Denman Island Commons

Community as Process

2006-06-16T15:10:00.000-07:00

Proceedings of the June 12th Denman Island Residents Association (DIRA) meeting were delayed as the Treasurer penned a steady stream of receipts for new memberships. Late start aside the crowd in the hall quickly settled in for what was rumoured to be a contentious debate. Under the skilled direction of DIRA’s President and Robert’s Rules we waded through other business to the main event that began with an impassioned motion to rescind DIRA’s sponsorship of the North Lands Committee. Various islanders spoke respectfully to the motion both for and against as the clock ticked inexorably to the ordained closing time of ten thirty. I would characterise the meeting as having a subdued intensity. At the last minute a ‘friendly’ amendment was proposed to modify the one in question, to ask instead that DIRA waive sponsorship of the North Lands Committee until such time as a clear mandate could be presented for scrutiny and debate. The change to the motion was accepted and a vote to accept or deny the amended motion was called.

With an excitement like the final minutes of a playoff game two votes were quickly raised, tallied, and results announced. The first vote was restricted to the membership, not including those who had signed up that evening, and the second open to all those present. In the former a recount led to a second ballot resulting in 20 to 18 to deny the motion. The vote from all present yielded 70 to 40 in favour of the motion. That vital business complete the President was thus able to close the meeting punctually and retire to bed at his appointed hour for a well deserve nights rest.

To the question ‘What did the meeting accomplish?’ I think attendance showed a high level of concern about DIRA’s role in the current development proposal process. The voting results provided a mixed message. The first vote (20/18 or 52%) indicated that longer standing members of DIRA were split in opinion concerning direct ties with the North Lands Committee whereas the second (70/40 or 63%) showed a larger majority in favour of suspending it until its mandate has been clarified.

One particular comment to the motion was an eloquent plea for clarity. This speaker cautioned that failing to effectively keep all public processes open and transparent would provide fertile grounds for bitterness and resentment that could grow to the point of damaging our community irrevocably. Timely advice indeed, I think we would be wise to take all steps necessary to protect our civil proceedings from misinterpretation. Healthy community arises from learning to live with our differences as well as our similarities. It’s a continuous process that can’t be taken for granted nor hidden behind closed doors. The attendance and participation of our latest DIRA meeting was a good measure of how we value our community and respect our differences. However you interpret it, this could be seen as a straw poll of citizens at large feelings about the North Denman Island Initiative. That a straw poll could be taken alongside the formal one is something to be proud of and hopefully the measure of a commitment to our community. What we do with it remains to be seen.

Island Garden

2006-06-08T11:16:00.000-07:00

The Garden Tour is fast approaching (Sat. June 17th and Sun. June 18th) and social sightings of our local species of gardener are becoming rarer by the day. Margaret and I attended an afternoon work bee at the delightful garden of Leslie Dunsmore. Arm in sling she facilitated the efforts of our diverse crowd of volunteers checking off all the little tasks on her clipboard as we completed them one by one. We retired to her deck for wine, cheese, and crackers savoured with few rounds of island opinions on a variety of topics. The drift of the discussion was not dissimilar to that received in the comments to this blog. The photo of the wee frog in the Calla Lily was taken on Leslies deck.

A little help from my friends

2006-05-14T14:00:00.000-07:00

It's been pointed out by several people that they have had difficulty navigating to the comments page. It was described by one reader as "counter intuitive" and I agree. In any case here's how to find and read the comments:

First of all notice that the blog now has three entries, this one at the top, one below it dated May 1, 2006 and the third at the bottom dated March 22, 2006. They were all written by me and posted on those dates. Immediately below each is a line as follows:

posted by denmon at 5:37 PM 1 comments (an envelope icon)

The first part identifies me, denmon, as being the author and notes the time of posting. The number followed by 'comments' tell how many comments have been made to this post. To view them you move your cursor onto the word 'comments' and click once. This should open up another window on your screen. This window shows a box titled 'Leave your Comment' and below that choices for identifying yourself. This is where it starts to get counter intuitive. This window is actually showing you the bottom of its total view. Out of sight above that box are the comments but you have to scroll up to see them! You don't have to click or select anything, just scroll up. The comments are listed according to the date and time they were posted with the first on top and the newest at the bottom.

To post a comment you scroll back to the bottom of the window and clicking your cursor in the comments box begin your post. When you're done composing you choose your identity and then select 'login and publish' or 'preview'. 'preview' just lets you see how it will look in the blog and allows you to make any changes before publishing it.

I hope this helps. If anyone has further difficulties or questions don't hesitate to email me at fraser_fox@yahoo.com or phone 335-0196 and I'll be glad to assist.

Regards, Fox

2006-05-01T17:37:00.000-07:00

It's been over a month since this blog was initiated, three weeks since it was mentioned on two Denman websites, and a week since the Grapevine published my invitation for anyone to participate. There have been three contributions to the blog, several phone calls, and half a dozen unsolicited encouraging comments to me by islanders. Which is all to say it's a slow but promising start. Everyone to date seems to like the idea of such a public space but for some reason hesitates to jump in with comments, suggestions, or criticism. For my part I've been busy with other projects, garden, building, socializing...just like most islanders this time of year...hmm, do I detect a connection?

Welcome to Denman Island Commons

2006-03-22T15:29:00.000-08:00

As an introductory topic the current Northern Lands development proposal should initiate a diverse range of responses. The developers are proposing that the Islands' Trust allow an exception to existing minimum lot sizes in order to maximize profits from property sales. As this is a very contentious issue for many islanders the developers have offered to give a portion of this area to the 'community' for use as public land in exchange for 'community' approval which will be neccessary before the Trust can make any changes to existing bylaws and/or regulations. ( I put the word community in parenthesis because it has become so vague in common usage that it's not always clear which group of residents it implies without specific references or context.)

I've heard the opinion that there should be no exceptions made regardless of possible advantages to the current proposal. The rational given is that if this exception is granted it will open the floodgates to invevitable requests and expectations by future developers.

Others take a cautious approach and are willing to explore the proposal but won't consider acceptance or even further discussion until a list of specific conditions are guaranteed.

There are those who are eager for what they perceive as welcome change to the island and consider the proposal as an opportunity to participate.

Obviously there are almost as many different opinions as there are islanders and the three I've suggested don't do justice to the diversity of them nor the insight each can share. It is my hope that this blog will initiate the publication of as many of these viewpoints as possible and stimulate discussion of them.

Respectfully,
Fox