DC Mayor fights Congress for municipal autonomy: Lessons for Ottawa

In the capital of the United States there has been mounting tension between the City and Congress with the climax being this past Monday. DC Mayor Vincent Gray and some city councillors attended a rally by DC Vote, a “non-profit dedicated to securing full voting representation in Congress and full democracy for over 600,000 residents of Washington, DC”.

As a result of the rally, which blocked Constitution Avenue, forty-one protesters were arrested including Mayor Gray and six city councillors.

The Mayor wrote in an article, “...two riders contained in the budget deal impinge on the District of Columbia’s autonomy. One limits our ability to fund, using our own money, reproductive services [abortion] for low-income women; another imposes a continued school-voucher program on the District. If these reports are correct, then the District of Columbia’s right to govern itself has, once again, been sacrificed on the altar of political expediency...DC residents from all wards of the city should express their outrage, as I have over the colonial status of the District of Columbia.”

Over the past few months I have grown very frustrated with the National Capital Commission and their approach to development which appears to be very top-down, controlling and stifling to new ideas. The issue is not the organization, but the approach. Prior to the events in Washington, I’ve been thinking about whether I would ever see a mayor and city council in Ottawa advocate passionately for local autonomy, even to the point of protest. Clearly, as seen in Washington, holding federal agencies to account in that manner is possible.

City of Ottawa MIA on the world stage

Similar to professionals, I believe networking is important for cities. The world is full of local, provincial and international peer groups for cities like the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) and the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO). Alta Vista Councillor, Peter Hume, is currently the chair of the AMO providing our city with a sense of leadership among municipalities in Ontario.

But in a time of fiscal restraint Ottawa's presence at these municipal peer groups will be limited. Earlier this year the City's Finance and Economic Development Committee, chaired by Mayor Watson, voted to trim attendance at the FCM and AMO conferences in Halifax and London. Although six names were originally submitted for the FCM conference and nine for the AMO conference, only three councillors will attend each of these events. With this kind of restraint on attendance for conferences which are close to home, peer groups and events in the international arena are probably out of the question.

Thanks to social media sites like Twitter it's not uncommon to witness conversations between former Toronto mayor, David Miller, and NYC mayor Mike Bloomberg or Portland mayor Sam Adams. It's a testament to the increasing international function of cities. But is our mayor and city that connected?

Smart Card delays unacceptable

Today Open File Ottawa published a blog spot I wrote regarding delays to implementation of the Smart Card system. Feel free to comment.

Kevin Bourne

reinventingottawa.blogspot.com

Do capital cities have a competitive disadvantage?

Today I simply have a question after reading an interesting article.

Emma Vandore of CityMayors.com reported on MIPIM, the annual real estate trade show in Cannes, in an article called, "Mayors urged to loosen ties with national governments". She reported that city leaders, 80 city mayors to be exact, were told "leadership at the city level was becoming increasingly important not just because there was less money coming from deficit-battling central governments, but also because national borders were becoming less relevant." The message is that mayors and their cities need to increasingly look to themselves for ideas and leadership rather than national governments.

IF this international gathering of civic and real estate professionals is correct in saying that dependency on national governments is no longer feasible in today's globalized and highly competitive world, what does that mean for capital cities, especially single-function capitals like Ottawa, Washington DC, and Canberra, who are inherently dependent on the national government? Does that mean we are at a competitive disadvantage? Or does that mean we need to alter how capital cities relate to national governments? 

Kevin Bourne

reinventingottawa.blogspot.com

Is Ottawa a City of Design?

Over the past few weeks, since reading the City's economic development strategy, I have had even more of an interest in economic development and city branding. More and more I'm seeing why they are so important.

This morning I watched a video marketing Montréal as a UNESCO City of Design. This intrigued me because I had never heard of this designation before.

I discovered that aside from the UNESCO City of Design designation others include: Cities of Literature, Cities of Film, Cities of Music, Cities of Craft & Folk Art, Cities of Media Arts, and Cities of Gastronomy. Once a city receives the designation they become a member of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network.

With Ottawa marketing itself as Canada's Creative Economy Capital, should we be pursuing this designation and membership in this network?

According to the website "UNESCO’s Creative Cities Network is developing a fundamental concept of ‘Creative Economy’ and ‘Creative Industries’ which the UK Government Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) define as ‘those industries which have their origin in individual creativity skill and talent and which, have a potential for wealth and job creation through the generation and exploitation of intellectual property."

This sounds like Ottawa.

One of the main advantages of joining the network is that, "The cities which apply to the network seek to promote their local creative scene...Once the city is appointed to the network, it can share experiences and create new opportunities for itself and others on a global platform, notably for activities based on the notion of creative tourism."

Uncertainty breeds Creativity:Now is the time to reinvent Ottawa

With the Federal Government being the biggest employer in Ottawa the budget means much more to our city than other cities in Canada. The recent announcement that the Federal Government will be making $4 billion dollars in cuts has our city wondering about job security and the state of our local economy.

In a recent article by the Ottawa Business Journal entitled "The feds’ loosening grip on the downtown core" we learned that as the Federal Government looks to shed one million square feet of downtown office space it will slowly raise vacancy rates to eight or nine percent. The article went on to provide a scenario surrounding the new Export Development Canada building whereby the vacancy could rise to 7.7% which would be a 10-year high.

With the possibility of job losses and rising vacancy rates, people may find reason to worry. I don't mean to seem insensitive, but I actually get excited in these circumstances. I think it's the entrepreneur in me. It provides an opportunity to reinvent and think outside of the box.

In 2005 my mother was laid off from her University Avenue insurance company in Toronto when it was acquired by a Quebec-based insurance company. She had spent over 30 years in the life insurance industry as a pension administrator, over 20 years at her most recent employer. She was the only person in her department that was laid off. She eventually got licensed in life insurance and is now an agent with a small financial services firm (she's acutally selling the products of her former employer).

Since I was a child my mother had me reading finance books and playing finance board games. When my friends came over she would talk to them about their personal finances. That was her passion, but she was comfortable as a pension administrator. The uncertainty of losing her job that she had for two decades propelled her into what she really loved.