But without a nice bump in funding, and a new structure for involvement in this budgeting that came in some official capacity, district councils engaging a larger budget process wouldn't produce a meaningful result. But if its important to enough knowledgeable citizens to conceive of such a process, and actively take on the advocacy for creating it, there is no reason that conversation couldn't begin right now.
I would agree, that relative to many cities, St. Paul government is still relatively responsive to citizens. But, that is not to say that we cannot do much more as a community - in terms of citizen participation.
I've been spending quite a bit of time talking with folks from cities in the US, Canada, and Brazil in which there are formal mechanisms in which all citizens have an opportunity to participate in meaningful discussions about how local budgets are spent.
I don't think that this happens much in St. Paul, with the possible exception of citizen involvement in Site Based management in our public schools.
Yes, there are lots of forums, where citizens can get up and complain or make recommendations. However, I don't think that these opportunities appear to be very meaningful for most citizens, which is why so few people participate. Some cities, like Minneapolis, actually designate certain portions of the city budget to citizen assemblies or neighborhood organizations that have real authority in determining how those funds will be spent.
A lack of meaningful ways for citizens to participate in government, other than voting, contributes to the lack of trust and skepticism of government that then results in the anti-tax climate we now face.
There are concrete ways of involving larger numbers of citizens in meaningful discussions about city priorities. I'd like to see St. Paul take a good hard look at citizen participation in our city and make some innovative recommendations for the future.
Anyone else interested?
Tim Erickson Hamline Midway [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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Tim Erickson http://www.politalk.com St. Paul, MN - USA 651-643-0722
[EMAIL PROTECTED] iChat/AIM: stpaultim
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