In addressing a new era of political mistrust and polarization, it would be useful to look at our history and how public administration and city/county management have evolved. An excellent historical place to start would be with Woodrow Wilson.
In 1936 the voters of New York City launched a bold experiment in election systems reform adopting the “ranked choice voting” form of proportional representation for city council races. Ten years later, bi-partisan opposition from party insiders and Cold War era fears ended the experiment abruptly.
There are many ways we can, and should, support civil society. Spending time in the public square, and physically staying connected to society by using public spaces, services, and amenities is one of those ways.
What is the point of politics without hope? On the one hand, hope might be perceived as a coping mechanism that makes abstraction of the world and its constraints. On the other hand, it can suggest an act of resistance grounded in action.
By combining the Participatory Budgeting experience of voting on the use of public funds with the Citizens’ Assembly experience of deliberating rather than expressing opinions, we have a potentially powerful new democratic mechanism to define community desired service outputs/outcomes, and to allocate public funds to achieve those outputs/outcomes.
If American cities were divided into small electoral districts based on existing neighborhoods, then city governments would be truly representative. A city’s various communities would be represented in government proportionally.
By involving community leaders in decision-making, health officials in Alameda County, CA, were able to build trusting relationships with vulnerable populations. Among the results were lower than average death rates and higher than average rates of vaccination.
Many of our communities are experiencing tug of wars, civic paralyses, and political stalemates over critically important decisions with incredible consequences for our collective future. We need to reconsider how we approach our public dialogue about community change.
