Trouble with normal, it always gets worse (Opinion)
David James - Sutton Scene - Oct 28, 2017
‘If you always vote
as you always did,
you will always get what
you always got.’
I want to take a moment to share with you a bit of the story of why I started Sutton Scene. It was born from a deep concern to increase awareness of what happens at Sutton’s city hall.
On average, about 30 people attend council meetings. Typically the same faces are there. All of the other folks stay home and are content to read the odd short article in the French language Le Guide or complacently trust that the elected officials have the community interests at heart. I attended my first council meeting in 2004 to learn more about my new community. Winston Bresee was mayor. Eager to
inform me about his shortcomings were his current ‘amigos’, Ken Hill and Louis
Dandeneault.
My concern is not partisan, it is for the community in which my wife and I live. I
began Sutton Scene during the public consultation for development of the Urban
Plan under Ken Hill’s administration and carried on very periodically through Pierre
Pelland’s tenure.
It started as an email newsletter to a few friends and acquaintances. I was unsure of what response I would receive. Its distribution list grew organically as people shared Sutton Scene with friends who asked to be added. To my surprise and pleasure, the Westmount Independent recommended it to readers as a window into their weekend getaway. One recipient forwards it to some 150 people. Its known distribution is now in the 100s but it could be even higher. While no one on council or in the administration receives it directly, periodically I hear comments that indicate they receive it second hand.
Awareness building became an urgency when the cast of characters led by Louis Dandeneault launched its initiative to effectively change the urban plan via changes in zoning and subdivision bylaws with little meaningful community involvement. It was gratifying to see coverage in La Voix de L’Est, the Shebrooke Record and Le Guide, but most Suttonites & weekenders do not read them. So besides picking up what was happening from attending council meetings, I distributed original and translated versions of the articles. Sutton Scene became a unique news & information package. Looking back I am amazed to see how I set aside my artwork to put out some 26 issues in one year! Once a journalist, always a journalist I suppose!
Taking a break was needed. Frankly, as I have written before, coverying council is quite depressing. I understand why people do not attend and admire those who do and try to hold council to account and sometimes succeed. In the next edition, I will highlight some of the events from the past four years of
Sutton’s administration by Alliance Sutton, which stay with me as I go to vote.
