavering honesty at calling things exactly like I see them. Further flawed, I poke the issues we sometimes don’t want to talk about so that we might discuss them.

So, when I step into the middle of a Hudson Hornet’s Nest, I know that I’m near the center of the silent majority when the extreme sides both dislike what I’m saying enough to start talking dirty about me. Sometimes I feel like one of those Middle East peace talk guys, trying to understand unwavering and often irrational discord and sometimes hatred among people who share the same land.

The underlying problem is that there’s silence among the majority and I quietly get words of support that let me believe that what I’m saying resonates with a majority of people. As long as the majority stays silent, we can’t remove power from the extremes and we can’t ever find progress for the consensus of the majority.

I’ve got three options:

Option One: This requires everyone to trust me just a bit in an unscientific but confidential poll. I will delete your email addresses once I’ve tallied the results. I’ll do my best to remove duplicates and will never share any names unless your email asks me specifically to forward a comment to Hudson’s Council in which case I will forward only your comment and not your identity. Please be fair and only reply once if you’re from Hudson and of voting age. If you’re undecided or on the fence then send one and only one email to each side and I’ll only flush duplicates by side and your votes will cancel and represent a 50% support. Please share the link on this blog post as you wish.

The Question: Yes or NO  

I support  Mayor Prevost and his Hudson Council of our fellow citizens and would like them to know that.

I’ve set up two email addresses on my company server.   Yes@rptmotion.com and No@rptmotion.com

Option Two: Tug of War

I thought with the coming storm that a snowball fight on Sandy Beach might work, but that risks injury. So, I’m suggesting a town wide tug of war organized by our Recreation Department and assisted by our Fire Department and judged by me the guy stuck in the middle.

Prevost Council supporters on one side and Detractors on the other.

Proof of Hudson residency and voting age required bring the kids and friends to watch.

Option Three:

Phone or email your Town Councillor and tell them what you really think. Many voices are not being heard, and trust me, I understand why some might be reticent to speak for or against issues.

Like the Middle east, I’d like to see some bridges being built instead of destruction and anger.

So please choose Options One and Three and then we can do Option Two just for fun. And keep lobbing those grenades my way, it motivates the hell out of me to speak my mind more.

My post yesterday titled “Our own worst enemy” set some quick records for visitors and views on this blog. I don’t smell hot tar this morning so I’ll presume it was what many needed to hear and it was also my first post that was shared by a significant number of people on Facebook, including my most beautiful, smartest and toughest critic, my lovely wife Diane.

I have personally emailed the link to Mayor Prevost and our Councillors because unlike some of the angry mobs, my comments aren`t legally actionable and I believe our leaders have a right to know exactly what I`m saying about them without searching or hearing it second hand.

Once we have elected a government, it is now the only government to work with for all sides of every issue until the end of term. We citizens become like passengers on a ship, our elected leaders must set course and trim the sails based on the laws of the land and of course the feedback that they receive from the citizens that elected them. We citizen passengers hope for a pleasant cruise to a sunny destination, but our leaders also must work within the confines of the condition of the ship they took command of, the prevailing weather and seas, and so the ideal destination isn’t always possible in a short time frame.

It is not the responsibility of our captain or his officers to allow any person or group of people to take the wheel or controls of this ship. What is important in any democracy is that we collectively lift the anchor and start moving in a direction as soon as possible to a destination or at least a direction that most of us agree on.

What about the good ship Hudson?  Once a very proud little ship in a small ocean, Hudson seemed a stable luxurious place at the peak of desirability and independence, and so most of our passengers have booked the lifetime cruise. We’ve enjoyed the best of times and recently we’ve suffered horrid times.

A series of past captains had thought the crew competent enough to have let them mostly run it themselves. Then our long serving first officer turned out to be a real nasty pirate. One of our passengers, a retired captain of industry Ed Prevost, offered to command for us and then was elected, by most of us who voted, to run our ship.

Not enough money had been spent on maintenance, so we started springing leaks, cracks have appeared everywhere and our paint is peeling. Because we were controlled by a pirate, we’ve been ignoring many of the rules for navigation of our ship and our leaders and employees must learn and adapt to many new rules and regulations.

Make no mistake; this has not been a glory assignment for Captain Prevost. Prevost has had to change much of the crew, several first and second officers have jumped ship or some were forced to walk the plank and some even seem to have chosen to stand on the plank and ask to be pushed. All the while, good citizens everywhere on the ship are paddling, bailing, painting and slowly trying to improve Hudson. Some days it seems that there’s hope and we’re seeing some light and a new dawn after the storms.

Captain Prevost and his team of elected officers have a strategic plan for the future. It’s ambitious and will possibly stretch the capabilities of our crew and passengers, but above all else this is a team that actually has a plan for our future. They’re not perfect, their plan is not perfect, but I believe that most of us want to help them guide us from these treacherous waters and into sunny days and calm seas again.

I’m all for community action and community guidance, but I believe it must be constructive and fact based not simply driven by emotion or the loser’s perpetual belief that the winning side is always wrong or always cheating. I admittedly set some pretty high minimum standards because: I hold both democracy and the town where we live in very high esteem.

We have wonderful resources and energy in town. We have credentialed experts on many fields with knowledge and experience that naturally exceeds that of many of our hired town employees. We have in our midst the solutions to many of our problems, if we could just build bridges instead of walls and communicate what we know openly and equally.

Many fear the anger of a mob, but please ignore those bullies who meet in the dark corners of our ship shouting and recommending or plotting mutiny. Frankly, if you’re going to become part of any positive community action group, the Mayor, council and relevant town directors should get minutes of your meetings including the number of members in attendance. Invite them to attend your meetings, where your group has the agenda and control of the floor, because they should want to hear from you.

If the group can’t accept those standards, then they have no right to demand openness and transparency from our government and you might reconsider joining it. Better yet, groups with good ideas should open a website or a blog and please do publish your minutes of meetings and your documents because if you’re really doing trying to do good for the good ship Hudson why wouldn’t you want everyone to know? If your ideas really have potential for consensus support of a majority then we all need to hear them, and we also all need to be able to understand and publicly question them to the point we believe in them as a community. Then progress is simple because it’s driven by education and critical mass.

I know there’s no easy way to like or comment on this blog or even like this post without registering. If you have feedback please email me at: peter@rptmotion.com

 

 

I’ve lived in Hudson for 34 years, just sixteen more years until I’m considered a local. I have enjoyed the best of Hudson life and seen the worst at times.

I’ve watched and at various times participated in municipal government, our children lived and one died here in service of our town, they were both educated to brilliance here by great teachers many who live among us, my wife  was an elected school commissioner for ten tumultuous and angry years in education, our family was at the center of a tragedy that reached the national news and uncovered structural weaknesses in our local government and management of departments, I’ve spoken in over 200 often controversial columns in our best local paper of the time.

We are a wonderful community at our heart. Hudson is full of amazing people engaged in a wide variety of activities and interest. We attract some of the best and brightest people in many fields to live here. We have so many people who contribute to Hudson that I’d have to write a book and I’d still miss many of them because they quietly shape Hudson into their vision of a caring compassionate responsible and sustainable community. We support each other’s charities and causes like Nova, le Pont Bridging, the Palliative Care Center, Greenwood, le Nichoir, being the first community in Canada to ban pesticides. And yes, we spent public legal dollars defending our right to insist that we all must live equally with dandelions.

I could sum the true spirit of Hudson up in one annual event: Hudson Yacht Club’s Work Bee. A volunteer group of members spend the day organized into groups to prepare the yacht club for the coming season. They share hard work, lunch, drinks, friendship, citizenship, community and by all pulling together for a day accomplish not just the repair of an old club, but they bond into a cohesive group with better understanding of each other and the needs of the club.

There has been, for most of the years I’ve been here, an impossibility to ever truly govern Hudson. From apathy we acclaim far too many of our leaders and those who get elected are elected usually by a minority of citizens who come out to vote.

Around half way through almost every government, there are angry mobs quietly forming in Hudson that are determined to bring down the government. No public consensus required, gather a group who will listen, light the fires to heat the tar, get the feathers and they’re ready to rumble.

Because they have a responsibility to govern for the balance of their term, most Town councils under siege react by circling the wagons, plugging the leaks and forming an impenetrable bunker around their group. The angry mobs isolate them from the silent majority of citizens.

Modern social media brings new challenges for communication, including the potential for legal challenges due to slander and libel that previously only the press needed to worry about.  It is not a citizen’s absolute right to express any opinion or promote anger publicly. One cannot be sued for calmly stating verifiable facts and details, publishing legal documents in the public domain, and even carefully coming to a logical conclusion or rational request for action based on those facts. However, if you are hateful or of the opinion that there has been something illegal happening and even imply that an official or a town employee is involved, you are breaking the law and should be held accountable.

Angry mobs are not the answer; calling to bring down the government in absence of any criminal charges is not the answer because there are no recall tools available.

There’s a giant boulder in our way. Years of ineffective and illegal management of Hudson, questionably effective past mayors and councils, rising debt, and new rules and technical challenges including the MRC, the PMAD, the CMM other regional obligations that we under participate in.

The government of a few elected citizens, friends among us, is in charge of managing the moving of that boulder. But we have angry mobs forming on every side of that boulder each yelling and pushing in different directions, so because we’re not as a majority pushing in any one direction the boulder never moves.

We have the best possible government in Hudson this time; we actually elected all of them from the best choices among us who chose to run for the thankless role of leadership. And they chose to run for office at a time when they knew Hudson was in an intractable mess and that they’d inherit a swamp full of problems they couldn’t even see until they started draining the swamp. They’re not perfect, but they are the best we could have and deserve respect.

We have choices to make, we can choose to get behind or at least move out of the way of our government or we can destroy their ability to make any progress and pick them apart one piece at a time. Or perhaps we could somehow get a consensus formed to help to start pushing this boulder out of the way as a community. The problem with that  consensus is that it is buried in silence with the majority of citizens afraid to speak up and possibly be judged by the angry mobs.

I needed time off from council meetings, and I work hard long days running my own business. I’m going to begin attending council meetings again, not on any side or allied with any cause. I’m going to witness government and bear witness to the responsibilities of both sides of democracy at work. If I see abuses or disrespect on either side I will comment.

I’m going to attend because I don’t want a local government who must close up and bunker themselves in protective silence and inaction and I don’t want to live in a town full of angry narrow focus mobs setting the direction.

In the end I will always try to take the side of and speak for the most responsible side that I believe speaks logically, respectfully and best supports the needs of the majority of Hudson. That is my responsibility as a citizen, as it is your responsibility.

Thank you for the suggested topic Chloe. I believe that undefined or unprotected heritage is almost always endangered. This subject is far too complex to cover effectively in one simple blog post.

Heritage is under discussion everywhere these days and this question is currently very Hudson appropriate. With PMAD coming into effect towns have an opportunity to define and then try to protect valuable heritage, but only if we do something. If we do nothing then our heritage will be at greater risk. Let’s just barely skim the surface with ideas that are admittedly biased by my personal opinions and hopefully a discussion dialogue can follow with your comments.

My bias: I really like eclectic old villages with varied buildings representing an advancing visual history of the past life of that village. I think my preference is because that format gives me a sense that a village grew, prospered or floundered at various times, still has a living anchor to its past and the village has been valued, maintained and probably has changed purposes several times by its citizens over some long period of time. In an old village perhaps you feel like you’re joining history with like minded people rather than waiting for it with strangers in a new development.

Since 1982, we have owned a 1929 Hudson village home. We significantly expanded in 1985, totally changing the look of our home, but keeping it within the village spirit and look. In fact many people who have arrived after our renovation mistake our home for an original heritage home. In the end, we would be financially, efficiency and living space wise far better to have simply torn town and rebuilt new. That’s the labour of love part of heritage and we have paid the price because I feel the responsibility of not wishing to change an old village for the worse or push it out of the character it has found for itself before I came to it.

Clearly each person in any community might define and value heritage differently, plus a community’s collective need for space and development changes with time, so it is important to regularly facilitate public discussion to identify a common vision of exactly what heritage a community feels is important to protect. Universally, each component of what we will call heritage must have some enduring value and special interest to the collective community, because without those we first lose the attachment, then we stop maintaining it, and then we will surely lose that part of our heritage before long.

It’s a rarity and stroke of great luck that we are blessed in Hudson to have the outstanding heritage example of the Greenwood Center for Living History. Greenwood was bequeathed by Phoebe Nobbs Hyde to the Canadian Heritage of Quebec not for profit organization, thereby protecting it from future sale. Study Phoebe Hyde and you’ll realize how rare a gift this is, usually a family will sell such property as part of the estate, but Phoebe had no children and she wished Greenwood protected so it might endure for the good of Hudson.

Greenwood is a wonderful and irreplaceable centuries old piece of our history sitting on what would be immensely valuable waterfront property for any high end builder. Greenwood is run by dedicated local volunteers who ensure that they raise money and secure grants for adequate funding for operating and maintenance costs, and a minimally paid executive director, and some minimal hired summer staff to help operate tours and events. If you haven’t yet, please visit Greenwood this Spring when it re-opens and better yet join it, contribute to it, or volunteer with them.

Greenwood brings life to our community with many events, including Storyfest each year. Storyfest is an entertaining and enriching part of Hudson as a great series of quite famous Canadian authors have been brought to Hudson each fall for a number of years. I hear they’ve got an outstanding line-up planned for Storyfest 2016. In Greenwood’s case our history truly not just educates but also enriches our present day live proving that protecting our heritage well can bring great benefits to a community.

Heritage buildings will be much more expensive to maintain and operate than a similar sized modern building. If we let an old building deteriorate too far, it can become far more expensive to renovate than to replace which adds further incentive to destruction. On a purely financial analysis heritage almost never makes sense and since the payback on replacing with modern can be quite quick, heritage will be perpetually at risk. We will face difficult choices with Hudson’s old Town Hall soon.

Unless there are clearly defined heritage protections or incentives, with future densification pressure always looming in metropolitan Montreal and our MRC, eventually teardown and replace becomes economically interesting for developers and villages needing to increase density.  Especially true in the case of a village that is becoming run down or is no longer commercially viable or not attracting enough daily visitors to support local businesses. Empty rental buildings have less value and are easier for developers to buy for teardown. If a village has zoning laws that allow enough density then there’s money to be made building condos or rental housing where old buildings weren’t viable.

The delicate balance of the heritage coin is that virtually no one can afford to protect what is no longer marketable, and it’s very difficult to force and enforce standards of maintenance. By limiting demolition permits, or artificially limiting permits to build on vacant lots or stalling redevelopment on existing ones, you can quickly create your own ghetto or ghost town. Villages must market themselves and the businesses therein to maintain what I see as a critical mass of interest, those things that attract visitors to come on a regular basis.

Vacant buildings, empty lots, and empty rental spaces are signs of significant problems and potential for future decline. In a world of big box and strip mall outlets a village needs to find a purpose and direction or it will become a ghost town or one day be all condos close to a train station.

Heritage protection is a very complex topic with many facets. It is in the community best interest to come together and fully discuss and define what critical parts we are unwilling to lose, which other parts we’re willing to pay to protect and what are the best ways to reach that goal.