Welcome to Respectful Public Engagement
Residents Can Effect Change In Local Developments
Changing The Process Around Public Engagement
You have most likely found this website because you have heard about a development or some other issue in your neighbourhood or your city, region, province, or country, and you are concerned. You are wondering if you could affect this situation. You are wondering if you should even try. You are looking for help, any help, practical help. “Help me, please! What can I do?”
This strategy will help you plan an effective and efficient campaign that will also treat people respectfully. It is intended to be a simple and straightforward reference guide to inform your words and actions, so that you will better understand the process you are involved in. I want you to find the information that you need, quickly, to help you navigate this unknown arena of City politics.
This website will help you:
- Run an effective and efficient campaign
- Campaign differently
- Gather a team around you
- Speak to neighbours, city officials, development teams and other stakeholders in a way in which you will be heard
- Implement an effective Development Information Meeting (DIM) strategy
- Create memorable ‘sound bites’ that clarify your areas of concern
- Speak powerfully and concisely at a meeting
- Create your next steps once your campaign is in motion
- Gain a local and regional understanding of housing development
- Remain sane throughout your campaign by breaking it down into “small moments of action”
- Utilize our downloadable practical documents (available for purchase), and lastly,
- Have fun in the process!
So, let’s get started . . .
I want you to read the ‘Introduction’ first to give you some initial insight into why this is happening to you and your neighbours. Read ‘My Story’ next, to give you hope that an individual can effect change in local and regional government. Then, please, read ‘Affordable Housing: My Thoughts’ slowly, and reflectively so that you and your team become part of the solution.
Click on Strategy, read about the practical and fun ideas you will find in each chapter, and you will become convinced that the handbook is worth $50. A package of handouts, also available for purchase for $50, will lighten your load as you find your team and troops and start attending those meetings.
The ‘Good Neighbour policy’ chapter is free for all to read. Who knew there was so much to think about during the construction phase! Also, for free, are my best tips for ‘How to make an effective (protest) sign’. Included are photos of my campaign signs. Oh, dear, they worked, and didn’t contain any spelling mistakes, but . . . This chapter will help you make signs that get your message seen, read and understood by all who read them.
And I have dared to write about the NEW housing legislation in British Columbia, Canada. It was a daunting task. Much of what I learned came from attending City Council meetings in my city and listening to the Staff reports on the various pieces of legislation as they were introduced. I offer some hope, that you, an individual, or a group of residents, can effectively challenge what might happen in your neighbourhood or on the property next door, under the new guidelines.