Requirements for Creation of a Vision

Let us produce a "report card" on the progress in the past year in the steps laid out last year on putting a vision together.

1. Important to go across political/administrative boundaries

Amalgamation was good for this reason, in being able to look at the whole region. This is an advantage few other North American cities have.

2. Don't divide municipal government along sectoral lines

The region is a whole piece of cloth; we cannot separate it into its separate threads of land use, transportation, environment, financial planning.

Nothing has happened in the last year with regard to the organization of the municipality, so we cannot see the whole picture. A "team" from various departments does not work; we need to do something in departmental structure.

3. Vision must be community-based, speaking for many voices, many sectors

HRM 20/20 is making an effort to do this. But there is a failure on the part of the media to support work done by this group.

Why doesn't the media report on people trying to do something for the community ? There is no pursuing of ideas no how to create a vision for the city and get people involved.

Individuals I talk to are passionate on topics of city growth and development. Why is the press not doing this ?

We still have not done what it takes to make this into a community issue. What can we do ourselves to make this more significant ?

4. No medium-term plans; less plans and more action

I see a profusion of plans without a context: Dartmouth downtown, the waterfront, Hemlock Ravine area. I cannot judge whether any of these are good or bad, as there is no overall strategy

We have many plans and no vision. What is missing is the direction or vision that holds the plans together.

Atlantic Planners Institute

This page and all contents are produced by the Atlantic Planners Institute, an affiliate of the Canadian Institute of Planners.

This document was last modified on March 17, 2000.