RE: [UC] Penn and the City's budget

[Glenn moyer]

"That was the first thing I thought when I read Penn was involved: that they were going to steer the workshop participants to whatever foregone conclusions Nutter already decided on, and then point to the forums to claim there was citizen participation and ratification."     Karen and everyone,   The Penn web site linked below is very important data. Consider what is not present and do a close reading and analysis of what is contained.    These are the “process” experts proposing to “engage” citizens and their government according to concepts of deliberative democracy.      As participating citizens, we need to evaluate this Praxis outfit with the standards and sagacity of a grant agency evaluating a proposal.  Would you award a penny to this Praxis outfit????  Isn’t this spin only set up, the same as a confidence-man uses???   http://www.gse.upenn.edu/ppce     Consider three points:   First click on “core concepts.”  Then click on the links, “metaphors of community, metaphors of engagement, key factors for engaging people, etc”    “Page not found” is the only thing you get!  This would be the vital information to analyze the process and methods of these engagement “workshops.”  This is the meat!  This university based outfit has been around for years and no excuse for this secrecy is believable.   This is analogous to placing an impressive cover on a book and finding only blank pages inside!  If a school teacher asked the class to prepare a proposal for deliberative democracy workshops, he or she would flunk such a submission of spin only.   Go back to the press release on the home page.  At first, the workshops sound impressive, lofty and detailed.   “Actual budget choices the city is considering” foreshadow that this is an education exercise or simulation.  The word “considering” is used repeatedly.  The words “like” and “don’t like” are coded signals of the ACTUAL secret methodology.   The small groups will be corralled and tightly focused on useless wish lists, as we have seen time and again!  (The small group data will be twisted and reported as qualitative data in the mayor’s report.  A survey will also be passed out for quantitative polling, as we have seen time and again.  The impressive “report” from Praxis is the product the mayor will use to support obfuscation of issues and the lies about the will of the people.)  It's easy to see why Praxis won't publish actual methodology on their web site!!!   Such a process skips the ACTUAL important steps in an empowering engagement between citizens and government according to the notion of deliberative democracy.  These experts set-up a false dichotomy as the starting point!   Example:  The principal of a school has Praxis work with the PTA.  Small groups are to give input for consideration.  Will Coke or Pepsi be the beverage allowed at school lunches?  In a world with water or milk, this is a false set of choices set-up as the only choices.   Stacking the deck!  It sounds really transparent and impressive that journalists will ask questions for the first phase of the “workshops.”  Hahaha. How many times have we seen the hand-picked friends of Praxis/Penn lined up this way?    Tom’s buddy, the expert journalist, called us NIMBYS because of the hotel.  Andrew Zitcer, Penn real estate, was a confused arts advocate who couldn’t understand west philly protestors in his PW, Everyman opinion.   In fact, Penn real estate tries this hand-picked stacking of the deck each and every time.  Remember, when they lined up Melani and the gang to "run out the clock" at the tightly controlled BID meetings-hahaha ?   These Penn real estate cronies are experts at bullshit creation, not deliberative democracy.   Glenn   -----Original Message----- From: KAREN ALLEN Sent: Jan 25, 2009 12:08 AM To: Cc: UnivCity Listserv Subject: RE: [UC] Penn and the City's budget I agree with Glenn on this.  That was the first thing I thought when I read Penn was involved: that they were going to steer the workshop participants to whatever foregone conclusions Nutter already decided on, and then point to the forums to claim there was citizen participation and ratification.     > Date: Sat, 24 Jan 2009 07:26:24 -0500 > From: glen...@earthlink.net > To: anthony_w...@earthlink.net > Subject: Re: [UC] Penn and the City's budget > CC: UnivCity@list.purple.com > > 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 <anthony_w...@earthlink.net> > >Sent: Jan 23, 2009 9:26 PM > >To: > >Cc: UnivCity listserv <UnivCity@list.purple.com> > >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>. vi ---- You are receiving this because you are subscribed to the list named "UnivCity." To unsubscribe or for archive information, see .