Pecha Kucha night brings ideas about sustainability

Their visions included a street market, affordable housing, and a vehicle co-op.

Residents who volunteered to prepare slideshows shared their ideas for a sustainable Jasper over the next 30 years with an audience of about 20 people at the Downstream Bar on Oct. 22. It was part of a Pecha Kucha night, in which presenters are asked to show 20 slides for 20 seconds each, and was organized by the Community Sustainability Plan’s working group, eight volunteers charged with collecting input from citizens regarding the town’s future.

The information in the night’s four presentations and ideas collected over the next year will combine to create a sustainability plan for the town of Jasper. 

“Those who participate will influence the direction of the plan,” said working group chairman Ron Hooper. The night’s format was selected to get people’s attention, he said. “We understand there’s cynicism. People say they’ve been through all sorts of planning processes, so we’re looking at a variety of techniques such as internet sites, blogs, interviews, in addition to the usual workshops.”  

Resident Mike Wesbrook took to the stage and addressed a number of topics including the town’s transient employees. “People view temporary workers as a necessary evil,” he said. “We all started off that way… We have some great support services but I think that needs to be addressed in the community as an important issue.”

Park warden Terry Winkler said he would like to see a pedestrian mall, a downtown street closed to vehicular traffic. “People would walk, they would linger, revenue would go up,” he said. “People would spend more time and money, there’s a whole flavour we’re missing.”

A pedestrian zone or street market was also suggested by co-presenters Lisa MacDonald, a local physiotherapist, and Bob Covey of the Community Action Team. 

The final presentation of the night was a video/slideshow combination created by high school student Graeme Kennedy and teacher Adam Robb, with input from other students as well. One issue they presented is the difficulty in teaching “sustainability to people that do not directly witness the downfalls of poor planning.”

“We propose re-sensitization – doing something to all residents, business owners and government to remind them just how awesome this place is,” read one slide. The presenters suggested addressing the way Jasper residents build, buy and “chuck” – or dispose of waste.

Robb said he was surprised at the chance to put his university thesis to use, which he wrote on the subject of sustainable tourism in mountain communities, after living in the Rockies for a few summers. “The kids said, ‘Why don’t we do this?’” he said. “They’re so clever, and I had fun with the ideas.” 

Audience member Gordon Ruddy said youth input is invaluable. “They are so with it, they’re thinking,” he said. “It’s awesome, they’re totally impassioned. Kids will be our salvation.” 

Working group member Debby O’Bryan, who took minutes during the presentations, said everyone’s input is important. “Our mandate is to take everything in,” she said. “We need young and old opinions, to get a sense of the community.”

Following the presentations, the floor was opened to questions from audience members and presenters. It was suggested that future sessions should involve more local students or be combined with local events such as Taste of the Town. There were also concerns that town councillors should attend, though Hooper said later that there was a scheduling conflict.

“A number of councillors and managers for Parks Canada were away and we were aware it was going to be difficult,” he said. “From my discussions members of council and the mayor are really aware to the extent possible that they should be there and they really tried.”

Mayor Richard Ireland confirmed that the councillors were out of town. “It was unfortunate,” he said. “It would have been nice to have some representation there, but on the other hand the working group will be reporting to us.”

The next community engagement session will take place Nov. 5 – a workshop to review the Jasper Community Vision and the sustainability principles that will be used to guide the plan.

The next Pecha Kucha is planned for Nov. 20, the location to be determined.