krf...@aol.com wrote:
Isn't it about time that the Mayor started seeing through the anointed
vision of Penn Praxis?
This, from today's Philadelphia Bulletin:
*Developers, Community Groups Battle Over Waterfront 'Vision Plan'*
Having Blurred ‘Vision’
By JENNY DeHUFF, The BulletinWednesday, April 22, 2009
this was prologued earlier in the month with a nicely
dovetailing editorial by penn's harris sokoloff (director of
penn project for civic engagement at penn's grad school of
education), in which he told readers what their elected city
council should do and how city council should behave
(basically, city council should emulate his workshops).
[excerpt]:
Still, the mayor's plan may miss the mark in significant
ways. When that seems to us to be the case, let's not ask
how could they be so "dumb," "crass" or "evil." Let's
ask: If not this, then how do we balance the budget while
holding on to our vision for a better Philadelphia?
Part of this challenge is to demand new behavior from
City Council. Just as taxpayers must avoid old habits of
complaint, Council must avoid the habit of grandstanding
for or against particular budget items. We must demand
that Council do the same kind of work taxpayers did in
the workshops. They should discuss what they consider to
be the "low-hanging fruit" and why. What's "off the
table" and why.
And their public deliberations should include what kinds
of shared pain and gut-wrenching cuts and increases they
will propose - and why.
In the process, they should build on the work of the more
than 1,700 taxpayers at the budget workshops. Push the
mayor on the values that emerged from those workshops.
Regardless of which taxes Council members want to
increase, they should say how it will further the values
that emerged from the workshops - and how their ideas
will further the vision they hold for the city.
True public engagement isn't a one-time thing. It's not
an end in itself and shouldn't be just an item checked
off a political "to do" list. Rather, it should
kick-start a two-way conversation between city government
and its taxpayers. Taxpayers and the mayor have picked up
that challenge. Now it's time to see whether Council is
interested in more deliberative engagement.
..................
UNIVERSITY*CITOYEN
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