As some of you may know, there’s 30,000 city workers in Toronto are on strike, which has shut down garbage collection, day cares, community centres and other services.
Like a good citizen, I fired off an e-mail to my councillor, Joe Pantalone, who also happens to be the deputy mayor, in which I outlined my concerns and criticisms. Shortly afterward, I got this automated response:
“Thank you very much for taking the time to write and share your thoughts. I appreciate that and will include them with comments from others in the community. Thanks again,
Joe Pantalone
Deputy Mayor
City of Toronto”
To be honest, it seems strange to receive an automated response given the world of social media where “conversations” are happening on an increasingly basis between companies and consumers. And it seem odd to get this kind of response given how Obama Barack used social media so effectively during the U.S. presidential elections.
Yes, I know Mr. Pantalone is a reall busy guy these days with not enough hours in the day to personally respond to every e-mail he receives but there’s got to be a better way to talk with his constituents about what’s happening.
It would be great if Mr. Pantalone was using social media tools to have “conversations” but his Web site suggests he’s not using Facebook, Twitter, a blog, Flickr or YouTube. You can e-mail him but there’s no way to have a “conversation”.
We’re living in a world of two-way communications, and I want to see my local politicians get involved. Heck, Toronto Mayor, David Miller, is a Twitter addict (in a good way!) so maybe he should tell his deputy mayor to get on the social media bandwagon.
Pingback: Joe Pantalone Responds | Ossington Village