Who is Dave Meslin?

BY D. LAXMIDAS MAKWANA

Dave Meslin isn’t camera shy. He just refuses to be the only person in the picture.

For Meslin not a week goes when he isn’t contacted by a reporter asking for an opinion public space, or a photograph portraying him as the leader of one of Toronto’s most popular grassroots organizations.

Since founding the Toronto Public Space Committee, in 2001, Meslin has become the de facto poster boy for the public space movement. He is regularly quoted in both mainstream and alternative media.

Still he dodges analogies to predecessors such as urban planning icon Jane Jacobs.

“It’s better to have a multiplicity of voices,” Meslin said. “I feel it’s actually problematic when someone like Jane Jacobs is seen as the voice on an issue. (TPSC) has actually fought to prevent the media from picking who the voice is.”

He believes the public space movement is much like space itself, for everyone.
Boasting a staff of over 20 people, TPSC has nurtured a new set of public space advocates that continues to grow since the lobby group’s inception.

Meslin sees his role as an instigator not a leader. Once Meslin’s movements gain enough momentum to sustain themselves he’s quick to move on.

“My strength is starting things from scratch,” Meslin said. “It just seems like a better use of my skills and time to start something new rather than staying with a project that other people can carry on just as well, if not better.”

Toronto Star columnist Royson James is a self-described Meslin fan. Even after applauding Meslin’s City Idol project, which took average Torontonians and shaped them into municipal candidates for the 2006 election, James said the legitimacy of the public space movement goes beyond any individual.

“If it’s a real grassroots movement all it needs is the right catalyst to get it going,” James said. “The catalyst … is someone who can galvanize. It’s somebody who can touch the right chords, who can organize people, who can present their vision in a way that they can understand.”

Glenn Miller, chair of the Canadian Urban Institute leadership series, sees Meslin’s model of organization as set of traits being applied by other lobbyists around the city.

“It’s a willingness to invest in something you believe in for the greater good,” Miller said. “So there might be some short term rewards … but really (results are) seen where organizations can move things forward and leverage their assets.”

Meslin believes it’s the media that prefer to have a single voice for an issue. He thinks that mindset spreads lazy thinking, forcing people to rely on a sole source for information.

“What we try to do … is to say that it’s really bad when you can have 2.5 million people living in a city and everything you see visually in public space is coming from four or five marketing agencies,” he said.

Now Meslin focuses on empowering others to take action. Through his City Idol initiative he hoped to raise a new generation of leaders while sidestepping the spotlight himself.

“As an organizer it’s not for me to run for office or for me to become a spokesperson,” he said. “It’s for me to bring in other people. The real victory for the movement would be if 20 or 30 people are quoted on a regular basis.”