Local stories hard to cover

One difficulty being a journalist in a small town or even a small valley, such as the one where I live, is that occasionally I bump into stories about neighbours. I don’t personally know the people whom I interviewed for my column on small business in The Chronicle Herald this week, but in searching out a “good news” story in a neighbouring town I was told repeatedly of struggles as well as opportunities. I have duly noted both in my monthly column, which I regret may ruffle some feathers in my neighbouring town. So to my neighbours there: please look to the good news conveyed in the story and look upon the rest as the stuff of life – a human dilemma unique to no one and no place.

Postcard view of Granville Ferry from Annapolis Royal, circa 1900

Missing in print

Readers of this blog who care about the connection between local resources, local development and local democracy may have read my June 10 weekly column in The Chronicle Herald on the subject of generating power in the community, for the community.

I wrote in my original column:

“Public attention right now is fixed on the cost of power that is distributed through a provincial monopoly. The simplest and easiest way to avoid these costs is to generate alternative energy sources at the point they are needed.” That is, on-site, off-grid energy sources that can help us break our dependence on a monopolized, expensive, centrally operated power system.

But the key clause – “at the point they are needed” – was missing in the published version of the column.

Some readers inferred that I was promoting community-dividing, as-of-right, big-wind developments that sell power to the utility. That was not my point. My intent was to draw attention to the potential for municipalities to be proactive, through planning, regulation and investment, to set their own goals for energy self-sufficiency, tailor-made for their residents and local industry.

Antigonish revisited

Stamped in history: Father Moses Coady of the Antigonish Movement │ Library and Archives Canada │ Copyright Canada Post Corporation.

Blogging here yesterday on the subject of  “co-creating our communities and local economies,” Mike Targett of TARGETT Design in Cape Breton reasons why “collaborative local politics” presents an alternative to “the false choice between rescue from government and rescue from big industry.”

“Instead,” he suggests, “we need our leaders to be inspired by a constructive alternative vision, like the kind Fr Jimmy Tompkins and Fr Moses Coady sought to establish during the Antigonish Movement. Whatever shape it takes, collaborative community-based leadership requires of us that we educate ourselves and organize ourselves.”

Targett concludes his timely post with a plug for the principle of subsidiarity. In this case, that means all three levels of government work together for the common good, but the community “leads in determining its future.”

Small town blues

Crossing the Annapolis River from the south: Bridgetown on a winter’s day │ Photo: © 2012 Rachel Brighton

Depressed housing prices can sometimes be a good thing. Follow this link to my Sunday column in The Chronicle Herald newspaper about a young couple with kids in Toronto who want to “town-size” to Bridgetown, Nova Scotia, then watch the video here to see what they saw.

The complete four-part video series can be seen here. Thanks to the Town of Bridgetown for producing these videos and to the folks who took part in sharing their experiences.