Robert Paterson's Weblog

Queen Street Commons Open House Tonight 4pm - 7.30pm

See you there at 224 Queen Street

Queen Street Commons - Looking Great

We are having are open house next week 4 - 7 Thursday 29th to show you the renovations.

A Party at the Queen Street Commons

Community development is not easy. If you want to get more connected to others who share your passion please consider making a spot for next Friday.

David "Lobie" Daughton will be hosting a party for Rupert Downing who is the ED of the Canadian Community Economic Development Network next Friday 16th at 5.30 pm at the QSC 224 Queen Street - just next to the parking garage.

Rupert is also co-chair of the Social Economy Research Hub at UVic.

Here is a short bio:

Rupert Downing is Executive Director of the Canadian CED Network. Under Mr. Downing’s leadership the Network has grown to involve over 10,000 communities, organizations and institutions across Canada, representing a major national voice on the potential for community-driven approaches to Canada’s challenges.

Prior to joining the Network, Mr. Downing directed the Government of British Columbia’s responses to the economic revitalization needs of rural, urban, coastal and resource-dependent communities and regions. He led provincial initiatives with Federal, First Nations and Voluntary Sector partners to build partnership approaches to community development, including the successful Columbia Basin Act that revitalized regions impacted by flooding from hydro projects.

Mr. Downing has also been an international leader in the development of responses to homelessness, rural decline, and urban poverty, working with government, business and community partners in Canada, the US, England, Europe, Latin American and the Caribbean. He led government and community responses to urban issues in London, England during the 1980s leading to the creation of community economic development initiatives that have since won European Union awards for their outcomes. In the 1990s he led changes to the Municipal Act in British Columbia that introduced social planning as a key component of the development process.

He is currently the co-director of Canada’s national research program on the social economy, supported by the Social Science and Humanities Research Council, involving universities and communities in every province and territory. He is also Canada’s representative to the International Network on Community and Local Economic Development which is based in Lima, Peru and involves nations throughout the Americas.

Mr. Downing lives with his wife, Christine, in Victoria, British Columbia, and enjoys spending time with his two daughters and three grandchildren.

The Queen Street Commons Reno is finished

The great DIY Landlords at silverorange have finished the huge reno at the Queen Street Commons. I am a rotten photographer and was using my cell phone - bad tool and no skill - but I hope that you can see what they have been doing. The good pics were taken by Tom Purves and Cynthia Dunsford.

Here is the new kitchen - alongside of it will be the "coffee shop" with benches and tables. It is already becoming the place where we hang out - the coffee is an excuse for a gossip.

Here is the workroom in the back of the building - it has four spaces and then on the other wall are 3 carels - giving work space for 7.

Here is the other workspace next to the board room

Of course there is wifi and a cable connection plus a printer, VOIP phone for all members.

Here is Jevon visiting in the summer in the Boardroom that can be booked by any member.

This is the lounge at the entrance of the building.

We will be having an open house in the next few weeks to show off the new QSC - I will post more nfo then

Trusted Space - de Toqueville

Harold Jarche and I have been talking today about the idea of the Commons. He quotes on hs blog John McKnight talking about de Toqueville's view of how America was exceptionally different from Europe.

Here is Harold's quote from McKnight - Does it not inform you as to the meaning of what a Trusted Space was and could be again? Does this not support the emerging idea that Public Radio can help Americans return home?

"The book, Democracy in America, is, I think, the most useful book I know to help understand who we are. And he says, if I can summarize him in a rather gross form, that he came here and he found a society whose definitions and solutions were not created by nobility, by professionals, by experts or managers, but by what he identified as little groups of people, self-appointed, common men and women who came together and took three powers: the power to decide there was a problem, the power to decide how to solve the problem - that is, the expert’s power - and then the power to solve the problem.

These little groups of people weren’t elected and they weren’t appointed and they were everyplace, and they were, he said, the heart of the new society - they were the American community as distinct from the European community.

And he named these little groups “associations”. Association is the collective for citizens, an association of citizens.

And so we think of our community as being the social space in which citizens in association do the work of problem-solving, celebration, consolation, and creation - that community, that space, in contrast to the space of the system with the box at the top and lots of little boxes at the bottom.

And I think it is still the case that the hope for our time is in those associations."

Queen Street Commons - Welcome summer visitors

Cyn gave us an update on the Queen Street Commons last week.

One of the things I am enjoying this summer is meeting our summer visitors at the Commons such asw Will and Jevon. I write this in Toronto where I am in a coffee shop while I stay with my sister Diana. So where can you go on PEI?

If you are visiting PEI this summer and need to work or get away for a bit think about us.

It costs visitors $50 a month - residents $35.

You contact The Commons by emailing   info@queenstreetcommons.org or by calling (902) 367-3547 and leaving a message. The message will be converted to an MP3 file and emailed to the email address above which goes to Cynthia, Dan, Rob and Nate (the co-foundres of the QSC). Cynthia will contact you and set up a tour or sign you up at your next convenience.

As a member you have access to The Commons 24/7. This includes work space; your own phone extension with the same emailing feature mentioned above; a PO Box, photocopier/printer/fax; a boardroom you can book online; a kitchen with a fridge, microwave, coffeemaker; 2 bathrooms (1 with a shower); a BBQ; phones; digital projector and screen for presentations or movie watching with your friends.

technorati tags:Queen Street Commons, PEI, Summer Vacation

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MMPR - The Debate at Queen Street Commons

I was going to attempt to describe last night's excellent debate but found that Alex had been so thorough that I had to link you to his instead. He not only reviews the discussion but he includes everything you might want to know about about how MMPR works.

Queen Street Commons Members Meeting

There will be a members meeting next Tuesday Nov 1st 4-6pm. Beer and Pizza will be served

Our agenda?

What is going on
What would you like to do
Where we will go

See you there
Rob