The following is in response to the situation with regards to the decision that town council must make regarding the purchase of the existing health-care facility at the south end of town and its future use.

A healthy town requires more than just an adequate number of health-care providers. It requires an active downtown that services the community and encourages opportunities for merchants and entrepreneurs. The town hall and its inter-activity with its constituents play a major role in the success and health of a community. The purpose of the town hall is to serve the community, encourage participation and the physical presence of the structure itself is an opportunity to show the world who and what we are.

The weakness of the community government is due in part to the kinds of policies created and maintained by the city hall bureaucracy. I believe this situation is largely supported and bolstered by the physical nature and location of the town hall. In other words, the physical existence of a town hall can undermine local community government, even where the town hall staff is sympathetic to neighbourhood participation. One might take a moment of silence for Bracebridge, which had its town hall relocated out of town to the east side of Hwy. 11.

The key to the problem lies in the experience of powerlessness at the community level. The process of going to town hall to take action on a neighbourhood or community issue can be intimidating and confusing, leading the people in the neighbourhoods to feel more and more remote from town hall, from the centre of decision-making and from the decisions themselves which influence their lives. Quickly, the syndrome of powerlessness grows.

If town halls are to be successful in drawing people in and encouraging participation, the question of their location must be taken seriously. Early studies show that poorly located town halls can die, 20 times as many people drop into community centres when they are located near major intersections than when buried in the middle of residential blocks. The local town hall will not be an honest part of the community unless it is itself surrounded by all kinds of small community activities and projects generated by the people for themselves, such as shops, cafes, etc.

The town hall must be highly visible. It must be built in a way which allows any group to get their ideas across to the community. And, it must be physically organized to undermine the natural tendency town governments have to wall themselves in and isolate themselves from the community once they are in power. The town hall is the heart and nerve centre of a community. You can’t put the heart where the ankle is. The crown jewel belongs front and centre.

With regards to the requirements of our doctors, the existing health-care building on the south end of town should serve as the family health team facility which should include the doctors, clinic, nurse practitioners, social workers, etc. This just seems to make sense.

This would save the expense of servicing and building a new facility for the doctors, save us probably half a million dollars in renovation costs for use as a town hall with a council chamber and at the same time freeing the town to seriously consider the options for possibly a new town hall that services the community in a meaningful way. This is an opportunity for us to lead the way in Muskoka and the province with a state-of-the-art LEED building emphasizing sustainability and low energy costs. This could be our legacy to serve the future of our community.

David Dawson

Gravenhurst