An Interview with Larry Pomerantz of The Hamilton Civic League

I am pleased to have Larry Pomeratz from The Hamilton Civic League (HCL) as a guest on The Hamiltonian. HCL's vision is to have all eligible Hamiltonians vote in the next municipal election as informed, empowered and engaged citizens in order to bring about positive change to our city. HCL is a spirited group of people who are doing positive things for our Hamilton. I look forward to showcasing their progress. Please welcome Larry to The Hamiltonian.

1. Tell us about the genesis of the Hamilton Civic League (HCL). Why did you start it , what are you hoping to achieve and who is involved?

In March 2009, we attended a presentation by The Guelph Civic League hosted at the Workers' Arts and Heritage Centre in Hamilton. Approximately 200 people attended where we learned how a small group of people set out to make a difference in their community. Guelph had hoped to increase voter turnout and set out to survey their community to establish a set of common values and priorities. They identified a number of issues of concern and published a report detailing how individual councilors had voted on each issue. The survey results inspired new candidates for the following municipal election and Guelph witnessed a changing of the guard with a new mayor and 8 new councilors elected into office.

In September, our own group held its first meeting which was attended by more than 60 people from across the city. Since then we've held group meetings every week where the bulk of the planning and development work for our programs and initiatives takes place. Our membership roll continues to grow each week and we recently surpassed 100 members. We reflect a fairly broad cross-section of Hamilton with representation from a range of demographics, sectors, organizational affiliations, and geographic locations.

We started the Hamilton Civic League because we really believe in the potential of our community.We know that we can and must do better, and developing resources and tools that support citizen engagement is one way to start building momentum in that direction. Our initiative won't take exactly the same form as Guelph's – our programs are developing organically as a reflection of issues particular to Hamilton and the input of our partner organizations. We do hope to achieve a similar amplification in our collective discussion of municipal issues however, and to provoke a sense of ownership and aspiration among Hamiltonians for their city.

Ultimately, our success will be measured by the number of people who show up to vote in the next election and by the effectiveness of our information resources and educational materials. In broader terms though, we hope to make active citizenship a fixture of cultural life here in Hamilton and to nurture the social framework that helps to turn aspirations for our city into reality.

2. Through your work so far with the HCL, what are you learning about why we have a vast number of people who don't vote in municipal politics? What can be done about it?

Statistics identify four groups that have lower than average voter participation including individuals living in poverty, newcomers, renters and youth under 25 years of age. Consider the percentage of our population which falls into those four groups and top it off with apathy within the remaining population and we end up with a 37% voter turnout in the last municipal election.

There is confusion over the roles of the various levels of government and a lack of knowledge of the issues, incumbents and new candidates. Those that are interested must invest a great deal of time sourcing information as there is no "one-stop shopping" solution. Those that have never voted before can be intimidated by the whole process and don't know where to begin. There are generations disconnected because we have not included civics as a mandatory course at every level of our public education system. Youth attending universities and colleges are often from out of town, not connected to local politics and unable to make it back home to vote.

The lack of a closely contested mayoralty race also results in lower voter turnout and we are told that the City has a budget to operate an election but no budget to promote the election. Some people consider traditional media coverage of municipal politics around elections in particular as being too little, too late. Many individuals have a sense that one vote doesn't matter, "so why bother making an effort". To express this in the spirit of the holiday season, on voting day, if the weather outside is frightful, but the fire is so delightful, and since there's an inch of snow, We don't go! We don't go! We don't go!

We need a well thought out, well coordinated plan of education and outreach initiated by a league of stakeholders to motivate the community to take an interest and to get and stay involved in local politics. We need to develop a social component to local politics to make civic engagement a fun and worthwhile investment of our time. We need to begin to implement the plan early in the New Year. The Hamilton Civic League has started the plan and our doors are open to individuals and organizations to grow and implement the plan.

3. Getting more people out to vote is one thing, but providing corresponding choices in terms of candidates to vote for, is another. Do you see this linkage as being essential? If so, is the HCL putting its mind to encouraging new people to run for office, or is this outside of your scope?

Increased civic engagement will naturally result in more ideas, discussion, debate and candidates. We sense that the sooner we survey the community and the earlier we provide forums for the community to discuss issues, the more candidates we will see on the ballots come election day. The Hamilton Civic League will not endorse candidates however we will provide direction to community resources available to all candidates. It will be one measure of our success to see how many community leaders are encouraged to step forward because they believe we can do better.

4. What type of support are you looking for at the HCL and how can people help?

We seek the creativity of educators, artists, filmmakers, directors and script writers to assist with the development of our voter resource and educational tools. In particular, we are seeking individuals and organizations to create narrated instructional videos (possibly animated) to demystify the election and voting processes and to highlight access points for civic engagement. We would like to translate these resources into multiple languages to better serve our diverse population. Once created, we will host information sessions through partner organizations currently working with our target groups and we will also attend community events to distribute information.

We seek the partnership of community stakeholders to host public forums dedicated to their particular area of expertise. Starting in January 2010, HCL will host a series of public forums designed to provoke dialogue and interest on matters of local political significance. For example, we would like to call upon former politicians to come together to discuss the challenges and future for Hamilton. We also call upon community stakeholders to recommend topics for discussion.

We seek the participation of experts to develop a citizen values and priorities survey that meets accepted scientific standards. We seek the input of community stakeholders to identify the important issues that should be covered by the survey as the results will affect the topics for our discussion forums.

We seek the expertise of public relations, marketing and communications agencies and will call upon the media in the New Year to come together to develop a strategy to promote a campaign to encourage civic engagement and voter participation leading up to the 2010 election and beyond.

We seek the input of businesses, unions, BIA's, neighbourhood associations, non-profits, government agencies and volunteers to ensure we are an all-inclusive league placing the best interests of Hamilton first.

5. How can people sign up to be members?

Members and partner organizations can sign up on our website at http://www.hamiltoncivicleague.org/,  or simply call (905) 545-5577.

6. Is there anything else you'd like Hamiltonians to know about HCL or your objectives?

The barriers for entry to our organization are low. All that is required is an interest in Hamilton civic life and a willingness to promote a dialogue that is open, honest and civil. We are a non-partisan group and are committed to building an organization that reflects the diversity of Hamilton, especially in regards to ethnicity, class, political persuasion, geography or professional interest. We would like to express to everyone who is interested in participating that there is a role for you in the Hamilton Civic League. Through collective effort positive outcomes will ensue.

Thank-you Larry and members of the Hamilton League for your hard work for a very noble cause. Thank-you for your interest in Hamilton and for your contribution to The Hamiltonian.