[All] Fwd: Various Concerns & Suggestions Re: Content of the WR Record Newspaper

[Robert Milligan]

FYI
R

Begin forwarded message:

> From: Robert Milligan <mill at continuum.org>
> Date: August 11, 2010 6:26:43 PM GMT-04:00
> To: Editor-in-Chief Lynn Haddrall <lhaddrall at therecord.com>
> Cc: Publisher Paul McCuaig <pmccuaig at therecord.com>, "President &  
> CEO David P. Holland" <dholland at thestar.ca>, "Chair John A.  
> Honderich" <jhonderich at thestar.ca>
> Subject: Various Concerns & Suggestions Re: Content of the WR Record  
> Newspaper
>
> Lynn,
>
> Especially as a former Media Consultant and independent light rail  
> transit (LRT) researcher, I have a concern that some staff writers  
> (perhaps mostly the key writer) appear to be subtly biased against  
> the idea of an LRT backbone for our Regional transit system. I sense/ 
> surmise that this is true because of a combination of the harbouring  
> of a dated ideology (I'm a pragmatist myself) and information-lack  
> that impairs understanding and good judgement.
>
> The following web-article about Charlotte NC's very enlightened  
> Republican Mayor brings out situational nuances -- political,  
> operational, ... -- that could help your staff raise their level of  
> LRT-consciousness. And this example of the seeking out of higher  
> community thinking & action from around the World could catalyze  
> further similar steps towards helping distinguish your newspaper  
> from its profit-draining competition -- be it other newspapers,  
> traditional electronic media or the internet. "How Charlotte’s mayor  
> championed light rail"
> http://www.grist.org/article/2010-06-25-planning-politics-how-charlottes-mayor-championed-light-rail/P2 
>  (If any staff or free-lance writers decide to use some of the  
> information in this web-article for future stories, perhaps it could  
> be done with adequate context.)
>
> Please note that I strongly support an LRT only if the current  
> system design is enhanced so as to optimally intensify road  
> corridors and optimally attract middle-class ridership from their  
> cars. My analysis suggests that neither interrelated LRT goal would  
> be sufficiently realized.
>
> Our Region's cherished leading-edge innovative image would be  
> thereby tarnished. And this great lack of success would be rubbed in  
> our face every time we hear of a story written/broadcast somewhere  
> in the World about our LRT's unexpected failure to adequately  
> innovate in our LRT system design.
>
> Being a constructive critic, I have found and developed many new  
> IDEAS that could "tweak" the current LRT system design -- it does  
> have great potential for leading-edge enhancement -- towards a very  
> high degree of goal realization within a reasonable budget. That the  
> Record shows absolutely no interest in what I have written -- except  
> for an incompetently edited  200 word letter-to-the-editor -- does  
> show gross negligence in serving the best interests of our Region!!
>
> Increasingly the general public are being recognized as a source of  
> good critiques and IDEAS that could help advance our community.  
> While you are to be commended for your Community Editorial Board  
> (which I lobbied for over many years beginning with former publisher  
> KA Sandy Baird)  -- whose membership would be better if voted on by  
> the readers -- there are many people in our community, beyond  
> professors & other prominent people, who can critique and suggest  
> IDEAS towards community advancement. Greater involvement of these  
> people in writing op-ed articles would also help make the WR Record  
> more relevant to more people, especially if web linkages are integral.
>
> The potential for greater citizen involvement -- especially  
> involving new technologies -- is suggested is this report from the  
> prestigious Woodrow Wilson Center for Scholars, "Reinventing  
> Technology Assessment: A 21st Century Model". The subtitle says it  
> all, "Using citizen participation, collaboration and expert   
> analysis to inform and improve decision-making on issues involving  
> science and technology".
> http://www.wilsoncenter.org/index.cfm?topic_id=1414&fuseaction=topics.documents&group_id=271875
> "
>
> (I would hope that Chair Honderich would have a special interest in  
> the continuing innovative success of Waterloo Region where his  
> father Beland -- a great social innovator -- grew up on a farm near  
> Baden. John, your help in making the WR Record a better community- 
> advancing medium would be most appreciated -- more future- 
> considering progressivism please as in the above Charlotte piece).
> http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/10/business/media/10honderich.html?_r=1
>
> Note: bcc's to other parties who may be interested are also being  
> sent.
>
> Best wishes,
> Robert Milligan (New Dundee in Wilmot Township)
>
> Robert Milligan is a member of Transport Action Ontario (formerly  
> Transport 2000). He has a BSc in math-physics. a Graduate Diploma in  
> Education and has completed many other courses including ones in  
> industrial engineering, operations research, journalism and  
> environmental health. He was a high school teacher, business systems  
> analyst, media consultant, and environmental health analyst. Much of  
> his time in retirement is now given freely to action-research for  
> public projects, especially those with significant environmental and  
> health features.
>

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