City Hall
We hope to use this page to provide an ongoing perspective on city governance. We acknowledge that we are not unbiased, but we believe our contribution will be valuable. We’re building a list of specific concerns at the bottom of this page.
If you have news, ideas for the page, suggestions, criticisms, or other comments, please contact us through the form at the bottom of this page.
If you have thoughts you would like to share with an individual councillor, use this link.
To send an email to all councillors, go here.
If you’d like to join the discussion, use the comments box in the posts below.
RECENT POSTS
Loreena McKennitt on Stratford’s new CAO
With the retirement of Joan Thompson, the City of Stratford is looking for a new CAO. This is not just another boring administrative detail, but an extremely important step for us, as Loreena McKennitt made clear in a recent presentation to Council. The CAO...
Securing our digital future
This is a very geeky post, written for fellow activists responsible for the data their organization collects. For those who are just interested in whether the U.S. government is peeking in to their personal affairs, here's a short summary of what we learned for this...
Mike Sullivan’s talk at The Stratford Rotary Club
"We hope this is a blip,and not a trend to more secrecy." Last month Mike Sullivan spoke at the Stratford Rotary Club on Get Concerned Stratford's role in the 2020 Glass Factory issue. Club member Rheo Thompson obtained a copy of the book, ‘A Winning Campaign’,...
Americans! Having a little trouble with your government??
When we are down and things look dark, Canadians often think of the words of our national guru, Red Green. Always a wise councillor, he advised, “If the women don’t find ya handsome, they should at least find ya handy.” We have all memorized these words, and we know...
Navigating new media
This page is really a draft. We have started working on it to help with questions we've been receiving on how to wade through the increasing noise of today's media. We hope you'll have your own favourites to add in the comments. Let's dig in together, and make a...
Franz Hartman speaks at another successful Climate Momentum mixer
I apologize for not presenting all the questions and comments at the end of Wednesday's Climate Momentum talk posted below. There were female speakers, but unfortunately they were at the back, and I couldn't capture their questions from my position at the front....
We have decided to take legal action
You no doubt remember the huge kerfuffle last spring over our alleged violation of the City’s new Respectful Workplace Policy. Our spokesperson, Mike Sullivan, was denied access to City buildings for three months for his deputations on February 26, 2024 to Council,...
Krug Factory development: A question of respect
Let’s start out by saying that there are many good things about the Krug project. It brings badly needed density to our city, preserves a historic building, and will help rejuvenate the downtown. The neighbours are not against the project, but they have some major...
Some people think I should be quiet about this
This is a small matter, but it brings a close focus on what is wrong at City Hall. Here’s my story: I joined the Energy and Environment Advisory Committee nearly two years ago. I applied because I wanted to show that climate activists can be helpful to the...
A LONG TIME COMING
Mike Sullivan's delegation on the new Closed Meetings Protocol see transcript: Our City maintains its integrity by being very careful to follow our bylaws and procedures; sometimes rules are broken, and action must be taken to be sure errors are not repeated. Many...