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A Bird's Eye View: When Lively Parks meet the Rules

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A Bird's Eye View: When Lively Parks meet the Rules

Our list of findings
Setup: 18-Jun-2012 by Belinda Cole [1236]

• The rules that govern our local parks are buried in over 1000 pages of laws and other "rules" that most of us know nothing about. Why are we ruled by so many unknown rules? What does this choice of governance cost us?

What are the real rules at our local outdoor rinks, wading pools and parks? How do so many "invisible" rules shape how we enjoy our parks - and how we spend our public budgets?

[Note: all the links on this page are included as contents (Topic Details) of this Topic.

Here is where we find ourselves now, and here are a few suggestions for how we might change the rules to leave citizens and neighbours the spaces and opportunities to make the most of our public social spaces....

1.Some rules that govern our parks - usually "conduct" rules - are visibly posted.

2. Mostly however, parks are governed by unseen rules - invisible - only until one runs afoul of them.

3. Frequently, obstacles to what works well "on the ground" - like closing wading pools early on hot days or threats to a local farmers' market - don't come from any law. They result from mistakes and widespread confusion about 1) what the rules are; and 2) who can make and enforce them.

4. Could it be otherwise? In our local park alone, the "invisible rules" that have put a wrench in so many well-loved practices are contained in well over a 1000 pages of provincial laws, regulations, guidelines, city by-laws and city policies. It is hard to know - and impractical to research - how many more pages of rules - that we haven't yet run aground on - exist.

5. Most invisible rules that govern local parks are made: i) to apply across the entire province or city and, ii) to address very different contexts.

6. The rules conflict, intersect, and are written in such a difficult, convoluted way that most people cannot practically read them or find out what they are. Here's a glimpse of our research - so far - into seven laws, policies and guidelines - to try to find out the rules for wading pools.

7. Rule-makers often write convoluted policies with an administrative focus, even when presented with locally-developed rules written in clear, straightforward language.

8. The ideas and goals behind these broad-reaching laws and policies sound good, are hard to argue with, and may work well in certain contexts. However, law and policy-making without an awareness of the place(s) where the rules will apply inevitably have unintended consequences. After all, they are made without taking into account: i) local priorities ii) what works well on the ground or, the iii) effects of the existing rules.

9. This form of across-the-board governance precludes us from asking key questions about what rules make sense in our particular local spaces. And, we lose the opportunity to consider what "tools of governance" are most appropriate for our particular local space.

10. Laws and policies rarely include any indicators of what a successful rule looks like in its context. A thoughtful framework can orient us in our initial, and follow-up discussions about what works and what doesn't in a particular public space.

11. Good-sounding idea-based rules have their own “internal logic” which "requires" ever-increasing structures, systems or training to address the perceived problem behind the rules.

12. Many of these good-sounding rules are fuelled by understandable, fearful reaction to tragic events, losses and perceived ongoing “problems”. Other times, ordinary people reach out to others to find ways to mark local tragedies, come to grips with the reasons behind them and discern how to proceed in the face of them.

13. Rules made in reaction to fear or a perceived problem are costly to civic life in two important ways:

i) In our fear, we often want to act immediately, without reflection. If we do, we fail to consider key questions about the nature and extent of the problem that led to the tragedy and the range of options available to us – and the costs and implications of each.

ii) They narrow our possibilities for enjoying our public spaces. If we fail to clearly identify what - if anything - constitutes a serious, known risk at our public facilities - by sharing available information on a continuing basis - public administrators and industry advocates will often take on the job of defining and avoiding potentially limitless spectres of imminent harm and liability.

14. Proliferating laws have profound, far-reaching implications for our public spending choices. Bureaucracies, systems and organizations are generally expensive to set up, and they commit citizens both to significant initial and on-going budget allocations that are often not part of our public spending debates. It is very difficult to know or find out how much these regimes and structures cost since accounting can rarely be traced to tangible activities or benefits on the ground.

15. Moreover, well-intentioned laws and rules often lead to a critical shift in decision-making - away from our locally-based and accountable elected representatives to bureaucracies that are neither accessible nor accountable to the citizens who are “governed” by their decisions.

16. Bureaucracies tend naturally towards centralization and standardization—both of which are at odds with the inherent changing, adaptive character of diverse neighbourhood public spaces. See Ward 18 Wading Pools: Triumph of Technocracy over Reason (1) for one example.

A Bird's Eye View: When Lively Parks meet the Rules

Our list of findings
Setup: 18-Jun-2012 by Belinda Cole [1236]

• The rules that govern our local parks are buried in over 1000 pages of laws and other "rules" that most of us know nothing about. Why are we ruled by so many unknown rules? What does this choice of governance cost us?

-- Details --
Sorted by: ·custom order· (if any), title (asc). Page 1 of 1 (items 1-17 of 17)

CELOS's submission to the Minister on the City of Toronto Act

Description: CELOS submitted a 1) review of the City of Toronto Act, and 2) proposed changes to the law during a 2009 review of the Act.

Part of: A Bird's Eye View: When Lively Parks meet the Rules

Date: 17-Aug-2012 [5691]

Centralized spending decisions

Description: When we create bureaucracies to run our public amenities, decision-making and public spending are generally centralized - and very hard to track. Is this the type of governance we want?

Part of: A Bird's Eye View: When Lively Parks meet the Rules The Cost of Bureaucracy The Cost of Laws and policies

Date: 05-Sep-2012 [6018]

Closing down the wading pools on a hot July day

Description: Minister Deb Matthew's Health ministry staff thought they had the power to make rules about wading pools. Staff was wrong - and their unauthorized rules closed down wading pools early. Parents and caregivers made it clear they want their pools open

Part of: A Bird's Eye View: When Lively Parks meet the Rules Regulatory View: Wading Pools

Date: 01-Oct-2011 No authority behind the rules...... direct link (ClosingDownTheWadingPoolsCorrespondence.pdf) [671]

Democracy Index - Samara  how is democracy actually working in Canada?....

Description: Samara's democracy index considers the broad qualities and concepts that are important in a democracy, and then proposes the further, key step of developing specific, quantifiable indicators to measure the success of each of these concepts.

Part of: A Bird's Eye View: When Lively Parks meet the Rules

Date: 11-Jul-2012 [1543]

Invisible Park laws and other rules

Description: Who could have imagined that making small improvements in our local park would lead to frequent collisions with so many unseen "rules" - contained in over 1000 pages of provincial laws and regulations, city by-laws, guidelines and policies...?

Part of: A Bird's Eye View: When Lively Parks meet the Rules Notebooks: Laws and Regulations

Date: 06-Jun-2012 By: Belinda Cole [1220]

Policy making-principles  Questions: A community might......

Description: Here are some questions we might want to ask when we consider how existing or proposed new laws or policies affect our local parks and public commons.

Part of: A Bird's Eye View: When Lively Parks meet the Rules Notebooks: Laws and Regulations Policy Theory

Date: 17-Sep-2010 By: Belinda Cole [317]

Regulatory View: Wading Pools

Description: We have reviewed 7 laws, policies and guidelines that effect wading pools. That's a lot to consider.

Part of: A Bird's Eye View: When Lively Parks meet the Rules HIDDEN Policies Wading Pools & Splash Pads

Date: 23-Oct-2011 By: Belinda Cole [762]

Respectful, courteous rules

Description: When rules are made, what information do we want to have or need to know? How do we want to be spoken to? What is the process if we want to ask questions and discuss how the rules work in our local public spaces?

Part of: A Bird's Eye View: When Lively Parks meet the Rules Notebooks: Laws and Regulations

Date: 08-May-2012 [1165]

Staff Report: Public Health Engineers Advocacy  February 2011

Description: This report states that: "expensive and very complicated engineering designs are required to protect public health,..." What are the effects of industry advocacy - on democratic decision-making and budgets?

Part of: A Bird's Eye View: When Lively Parks meet the Rules The Cost of Bureaucracy The Cost of Laws and policies Wading pool safety

Date: 25-Oct-2011 [773]

Threat to Stonegate Farmers' Market  ooops.... a mistake

Description: In October 2006, a public health inspector visited the Stonegate farmers market and told the market manager, farmers and other market vendors that they were not meeting the requirements for farmers markets. Turns out, he made a mistake.

Part of: A Bird's Eye View: When Lively Parks meet the Rules Farmers markets guidelines

Date: 28-May-2010 [280]

Ward 18 Wading Pools: Triumph of Technocracy over Reason (1)

Description: An initiative by a wading pool worker to set up a craft table for kids (while the pool was empty) is declared dangerous

Blog: Henrik Bechmann's Blog - Part of A Bird's Eye View: When Lively Parks meet the Rules User Guide: Wading Pools

Date: 18-Aug-2012 [5692]

Which bake oven policy would you prefer to read?

Description: A comparison of how the rules can be written - by people with experience in running our public amenities or by staff people with little or no knowledge of the spaces they wish to regulate. Which kind of rules do we want to see for our public spaces?

Part of: A Bird's Eye View: When Lively Parks meet the Rules

Date: 05-Sep-2012 [6022]

Who makes the rules?

Description: Who gets to make the rules for our public amenities? Why does it matter? Our elected officials must account to constituents for their decisions. What about government officials who make more and more decisions in our public commons?

Part of: A Bird's Eye View: When Lively Parks meet the Rules Notebooks: Laws and Regulations

Date: 17-Jun-2012 By: Belinda Cole [1229]

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