The format needs some work, but overall Mayor Lyn Hall said he was happy with the first neighbourhood conversation held Wednesday night in the Hart.
Around 150 people filled the Hart Pioneer Centre to give their feedback on issues such as parks, trails, housing, roads, utilities and recreation to members of city council and city staff.
"As I've gone around the room, the conversation is extremely good," said Hall before the evening's event wrapped up.
"The folks in attendance are making some great points."
One of those points came from Hart Community Association chair Kristi Francis, who noted that there's a lot of pressure on volunteers to provide recreation opportunities.
Francis said she's been involved with the community association for 10 years and that there's only five people doing the work that could be better supported by the municipality.
"Having access and offering recreation in the Hart is important because it's about building community," Francis said, noting it links to priorities such as healthy living and climate change.
"You want people to stay in the Hart, be physically active and driving less," she said. "But you can't do it with just five people."
Hart-specific recreation brainstorming brought up a desire to see more neighbourbood amenities, a covered shelter and lighting at Bravery Park as well as signage to indicate where recreation options can be found.
The issue of having a skatepark in the area was also raised, which Hall said was back on the table after a few years of the idea being shelved.
The plan for the night was for tables full of residents to rotate around the room and spend 15 minutes at a station manned by staff from various departments.
That idea was quickly scuttled when it became apparent there were too many in attendance, and the staff moved from table to table instead.
Wednesday's event was the first of a handful of neighbourhood meetings yet to be scheduled in different parts of the city.
Hall said he would like to see smaller groupings and perhaps break out rooms in the future, as some tables on Wednesday had groups of 20 or 30 people fighting to hear what staff were saying.
But the fact that so many people came out is exactly what Hall said he and council were hoping for.
The last time a community meeting was held in the area was in June 2011, at Heather Park elementary school. Reports from that night indicate that between 40 and 50 people showed up to participate in what was a pilot project to develop a neighbourhood engagement strategy.
Meetings were also held that summer in the South Bowl and Blackburn, with far less attendance.
In a report to council from August 2011, action items stemming from the meetings and other community consultations included: creating a "neighbourhood" section on the city website, starting a print campaign identifying "neighbourhood champions," and some other vague-sounding plans about consulting partner agencies and stakeholders and working with city departments regarding neighbourhood engagement and communication.
But the concept died with the turnover of council after the municipal election that fall.
Despite not necessarily being surprised by the feedback - though he hadn't gone through all of the night's suggestions - Hall said the night's comments were helpful.
Information from the meetings will be compiled into a report for council and posted online, Hall said. The feedback will also be disseminated among the different city departments as well as help inform budget discussions scheduled to begin in November.
