A vision for Yellowknife

By Tim Querengesser

I've just returned from a live radio panel on the CBC. I was on air discussing Yellowknife's upcoming municipal election. As anyone who's done live radio will understand, I didn't get to say most of what I'd hoped to say. So, after reading Richard Florida and Spacing magazine, and pondering a Yellowknife of the future for an evening, I've decided to put my notes somewhere for people to read, disagree or agree with and to comment on.

I was asked to ponder if Yellowknife mayoral and council candidates have a vision for the city, and if not, what sort of vision I'd like to see. Here's what I had in my notes.

Yellowknife needs a long-term vision. Big time. It needs a leader who can dream big and inspire people to join their vision and plant their lives here. Without it, people will move here with the booms and leave during the busts.

To achieve this, the mayor and city council should:

Embrace new ideas: Credibility in Yellowknife politics is often built through the length of time you've been here rather than your ideas. That's a problem. Consider that we have one of the youngest, most highly-educated demographic profiles of any city in Canada but an incumbent mayor in his 60s and only four of 16 council candidates younger than 40. Hmm.

Build the infrastructure of citizenship: Why does everyone love Folk on the Rocks? Other than the music, I think it's because it allows us to be Yellowknifers, together. We need more of that. The city should support cultural groups and organizations that are already struggling to make the city more entertaining, livable and recreational, despite the lack of support. How to improve? Build an arts facility that amateurs can afford (ever tried to rent NACC?) to host their events, from indie film premiers to comedy nights to photography exhibits. Further, embrace culture and lifestyle as ways to make Yellowknife a destination city. I'll come here for the work opportunities, sure, but I'll stay for the lifestyle and the sense of community.

Aspire to more: Dreaming big can sometimes lead to big things. Tromso, Norway, at 69 degrees north, has added 30,000 residents since the 1960s not through industrial development but through the soft stuff: they built a university, they marketed their quality of life and recreation, they concentrated on creating a more beautiful city. People move to places for that nowadays. Can we imagine a Yellowknife where people choose to live here but, say, commute to work somewhere in the south? At the moment the inverse is often true. Over in Whitehorse, it isn't. That needs to change.

Mix everyone together: Ever wondered why everyone in one of Canada's most walkable cities feels they need to own a car? We work downtown yet most of us live in suburban areas where there aren't any shops or other services. Many of these areas are homogeneous rather than mixed. Renters live in ghettos while homeowners live in relative splendor. Planning is at the root of a livable, enjoyable city. The cities most cite as great all share common things: they're walkable, they integrate residential space with coffee shops and bookstores and grocery stores, and they stay open. I live downtown and at night, it's my little kingdom: no one's there. How can you have life downtown if the lights go out at 6 p.m.? How can you convince people to come? Culture. Life.

Build a sense of ownership: Living downtown and loving all the benefits that brings, I'm tired of people complaining about how unsafe it is. It's only perceived this way because nobody comes downtown after they leave their office and drive home. Anywhere there are empty streets there will be a feeling of insecurity. On top of people coming to a vibrant downtown after work, we need civically minded people to take their city and improve it. Don't like downtown? Do something to help the people you'd like off the streets. A city of so many civil servants shouldn't struggle with such a concept so much.