Hoo boy, few days since our last post! Rest assured, we will try to do a post every day or two from now on to give you as much information as possible before the election in 3 weeks!
Yesterday, Victoria Votes met with Marianne Alto for an interview. Marianne ran previously in 2005, and was also on the Sooke Town Council several years back. She currently works as a facilitator for businesses as non-profits.
Victoria Votes: This term is shorter than usual – what can we do in the next year?
Marianne Alto: We need to be practical. Assuming that you only have a year, you have to be really precise, you have to understand what can be done at a civic level, and I think that there are two things we can reasonably accomplish over the next year. The first is to organize the relationship between the electorate and civic government. We have more than enough resources available to us to create opportunities for affordable and easy feedback between the electorate and the city, and to accomplish this sets us up to be more effective in 2011. Secondly, I think we can make a significant dent in coordinating people in need, various levels of government, and service providers to accomplish a measurable increase in the number of affordable and transition housing units. I also think we need to look at not just providing housing, but also helping people transition into that housing and build community there.
V V: What's something everyone should know about you?
M A: I have a unique and proven ability to bring extremely opposite people together. You can't put me in a room with any group of people who I can't work with to find a common goal. I think that's a unique skill, and probably something that's needed right now in City Hall.
V V: Anything you want to get out there about an issue?
M A: There are lots of specific issues – Transportation, housing, poverty, the quality of the economy, and so on, but overarching all of that is the need to redefine the relationship between local government and the electorate. Local governments have the most impact on your day to day life, so they MUST have a way to easily include the people they serve in conversations about that service.
With my work as a facilitator, I can't provide a service to my client without constantly connecting with them and checking in to make sure I'm heading in the right direction. Having said that, my client hires me because I'm good at something and they want me to give them the best advice possible. I can't give a client everything, but you work with your client to figure out what you want, your resources, and what you can do.
It all goes back to dialogue, building that relationship, but also being brutally practical about the reality of the situation. You never set your client up to fail, and in this case the city is my client. In the end, we [City Council] are public servants, and overarching all of the specific issues is this relationship.
Thanks yet again to B Channel News for allowing us to use their fantastic video interviews. You guys continue to rock.
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