the 270 » Bar Camp http://the270.com a Columbus blog Mon, 09 Apr 2012 04:58:01 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 Columbus government needs to take a cue from Australia http://the270.com a Columbus blog Mon, 09 Apr 2012 04:58:01 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 the 270 » Bar Camp http://the270.com a Columbus blog Mon, 09 Apr 2012 04:58:01 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 Columbus government needs to take a cue from Australia http://the270.com/2008/04/30/columbus-government-needs-to-take-a-cue-from-australia/ http://the270.com/2008/04/30/columbus-government-needs-to-take-a-cue-from-australia/#comments Wed, 30 Apr 2008 22:22:20 +0000 wyliemac http://the270.com/?p=532 Continue reading →]]> David at ColumbusING says this in his post about the Streetcar meeting:
We actually had to bust out early as the Agenda was set up so that in order to hear from the residents of this city, we first had to spend an hour going through same (politically-sleep-inducing) diatribe that we had to sit through a month or so ago… we just couldn’t do it.
Which of course is done purposely to limit comments from the rif raff. Which is us, the common citizen. Which led me to think (with the help of twitter friend @jkerstevens) that Columbus politicians REALLY need to engage with the rif raff. Justin recently wrote a blog post called How to change a country in 12 years? Have a barcamp. His post described the Australia 2020 Summit. Here's how he described it: The similarities to a barcamp, even with 1,000 people in attendance, were pretty significant. Participants were equipped with white boards, sticky notes and some even sat on the floor in the more popular sessions, like Australia’s Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, in the session on the Australian economy. Kevin Rudd said the purpose of the summit was:
‘…to do something new. Today we are throwing open the windows of our democracy, to let a little bit of fresh air in. Rather than pretending that we, the politicians of Australia have all the answers, and the truth is, we don’t, we are turning now to you, the people of Australia.’
The event started on Saturday and was broken into 10 separate sessions on the Australian economy, sustainability and climate change, rural change, health, communities and family, indigenous Australia, creative Australia, governance, productivity and Australia’s future in the world. Each working group was asked, by the Prime Minister, to deliver the following:
‘…First, to nominate at least one ‘big idea’ in their area for the future. Second … submit at least three, and I am sure there will be more, concrete policy ideas, at least one of which is to involve no cost or negligible cost… Third … identify at least three specific goals for which we should aim by 2020.’
As with most large gatherings there remains a degree of scepticism that the goals will be achieved. But, there is also a degree of hope. In 48 hours 1,000 Australians came together to suggest Australia should, amongst other things, open up schools 24/7 for ‘after school care; develop a bionic eye; lead the world in creating a green and sustainable economy (less than 12 months ago Australia hadn’t signed the Kyoto agreement); encourage retirees to act as workplace mentors; provide rural-city student exchanges; provide universal first aid training and digitally archive Australia’s art collections. Oh, and that republic thing seems to be on the agenda again. That's pretty cool. Columbus and Central Ohio politicians should definitely look into doing something like this. I'll be more than happy to help organize this. Hazy Stars, you in? How about you Walker?]]> http://the270.com/2008/04/30/columbus-government-needs-to-take-a-cue-from-australia/feed/ 1