Welcome

Hi. This is Mike Gismondi talking here from Athabasca , your town councillor for 8 years.

It's been rewarding, but I find that many aspects of the local issues we discuss never get out to the public.

I felt that I needed a place to share my ideas. So I asked the town to allow councillors to have web pages.
The motion passed and here you go.

Why a web page or blog of my ideas?
Usually the issues we deal with at council are complex. Most often, however, that complexity is not captured in the stories reported in the local weekly paper. Other times, we are are delightfully misquoted. Most times, issues are framed in simple ways that can mislead the reader, making complex issues into black and white or two sided questions,
and doing so in ways that can divide the community.

So, on these web pages I hope to share some of the fullness of local issues with local readers.
In the process. I will share my views on where the town is being pushed by local and global forces that swirl around any little town in northern Alberta;
Highlight some facts about the town - our socology, economics, policies, finances etc.;
And, now and then, post my views on some directions that the community could take towards sustainability and resilience.

I don't claim to know all the answers, but I am thinking about questions that I believe we ignore at our peril. Many of these questions, especially those about sustainability, are the questions of the age.

Hopefully by working together we can build a sustainable future.

Regards
MikeG