10.4. SR 06-03-2019 - Laserfiche WebLink

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FEATURE 8 | MAY/JUN 2019 | MINNESOTA CITIES Four gallons of semi-gloss paint. Fif- teen brushes. Twelve hours. That’s all it took for me, my neighbors, and our kids to create a 500-square-foot mural on Springmount Avenue, a twist- ing midtown Toronto street lined with century-old homes and large trees whose branches reach out from both sides of the road, touching in the middle. Unlike traditional murals painted on walls or under bridges, the Springmount mural was painted flat on the road, stretching gloriously from curb to curb. Designed by a local artist and care- fully outlined by steady-handed adults, our horizontal masterpiece was mostly painted by dozens of pint-sized Picassos of all ages. It was colorful and gorgeous. Unfortunately, as it turns out, our art project was also a violation of our local bylaws, which didn’t allow road murals—even though programs in other cities had successfully encouraged resi- dents to realize the artistic potential of their pavement. Councilmember takes notice But our artistic endeavor did put pressure on the city to do away with the unnec- essarily restrictive bylaws, and to legalize and regulate community-driven road murals. Our project quickly attracted media atten- tion, and full color photos appeared in multiple newspapers. I was even invited to speak on radio shows. The icing on the cake, though, was when our local city councilmember agreed to put forward a motion asking City Hall staff to create a proper permit process. Our painting was transforming policy! I encouraged my neighbors to send letters of support to the City Council, and I invited Melissa Frew, the local artist who designed our mural, to come to City Hall and speak at an important commit- tee meeting where the Council would be voting on our proposal. As a familiar face at City Hall, I’m too easily dismissed as an “activist,” so I felt that Melissa’s voice would show we had support in the community. She’d never been to a meeting at City Hall and said she was nervous, but she hesitantly agreed to attend. This was participatory democracy in action! Discouraged by a closed door At the meeting the following week, Melissa didn’t show up. I sent her a text message to find out where she was, and she wrote back immediately to explain that she’d arrived at City Hall but had trouble finding the committee room the meeting was being held in. And when she did find the right door, it was closed. Councilors, City Hall staff, lobbyists, political insiders, and activists (like me) know that the committee room doors are always closed, and that everyone is wel- come to open them and walk in. But to someone attending a committee meeting for the first time, a closed door sends a strong message: Keep out. So, when Melissa encountered that closed door, she wasn’t sure if she was allowed in. She did crack the door open slightly to listen, but when she couldn’t determine if she’d missed the item or not, she decided to go home. “I didn’t feel that I could walk in,” she later told me. “I thought I would be interrupting.” Here’s a challenge for you: Go to any indoor shopping mall and find a store with its doors closed. You can search for the rest of your life, but you’ll never find one. Retail managers know that the smallest details can encourage shoppers to come in or walk past. The mechanics of exclusion Our democratic institu- tions, too, can feel inviting, alienating, or even invisible, depending on how they’re designed. When we talk about democratic reform, we tend to focus on the biggest and most obvious design flaws, such as our voting system or the influence of “big money.” But during my 20 years as a community organizer, I’ve seen how small, overlooked flaws can collectively serve as a significant obstacle to participation. Just as a city’s billion-dollar sewer system can get blocked by wet wipes and dental floss, a democracy can be clogged when the smallest details coalesce into layers of obstruction. If something as IS YOUR CITY CREATINGObstacles to Participation? BY DAVE MESLIN