Here is a copy of the letter I sent to the Inq. I posted this announcement to the list on Thursday, but Mr. West missed it.
Nutter is a piece of work. Does he really think that he can get away with this Praxis crap? This "workshop" format is meant to impress UCD cheerleaders. The people of Philadelphia are a hell of a lot smarter than district cheerleaders, and my sense is that he ain't fooling the people! The Penn budget workshops Your announcement of budget “workshops” facilitated by the well known University of Penn team made me laugh before I got angry. Having seen this format by the Penn Praxis team many times, I know that transparency and deliberative democracy are not the goals. Participants are broken into small groups of consumers, not citizens. The facilitators use a tightly orchestrated agenda and insist on a debate about wish lists. Transparent discussions of actual revenue and spending priorities will be completely off limits. Participants are expected to feel as though they have been heard, and that their concerns will be considered. It’s a charade. The purpose of this format is to create “data” that supports the goals planned secretly. The report and data will be used as expert analysis for the mayor’s upcoming appeal of the court order requiring public hearings. The vision of two cities, one rich and one impoverished, as well as the budget priorities of the last decade, were drawn up by the Penn power brokers. Many West Philly citizens have seen this contemptuous format many times in the past decade. Please cover these “workshops” and expose this scheme. -----Original Message----- >From: Anthony West <[email protected]> >Sent: Jan 23, 2009 9:26 PM >To: >Cc: UnivCity listserv <[email protected]> >Subject: [UC] Penn and the City's budget > >The University of Pennsylvania Project for Civic Engagement has >announced the dates and locations of four community workshops to gather >citizen input for the City of Philadelphia’s 2010 budget process. Mayor >Nutter announced at a press conference last week City officials will >participate in these workshops to examine with citizens the real budget >alternatives that will be generated by City departments. This >information was released by the Mayor's Office today. > >All workshops will begin with registration at 6:00 pm. Registration is >vital to the process of dividing participants into evenly-sized, diverse >working groups. The program will run from 7:00 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Here >are the dates and sites: > >*Thursday, Feb. 12* - St. Dominic’s School, 8510 Frankford Ave. (Northeast) >*Wednesday, Feb. 18* - Mastery Charter School, Pickett Campus, 5700 >Wayne Ave. (Germantown) >*Thursday, Feb 19* - St. Monica’s Catholic School, 16th & Porter Sts. > (South Philadelphia) >*Monday, Feb. 23* - Pinn Memorial Baptist Church, 2251 N. 54th St. (West >Philadelphia) > >On Jan. 15, Mayor Nutter announced the City of Philadelphia is facing a >second budget deficit of $1 billion and further painful choices will be >required to ensure the fiscal integrity of the City. Nutter also >announced there will be an unprecedented level of public engagement in >the budget process as options to close the budget deficit are examined. > >These budget workshops are one piece of this public engagement which >will ensure that citizens are involved early on in the budget process, >like never before. The aim is to examine different budget options, >discuss choices that need to be made, and gather input from people >across the city on their concerns and priorities. > >Further information on the budget workshops can be found at: >_www.gse.upenn.edu/ppce._ <http://www.gse.upenn.edu/ppce> > >Penn's Harris Sokoloff is the quarterback for UPPCE. He is part of the >team that is otherwise mobilized as PennPraxis. > >-- Tony West > >---- >You are receiving this because you are subscribed to the >list named "UnivCity." To unsubscribe or for archive information, see ><http://www.purple.com/list.html>. ---- You are receiving this because you are subscribed to the list named "UnivCity." To unsubscribe or for archive information, see <http://www.purple.com/list.html>.
