This was perhaps his only opportunity to address the electorate in a debate for the 2010 municipal election. His competitors for councillor in the ward were in the public hall in person. But municipal candidate Joe Amarelo could not be present. A family emergency had forced him to miss the event. He did, nevertheless, have an impact on the meeting. A statement he’d written was read.
“I see unresolved issues in our town, including vandalism,” Amarelo’s statement read. “It’s important to … create a dialogue. Why not have a Youth Day?”
As the moderator of the evening, I have to say Joe’s idea stopped me in my tracks. During the election meetings I have chaired this fall, the subjects of youth crime and vandalism have emerged several times.
And in fairness, each time it has, the candidates at all levels of the electoral process have earnestly offered some interesting ideas. They’ve suggested increased community policing (police on bikes, for example), more vigilance and enforcement, a bigger and more vibrant youth centre, internships, mentoring by the town’s seniors and educating parents and their kids the value of responsibility and respect for other people and public property.
But the idea of a Youth Day, I thought, was a master stroke. I mean we have Mother’s Day and Father’s Day. We have Remembrance Day for veterans. We have Valentine’s Day for lovers. We have Canada Day for patriots. We have – in Ontario – Family Day for everybody else. But what about a Youth Day to celebrate young people? Why not several of them?
A few weeks ago, when Celebration of the Arts transformed Brock Street into a pedestrian way, volunteers created a Speakers’ Corner – sort of like the one at Hyde Park in London, England. By comparison, our Speakers’ Corner was pretty tame; candidates were invited to present their credentials and their views. Suddenly, Vanessa Slater, the director of the Uxbridge Youth Centre (right there on Brock Street) piped up.
“What will the candidates do to help young people in our town?” she asked. There was a bit of a pause as the candidates exchanged glances. As I recall all three mayoral candidates – Bob Shepherd, Gerri-Lynn O’Connor and George Apostolou – offered suggestions. So did Regional Councillor candidates Kathy Wasylenky, Ted Eng and Jack Ballinger.
The consensus seemed to be that locating a youth skateboard park next to the sewage plant was inappropriate and the community could do better. I sensed that Ms. Slater had grander expectations in mind than moving a half-pipe track to a different part of town.
So what about a Youth Day in Uxbridge?
I think it has real merit. Let’s hold one at the high school. Let’s close Brock Street again and give the Speakers’ Corner to young people – slam poets, punkers, hockey players and graffiti artists. Heck, let’s find some downtown walls that need painting, bring in the best graffiti artists the kids can find and encourage all of them to generate a graph-Ux-po.
Picking up on last spring’s successful trip by U.S.S. students and their teachers to Holland for the 65th anniversary of Dutch Liberation, let’s spend more time linking those two important generations. While we still can, let’s invite the survivors of the Depression and the Second World War (and Korean War) to tell their stories. Let’s showcase the photo albums, the mementos and the diaries of that generation when it was young to share the dreams that were … with the dreams that are.
If we’re all so afraid of their social networking toys taking over our classrooms, cafés and street corners (and I’m certainly one who is), let’s bring in some social media gurus to channel all that innovation and invention. Let’s hold a social media circus, a Facebook literary event or a tag team Twitter-off. The sky’s the limit (or maybe the Internet). Then, when we’ve experimented with all that and more, let’s hold a Youth Town Hall in the high school cafeteria or all the school cafeterias. Let’s bring together urban kids and rural kids and listen to their gripes. I mean, the adults won’t talk; they’ll just listen.
It’s unfortunate that Joe Amarelo wasn’t there to elaborate on his idea the other night at the municipal candidates’ debate. It would have been valuable to hear him out on the idea and to discuss it further. Maybe this will help get us there. I leave you with one last excerpt from Mr. Amarelo’s written statement the other night.
“Teens are sending us a message,” it said. “We must learn to understand them.”
What better time than as a newly elected mayor and councillors take their seats at the township office? What more critical crossroads than when a community’s young people can be included for our benefit or excluded at our peril?