My Professional Experience: Learning What Residents Want and Need

My career with the City of Toronto spanned 30 years. During this time I had the

opportunity to explore numerous municipal career opportunities, which included

research, public engagement, contract management, risk management, and

health and safety.

One of my positions was within the Parks department, researching long term

public strategies for parks, community centers and other parks facilities. One

project was for the 20 year Parkland Strategy, which took 2 years to complete.

During this time one of my roles was to research other municipalities in North

America and Europe to see what strategies they had used to be successful.

My favourite part of this project was my role as event, volunteer and public

engagement coordinator. Over the course of two years I created and coordinated

events and managed volunteers for 35 pop-up events, 5 stakeholder sessions,

and two Town Hall open houses, all of which were very successful and

informative. The information we gathered from the public and stakeholders

helped us to create a policy for parkland that would shape Toronto for the next 20

years.

I believe that my experience from this will greatly help me to understand the

needs of the residents of my ward. Engaging with the public during so many

events taught me which questions needed to be asked when trying to determine

the needs and wants of residents. The most important thing a councilor can do is

listen to their residents concerns and suggestions, and research what actions

can be taken to make considerate, informed decisions for the best outcome for all

involved.

Below are some photos of the events I helped coordinate while working with the City of Toronto: