Heather King at South Delta's Artist's Guild show: Day 31

The night was busy. The strategy meeting was brief and to the point, as Heather wanted to attend the opening of the South Delta Artist’s Guild show “Oil & Water”.  Check it out at the Longhouse Gallery until August 28. http://southdeltaartistsguild.com/.

Heather is an artist herself, so she was very keen to find out how Delta Council could further support artists. 

Apologies: I am new at this pavarazzi gig. I didn’t think to bring my new fancy camera to the meeting.  I would like to post some of Heather’s art work on the blog. She is quite talented and, more importantly, she bashfully agreed to my relentless request to display her work. 

Note: I am relentlessly waiting for the $5 million donation to purchase “A-mazing Laughter” for Centennial Beach – if you know of someone who could write the cheque, please let  me know!  (see blog July 7^th – Day 9)

Strategy meeting:

Heather wants to continue meeting with groups of Deltonians. She wants to listen to their concerns and needs, so that they can get proper representation at city Hall. She wants their voices to be heard.

A good quote from the evening, “Leaders lead the conversation with questions”.

How can a KING serve, if the KING doesn’t know what Delta wants?  

KING is asking questions: she has been meeting with individuals and groups (farmers, business owners, sports groups, artists, federal leaders, provincial leaders, service clubs and organizations, non-profits, seniors…). She wants to know what they need.

For example the Delta Seniors Community Planning Team presented a paper stating their concerns for Delta’s seniors. Demographically speaking, our senior population is growing and they want Delta to be an “Age-friendly” community. Their three areas of concern are: support services, housing, and transportation. Armed with this information, Heather is continuing to meet with: groups of seniors, organizations that supply services to seniors, and housing and transportation specialists. She is doing research to fully comprehend the magnitude of the seniors and seniors-to-be needs.

Change for Delta:

Her vision for change encompasses two major components:

A) The Mayor, Delta’s Civic Leader,  must be engaging and easily accessible 

     Heather genuinely wants to know, “How can a KING serve you”.  She is accessible,
     if you want to talk to Heather about a concern, contact her by phone, email, facebook,
     twitter or her website. Her contact info is at the top of the blog.

     She wants to set the tone for the change; ask questions to discover what WE want.

B) She wants to change how business is being done at City Hall. The current
     process needs to be overhauled, so that business can be conducted more
     effectively at City Hall.

     The two major overhauls are:

                1^st) City Hall needs to be more Delta Citizen-friendly and

              

                2^nd) City Hall needs to be inclusive, not exclusive.

                       Heather's leadership style is inclusive. Presently, City hall is exclusive. 

                       Exclusivity doesn't work! It's time to change.

                       The old-boys “slate” mentality has to be replaced: every councilor,
                       regardless of independent or “slate”must have a voice that is heard
                       on council. Grow up Delta: it’s time for everyone to put on their
                      "big boy and girl pants”, play nice, and become an inclusive group
                      of elected officials, who are committed to working together to get
                      things done for Delta and her citizens!  Simple!

                      Heather is the one to lead that change.

Barb_2U’s note:  Personally, I haven’t figured out how Delta politicians can consider themselves to be running as independents, when they are running with several others on a “slate of  “like-minded” independents called the Delta Independent Voters Association.” 

(Honest I didn’t make that quote up, crazy as it seems, it’s from page A1 Delta Optimist – Friday, July 29, 2011 read it here http://bit.ly/nwrgsT) 

Am I  the only one who thinks that it's odd to have independents running together on a slate? I think reading between the lines, Bruce McDonald sees a bit of the irony. In the same article he states, "I'm in the game. I'm going to run as an independent and I think I'll run alone. I enjoy being an independent and not having to make a decision other than what I want to do."

                                                                                                                

Tell the KING!