Featured Guest
You’ll find this guest among our growing roll of Urban Champions.
Mike Savage
Mayor of Halifax
Lisa Helps
Mayor of Victoria
5 Key
Takeaways
A roundup of the most compelling ideas, themes and quotes from this candid conversation
1. Addressing multiple crises during the state of emergency
Coastal city mayors Mike Savage and Lisa Helps agree that COVID-19 requires city leaders to face the multiple crises in front of us together: the climate emergency is happening at the same time as crises in the economy, inequality and social justice and of hope and optimism. It will take a herculean effort to make the changes that are needed—we can’t stack up the crises one by one, we have to deal with all of them, and their interdependencies, all at once.
2. Tackling urban and rural priorities together
Mayor Savage points out that Halifax is both the largest urban municipality on the east coast, and the largest rural one as well. He argues that city-building is not just about buildings, but also about conserving our natural and cultural assets for current and future generations.
3. Vulnerable communities have been made more vulnerable
According to Mayor Helps, the homelessness and mental health crises are more visceral than ever, with more encampments across downtown Victoria than ever before. Said Mayor Helps, “unsheltered populations, untreated mental health and addictions issues have negative impacts on everybody—those who are impacted, businesses, and community members [alike].” Agreed Mayor Savage, “we spend a lot of time maintaining poverty, not eliminating it.”
4. Social media is no replacement for the public square
Mayor Helps argues that open-minded and open-hearted community conversations about vulnerability and homelessness are critical during this difficult time. Social media can be a divisive force that amplifies a certain level of discourse, which suggests Mayor Helps, is no replacement for other forms of thoughtful dialogue that have been made more difficult during the pandemic. “If we can’t talk about homelessness, the opioid crisis, and climate change in thoughtful and open-hearted ways, especially when we disagree, we are not going to solve the problems facing our cities.”
5. Transparency and engagement are critical
According to Mayor Savage, “When you keep telling people things are good when things are worse, there is no hope.” He says a key ingredient of municipal leadership is transparency. Mayor Helps agrees that it is pivotal to engage residents to help develop solutions.
Full Panel
Transcript
Note to readers: This video session was transcribed using auto-transcribing software. Manual editing was undertaken in an effort to improve readability and clarity. Questions or concerns with the transcription can be directed to events@canurb.org with “transcription” in the subject line.
Full Audience
Chatroom Transcript
Note to reader: Chat comments have been edited for ease of readability. The text has not been edited for spelling or grammar. For questions or concerns, please contact events@canurb.org with “Chat Comments” in the subject lin
From Canadian Urban Institute: You can find transcripts and recordings of today’s and all our webinars at https://canurb.org/citytalk
00:31:30 Canadian Urban Institute: Welcome! Folks, please change your chat settings to “all panelists and attendees” so everyone can see your comments.
00:31:47 Canadian Urban Institute: Keep the conversation going #AoCB2020 @AoCB2020 @canurb #citytalk
00:32:05 Aftab Ahmad: Canadian joining from Saudi Arabia Regards Aftab
00:33:50 Canadian Urban Institute: The conversations will be saved on www.ArtOfCityBuilding.ca & https://www.canurb.org/citytalk. Thank you for sharing your observations and learnings – we celebrate engagement!
00:34:00 Canadian Urban Institute: Mayor Lisa Helps linkedin.com/in/lisa-helps-327a4a30 lisahelpsvictoria.ca Mayor Mike Savage @MikeSavageHFX https://www.halifax.ca/city-hall/mayor-mike-savage/about-mayor
00:34:58 Aftab Ahmad: Hope everyone stays safe
00:35:39 Mayor Lisa Helps: My website is a better place to connect than linked in https://lisahelpsvictoria.ca/
00:46:21 Kjeld-Mizpah Conyers-Steede: During this time of Covid and extreme weather, what are you doing for those at Risk with respect to sheltering?
00:54:06 paul mackinnon: Fun fact: People from Halifax are called Haligonians. But people from Victoria are not called Victorigonians.
00:54:35 Brad Krizan: Municipalities always struggle with vision…because Councilors represent their ward first, then the city/municipality. Too many special interests focused on small I issues, not Capital V vision.
00:54:47 Philip Lancaster: To Mayor Savage, How do you ensure that your various departments incorporate climate change considerations across all their activities?
01:01:22 Heather Keam: Community recovery is typically “owned” by municipalities and focuses on economics. How do we shift the recovery to be “owned” by community?
01:02:17 sean gadon: Thanks to Mayor Savage for taking the time to participate in light of so many things going on and given the current municipal elections which are underway! Thanks for the work to help actually “house” the homeless in permanent housing. Please keep your eye on the inclusion of permanent affordable housing as part of the City’s proposal call for the former Bloomfield school in Halifax.
01:04:24 Chris Chopik: How do you deal with constituent engagement on these dire topics in a way that creates hope? and insights active involvement?
01:05:34 David Chaney: To both mayors, how do you make decisions that might be unpopular with the voters or stakeholders in the short term but in the best interests of the City and all of its residents in the long term and vulnerable populations in particular? For example, approving housing for vulnerable populations, approving inclusionary zoning, or taking away road space from cars for active and public transportation, or taxes and fees to address issues like climate change.
01:08:52 Canadian Urban Institute: Reminding attendees to please change your chat settings to “all panelists and attendees” so everyone can see your comments.
01:09:21 Nicole Coutinho: I hope this may be helpful to your municipalities Mayor Lisa & Mike in regards to people needing shelter..as the city of Seattle for instance has declared a homelessness crisis state of emergency has a library use alone that is aimed for inclusivity through its building program and design, connecting them to services. Not limiting it to affordable housing strategies only which I’m sure is already a priority.
01:10:09 Purshottama Reddy: To both Mayors
01:11:30 Brad Krizan: Conversion of office may help in the interim for social housing needs….consider how we use that approach as part of a transition model to help a segment of the affected population in a way that provides them community and an opportunity for employment too to help give them other legs of support and self support to bring them up and out of the conditions for that need
01:14:36 Kjeld-Mizpah Conyers-Steede: commercial property taxes provide the funding for business improvement districts. We are seeing more and more internal conversions in Halifax which will have a direct impact on our programs and services.
01:14:39 Purshottama Reddy: My apologies – technical glitch. To both Mayors – what is the progress in ensuring inclusivity in municipal governance, particularly drawing in those those from the indigenous communities.? What are the challenges in this regard and how can it be addressed ? Thanks
01:17:01 Emilie Macleod: Comment: as a public health researcher who’s done work with people who use opioids, what seems to give people hope in my experience is not just being given the chance to give input, but for changes to actually be made so they’re not left hanging.
01:17:46 Canadian Urban Institute: reports mentioned by Mayor Helps: https://academic.oup.com/oxrep/advance-article/doi/10.1093/oxrep/graa015/5832003 And here is Victoria 3.0 https://www.victoria.ca/EN/main/city/mayor-council-committees/mayor-lisa-helps/victoria-3-0-recovery-reinvention-resilience.html
01:18:39 Aftab Ahmad: Great interaction
01:19:54 Aftab Ahmad: Mayor Mike Savage best of wishes for your reelection, from Nova Scotian overseas
01:21:20 Canadian Urban Institute: Keep the conversation going #AoCB2020 @AoCB2020 @canurb #citytalk
01:21:27 Brad Krizan: Keyboard warriors on social media are not going to be part of the solution…its a pretty passive way of trying to bring awareness and effort to resolving bigger societal issues. Just one person’s opinion.
01:22:32 Canadian Urban Institute: This conversation will be saved on www.ArtOfCityBuilding.ca & https://www.canurb.org/citytalk. Thank you for sharing your observations and learnings – we celebrate engagement! #aocb2020 #citytalk
01:23:26 Canadian Urban Institute: Mayor Lisa Helps lisahelpsvictoria.ca Mayor Mike Savage @MikeSavageHFX https://www.halifax.ca/city-hall/mayor-mike-savage/about-mayor
01:23:36 Frank Murphy: Thanks from Nanaimo for another great discussion.
01:23:56 Emilie Macleod: The internet overrepresents certain views; a very small proportion of people are actually commenting on things online. It’s important to be aware of the internet, but definitely does not represent the average person’s views.
01:24:10 Heather Keam: Mayor Lisa is spot on….we need to learn to listen to each other and be understanding that there are different ideas and opinons and its okay to agree to disagree.
01:30:06 Kjeld-Mizpah Conyers-Steede: great conversation!
01:30:11 Fernando Cirino: While I agree with Mayor Lisa and the challenges of digital platforms for engaging the public, how can we leverage this system to engage all populations given the challenges of COVID and our (temporary) move from traditional face to face exchanges?
01:30:15 Purshottama Reddy: To both Mayors – Excellent work – keep it up.
01:30:27 Nicole Coutinho: Thank you for joining and all your work
