Earlier this year we launched the series "Participatory Budgeting 101" to track and report on the historic implementation of a Participatory Budgeting (PB) initiative in Vallejo. We gave you some background on how the process works, with some excellent commentary from one of our Vallejo Community Issues Examiner subscribers who lives in the 49th Ward (Rogers Park) in Chicago, and has experienced first hand how PB works.
We also were fortunate to land an exclusive interview with Joe Moore, the 49th Ward alderman who has spearheaded this PB effort, now in its fourth year. (In his remarks, at the kickoff for this year's PB project, Moore said "The 49th Ward is the first political jurisdiction in the nation to adopt a participatory budgeting approach to public spending, and it's been so well-received that I have pledged to make it a permanent fixture in the ward. Word of our success has spread. This year, three other Chicago aldermen have pledged to use participatory budgeting to decide how to spend their aldermanic menu money and other cities in the U.S., including New York City and Vallejo, California, are emulating our model."
Vallejo's PB initiative is ramping up. There's a new Facebook page devoted to the project. You will want to 'like' the site and stay tuned there as this is the place where the schedule for the first round of neighborhood assemblies will be published.
Before you leave this page, check out this posting's video. It captures the viewpoints of New York community members who were asked how they would spend PB funds. The most successful PB initiatives have tended to be the ones that work hard to be inclusive, gathering the input of as many community members as possible.
Comments