Hello once again, my dear Red Deerians. I am writing this on the hottest day of the year so far, July 10. I trust your summer is going well and that you’re able to visit family and friends as well as enjoy some time away.
I just concluded my sixth and final “State of the City Address” for 2024. Each year, the Mayor gets an invitation to deliver a high-level review of the year past and what the current and future years might hold. Since my election, I have been privileged to respond to the invitation, three times in 2022, four times in 2023 and now six times in 2024. We are becoming more connected to each other, I believe, and we are far more curious about the great city we call home. I introduced every presentation this year with the words “Whose city is it, anyway?” And isn’t it so obvious that depending on our perspective, our experiences, our age, our stage of life, our occupation, even our neighborhoods, that we encounter the city in different ways, each to our own lens.
My presentation at the Golden Circle Seniors Resource Centre was received and perceived differently than the Red Deer and District Chamber of Commerce, or the RCMP Veterans’ Association and yet they were the very same address! It’s all about perception shaped by our experience, and current situation. We all understand this or certainly have a sense of our own and others realities.
When I ran for public office in 2013, I came to realize that a Councillor is a Councillor for all citizens not just those who voted for me. That realization is even greater now that I am Mayor. All citizens, new or long-term, younger or old, multicultural, multifaith, all expect and deserve the best efforts of their Mayor.
It’s an expectation I embrace from a love of the city that has given so much to my family and I these past 28 years. I am also so energized by the people I encounter: the community builders, the volunteers, the tireless acts of dedication and service, the agencies, the business community, the faith community, those serving our most vulnerable, those providing care for seniors care for the disabled, care for newcomers. People care. People serve. The privilege to serve alongside them, let alone be their Mayor is never lost on me.
Like a family, we have the bond that links us and that is a love of the city we build today, to give to the next generation of Red Deerians.
Just as a family has disputes, disagreements, and divisions from time to time, so do we. I’m often involved in them, which should come as no surprise. In general people say, “Mayor, you need to do something about “this issue” or “Mayor, those people are…” (insert word) greedy, lazy, conspiring, evil, untrustworthy, shallow, hypocritical and so it goes. These disputes, the “us versus them” issues, are a result of not understanding each others perspective or not being willing to listen. They are then magnified by our own sense of what is the right way, the only way, to solve problems.
There’s a wonderful idiom we would do well to remember: Put yourself (or walk a mile) in someone else’s shoes. If we dedicate ourselves to this, our empathy and understanding will increase. We will avoid judgment. Compassion and tolerance will take root in us. We will see our own experiences may not be the same as others, and that’s OK. We’ll become far more open minded, enabling us to look beyond our own bias and perceptions.
“Whose city is it, anyway?” It’s all our city, of course. And think of how much more we could build it up and each other up by being willing to work on ourselves and our issues through a different lens.
Take care, my most dear Red Deerians. Introduce yourself to someone new today. Be kind to yourself and embrace the differences we bring to this most beautiful city.
Until next time,
Mayor Ken Johnston