Flanders DC - Inspiring Creativity

The most creative person I have met in the last year is Bill Bruce, the director of bye-laws and animal services in the city of Calgary (Canada). He simplified the rules and regulations system of the city from 14 volumes to 1 volume.

A good example is the following of rethinking rules:


In Calgary, if you ride a bike without a bell you get fined Can $87. It costs Can $120 to administer the fine and if you are caught it leaves a sour taste in your mouth. You are cross and hate the municipality (and probably the next person you meet). Bill Bruce the city’s director of byelaws, thought there must a better way. He decided to buy a 100 bells and twelve screwdrivers for his patrollers and rangers at Can 180 (1 ½ fines worth). Now when someone is found without a bell, the patroller cautions them and tells them how lucky they are since they have a bell and a screwdriver and will give them a present. The net effect is they ride with a glow and are probably pleasant to the next person they meet. That kindness reverberates. It is how social capital is created and, counter-intuitively, the more you use it the more it grows. In contrast with financial capital the more you spend the less you have. 
 

The vision behind Bill Bruce's project is based on a few cornerstones or beliefs.

• Most people will abide by laws they understand, agree with and feel they have been considered in the process – very few people will simply do as they are told.

• The bylaws need to reflect the standards of the community (what works in Calgary may not be right for Edmonton and different land uses need to be regulated differently)

• The rules (bylaw) must be easily understood, known and relevant to the majority of the population they are intended to regulate

• The public needs to drive the process to set the guidelines including the process for achieving compliance which includes providing for people in violation to be part of the solution (baby steps toward becoming self regulating)

• The bylaws, if properly constructed and applied, can provide a peaceful resolution to most issues and lead to a higher quality of livability. The key to neighbourhood livability is balance, a blending of respect and tolerance and processes that foster and support resolution, not punishment.

• The concept somewhat loosely follows the principals of the American “Broken Windows Theory” and the guidelines of the three “E”s (I stole this from the Canadian Institute of Traffic Engineers but it seems to fit most situations, not just traffic). The Three “E”s are engineer, educate and enforce. You need to do all three, in that order. Engineer – plan and build it right to work in the first place, Educate – teach people how to use it properly and Enforce – to modify the behaviour of the few who don’t get it.

• The concept if compliance based enforcement looks at other ways to get at least 95% of the public voluntarily in compliance with the bylaws because they make sense, can be understood and deserve support. Realistically, you cannot enforce against more than 5% of the population or your system begins to fail. In Calgary, if I enforce against 20% of the population I would have 200,000 people in court every year and system would collapse from shear volume.

• To do this requires different tools then are typically found in the bylaw environment and requires personnel with different skills then are typically found in the enforcement jobs.