When it comes to electing people, this place rocks.

Four years ago, 27 per cent of Niagara Falls citizens and 26 per cent of those in St. Catharines bothered to vote. Pathetic. But better than Mississauga (21 per cent).

The turnout in NOTL was overwhelming in comparison, at 47 per cent. And of those ballots the current lord mayor collected 49 per cent. So, Gary Zalepa came to power with just less than half of the votes cast by less than half the people.

But still, he romped to a 15-point win over his closest opponent and has more political legitimacy than, say, the mayors of Hamilton or even Toronto.

But that was then. This is now. And things have gone south.

In St. Davids, people worry about overdevelopment, floods and that damn roundabout. In Glendale, folks are steamed over the White Oaks towers and the Mississaugaification of the community. In Virgil, locals are hot over the pickleball courts going dark, too much development and how politicians allowed the slaughter of hundreds of trees for yet another subdivision.

In the Old Town, oy, animal spirits have been unleashed as the elected gang approved a mother of a hotel in the middle of a residential hood, then the Shaw rebuild, which will tear up the iconic main strip, along with a municipal media gag order to stifle debate.

The response?

Well, we now have a popular resistance front and nascent insurgency known as NOTLRA — the NOTL Residents’ Association.

Born just months ago, but already with 800 members. Four management groups. An executive. A constitution. A group website. An election site set to launch. They’ve got everything but F-35s and attack beavers.

“We elected these people, but they don’t seem to listen,” Ron Simkus says. “We’re going to stress that if you want to be a councillor, the residents are asking you to listen to them.”

Simkus is a director and founding member of the rebel group, which was spearheaded by former council member and retired lawyer Stuart MacCormack.

The group stands for better governance, citizen involvement, protection of the natural environment and built heritage, financial sanity, sane development and prosperity without being overrun by tourists.

Now, the rebs have two problems. Both need to get fixed well before the next time citizens go to the polls — Oct. 26 — likely in large numbers.

First, not only is the town stifling free debate with chief administrator Nick Ruller’s gag order on officials talking to the local media (me, in particular), but it’s also nuking your ability to see, hear and judge candidates.

Besides helping recruit contenders, the association wants you to hear them, see them debate and make their case. That requires a hall holding hundreds of people. And the only one in all of NOTL is the community centre, which the town (with no legal basis) is putting off limits.

In fact, The Elected passed a bylaw preventing its assets being used for a public debate — a law due to be extended at a meeting on March 24.

“While I understand your intent is not to promote or endorse any particular candidate(s), we are aiming to bring forward an updated policy [that] will continue to prohibit municipal properties from use in candidate debates, election open houses and such,” town clerk Grant Bivol told the group.

The rebels objected. They responded that the Municipal Elections Act calls for no such ban, and the group should be able to rent the hall on the same basis as any other.

Is this bureaucratic overreach? Abject stupidity? Or a clumsy attempt to tamp down the grassroots rebellion? Let’s see where that vote lands.

And the other problem?

The insurgency will not be backing a team of candidates. Nor will it endorse even a fighter committed to group goals.

“We don’t want to be in a position where we’re telling residents who to vote for,” Simkus says. “Instead, we’ll say here are your choices. Here’s the information you need to make that choice, You do it.”

Very NOTL. And probably wrong.

The cure for bad decisions is a motivated voter and a transparent choice. Give us a slate.

Garth Turner is a NOTL resident, journalist, author, wealth manager and former federal MP and minister. garth@garth.ca