Pick your fights

I’m in North Fitzroy on a cold Saturday morning. My companion is hunting for organic this and free-range that, and I’m tucked into a little nook outside Wild Things, browsing through the noticeboard. Yoga classes, baby sitters, life coaching. Yup, I’m in North Fitzroy. Here’s a post-partum doula to lend a helping hand as you bond with your new-born and hold down your job and squeeze in the singing lessons. And there, right at the top –

PIEDIMONTES

have ignored your concerns about height

IT’S STILL TOO BIG!

Seven stories sure looks a lot bigger than two, but when a city goes from 5 to 9 million in 30 years, expect a lot more of this. And when a planet puts more heat into its climate systems, expect disruption to regular business. Things we’ve take for granted will require a rethink. 

But pick your fights. Last week, I was invited to facilitate discussion between residents in Lancefield. They’re concerned about the way their town is developing. Recent Development Planning Overlays (DPOs) from the Shire are red flags, they said. Higher density isn’t in the right place. Community submissions on a draft DPO made no difference. Unlike Riddells, there isn’t a Structure Plan for the town, but the Shire’s Settlement Strategy allows for growth from under 2,000 to 6,000 by 2030.

We sat there and talked over it, and around it, and over it again, until we settled on this: if the Shire isn’t doing planning for Lancefield’s future, then those who care about the town had better get started. Where should higher density go? Where should facilities for 6,000 people be placed? How will people move around, by car, bike and on foot?

Influencing planning decisions requires sustained effort. ‘Power never concedes anything without a demand. It never did and it never will.’ Frederic Douglass nailed that in 1857.[1] Resistance to business-as-usual is needed, but marching down Main Road with placards is just part of what’s needed. Fighting only suits some people. If you want to make a contribution, get serious:

Pick the issue that’s close to your heart. Be ready to make time in your already busy life to run with it. Make sure it’s something where you can get out of your depth and enjoy it. Be ready to learn.

Find a crew. You will need companions. Be ready to work with interesting, passionate people who will change your life. Go looking for like-minded people, and invite them to join you. Expect to learn a lot about yourself and those you work with.

Choose what you do. What’s your talent and expertise? What do you want to do that you haven’t ever done before? This issue is going to move into your life, so welcome it and make it an adventure.

Let’s say your passion is connectivity – a town where it’s easy to get around by car, on foot, by bicycle, on a scooter, pushing a pram. There’s the expertise needed, but there’s also organising, education, publicity and advocacy. 

If you’re a fighter by nature, then you’re the right person for advocacy. But that might not be you. 

How will people absorb the technical detail, talk, meet others and encounter their differing views around that issue. That’s education. 

How do you get that issue out to more people, grab their interest, address their reservations? That’s publicity. 

Who’s going to set the timelines, arrange the venues, get the flyers printed, make sure the invited speaker is well briefed? That’s organising.

This about the world we’re creating, but it’s your life too. Make it work for you.

Ross Colliver, Riddells Creek Landcare. For environmental questions on the Amess Road development, see                             

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[1] The full quote: ‘Power never concedes anything without a demand. It never did and it never will. Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have found out the exact measure of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them, and these will continue till they are resisted with either words or blows, or with both. The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress.’