A year and a half since their first informal community roundtable meeting, members of Dundas Works, a community group that has been through several iterations, are excited about some achievements and hopeful about moving forward with some sort of action around a vision for the future of Dundas.
Bob James and Jim Sweetman said the group's most recent community gathering of approximately 40 people included a vote using a ranked ballot system to determine some priorities from that general vision developed through seven community roundtable meetings discussing local issues like future development, public spaces, and housing. They are in the process of tabulating the results.
"We want to move this to the next stage. We've got the vision — out of that should come some direction to move," James said.
Beyond the round tables, where each attendee has at least a few minutes to share their own thoughts on a topic helping develop the general vision, Dundas Works has also created a subgroup focused on local cycling called Dundas Rides and has helped organize a municipal election candidates meeting.
The group was originally called Parkside Works and supported an effort to keep Parkside Secondary School as Dundas's only high school. It evolved into Dundas Works to propose a two-campus Dundas high school solution. While that effort failed, it brought some residents together to discuss local democracy and how they may be able to better participate.
"We started talking ... what are the issues that matter to all of Dundas," James said. "What mistakes did we make and how can we prevent them from happening again?"
Sweetman said when he joined the group, he saw an appetite among residents to get together and discuss local issues and express what they hoped to see in a Dundas of the near future.
"We want to be more proactive, educate ourselves, prepare ourselves so we're not reactive," Sweetman said.
They agreed they want to be positive and, rather than just opposing things, they want to be able to propose alternatives.
In addition to calculating the results of its vote on priorities, Dundas Works hopes to contribute to the city of Hamilton's upcoming creation of a Secondary Plan for the Downtown Dundas planning node.
A year and a half since their first informal community roundtable meeting, members of Dundas Works, a community group that has been through several iterations, are excited about some achievements and hopeful about moving forward with some sort of action around a vision for the future of Dundas.
Bob James and Jim Sweetman said the group's most recent community gathering of approximately 40 people included a vote using a ranked ballot system to determine some priorities from that general vision developed through seven community roundtable meetings discussing local issues like future development, public spaces, and housing. They are in the process of tabulating the results.
"We want to move this to the next stage. We've got the vision — out of that should come some direction to move," James said.
Beyond the round tables, where each attendee has at least a few minutes to share their own thoughts on a topic helping develop the general vision, Dundas Works has also created a subgroup focused on local cycling called Dundas Rides and has helped organize a municipal election candidates meeting.
The group was originally called Parkside Works and supported an effort to keep Parkside Secondary School as Dundas's only high school. It evolved into Dundas Works to propose a two-campus Dundas high school solution. While that effort failed, it brought some residents together to discuss local democracy and how they may be able to better participate.
"We started talking ... what are the issues that matter to all of Dundas," James said. "What mistakes did we make and how can we prevent them from happening again?"
Sweetman said when he joined the group, he saw an appetite among residents to get together and discuss local issues and express what they hoped to see in a Dundas of the near future.
"We want to be more proactive, educate ourselves, prepare ourselves so we're not reactive," Sweetman said.
They agreed they want to be positive and, rather than just opposing things, they want to be able to propose alternatives.
In addition to calculating the results of its vote on priorities, Dundas Works hopes to contribute to the city of Hamilton's upcoming creation of a Secondary Plan for the Downtown Dundas planning node.
A year and a half since their first informal community roundtable meeting, members of Dundas Works, a community group that has been through several iterations, are excited about some achievements and hopeful about moving forward with some sort of action around a vision for the future of Dundas.
Bob James and Jim Sweetman said the group's most recent community gathering of approximately 40 people included a vote using a ranked ballot system to determine some priorities from that general vision developed through seven community roundtable meetings discussing local issues like future development, public spaces, and housing. They are in the process of tabulating the results.
"We want to move this to the next stage. We've got the vision — out of that should come some direction to move," James said.
Beyond the round tables, where each attendee has at least a few minutes to share their own thoughts on a topic helping develop the general vision, Dundas Works has also created a subgroup focused on local cycling called Dundas Rides and has helped organize a municipal election candidates meeting.
The group was originally called Parkside Works and supported an effort to keep Parkside Secondary School as Dundas's only high school. It evolved into Dundas Works to propose a two-campus Dundas high school solution. While that effort failed, it brought some residents together to discuss local democracy and how they may be able to better participate.
"We started talking ... what are the issues that matter to all of Dundas," James said. "What mistakes did we make and how can we prevent them from happening again?"
Sweetman said when he joined the group, he saw an appetite among residents to get together and discuss local issues and express what they hoped to see in a Dundas of the near future.
"We want to be more proactive, educate ourselves, prepare ourselves so we're not reactive," Sweetman said.
They agreed they want to be positive and, rather than just opposing things, they want to be able to propose alternatives.
In addition to calculating the results of its vote on priorities, Dundas Works hopes to contribute to the city of Hamilton's upcoming creation of a Secondary Plan for the Downtown Dundas planning node.