Surviving City Hall

With humour and humanity, Surviving City Hall reveals the workings of the municipal world based on author Donna Macdonald's nineteen years as a city councillor. Wrestling with ground squirrels, dealing with dogs and grappling with the Three Bears of Governance, Macdonald offers an insider's view into how things work at city hall in a call to citizens in communities of all shapes and sizes.

From the table where council members make decisions—to lock out city workers, detoxify a workplace issue, permit high density development and ban dogs downtown—to the richness of community life, including meetings, memorials, meat banquets and rallies for the protection of endangered animals, this book is a big-hearted take on small-town politics.

It's also a reflection on leadership and on democracy, and how we could do both better. Macdonald ponders women's participation in local governance, why it's critical and what the barriers are that can dissuade women from engaging more fully in the governance of their communities.