The Harbourline Community Alliance is a volunteer-run organisation started by neighbours who wanted a steadier way of being heard at city hall. It began in 2010 as an informal circle of residents comparing notes on housing, transport and the state of the waterfront, and over the following years it grew into a registered non-profit serving the harbour district and the wards around it.

The alliance now runs open forums on planning and housing, keeps a small research desk that reads council agendas so residents do not have to, and sits as a community voice with the harbour authority, the public library board, the civic theatres society and the regional economic partnership. It also acts as neighbourhood liaison for the north ward and takes part in the regional district’s work on inclusion and long-range planning.

Everything the alliance does is decided by a volunteer board, elected each spring at an annual general meeting open to any member; there are no paid staff. The work is funded by small local donations and by the hours members give to it. What the alliance publishes is written by people who live in the district, and no position goes out under its name until an open meeting has agreed to it.