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Chicago Tribune: Spending out in the open for 49th Ward

Alderman Joe Moore of Chicago's 49th Ward has an op-ed in the Chicago Tribune on his ward's participatory budgeting process:

Spending out in the open for 49th Ward
From Chicago's City Hall to the halls of Congress, important policy and spending decisions have been made for far too long by a handful of politicians behind closed doors working in concert with corporations and special interests. This old way of doing the public's business has bred anger and mistrust of all levels of government.
...
As a Chicago alderman, I have embarked on an innovative alternative to the old style of decision-making. In an experiment in democracy, transparent governance and economic reform, I'm letting the residents of the 49th Ward in the Rogers Park and Edgewater communities decide how to spend my entire discretionary capital budget of more than $1.3 million.

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PBP at Affordable Housing Conference

I'll be speaking about participatory budgeting as a tool for affordable housing at this conference on Saturday:

No MAHS: No More "Affordable" Housing Scams
Saturday, March 27
9:30 – 5 @ Hunter College West, 8th Floor
6 to 68th Street - Hunter College

Affordable housing programs were designed to fail. They do not serve low-income people, they are not permanent, and they benefit developers more than communities. They contribute to gentrification and displacement of communities of color. They rob our communities of the power to make decisions about our future. The longstanding affordable housing crisis has gotten worse with the current financial crisis, leaving us with vacant buildings, massive foreclosures, and even more homelessness.

This is a call for those who are tired of being told that their dream for truly sustainable housing, free from market pressures, is unreasonable, impractical, or naïve. This conference aims to create a space where we can radically re-imagine what is possible in our struggles over land, learn about some of the concrete skills to implement new strategies for community control over our resources, and build and strengthen ties within the housing, community and social justice movements.

There are other paradigms for community-based control of land and resources that can help move our communities forward!

NO MAHS is a forum for housing activists, tenants, squatters, community organizers and homeless people to discuss radical strategies for accessing, securing, and preserving land, community space, and truly affordable housing.

Panelists:

Setting the Context --
Commodification of Land: Frank Morales and Sam Imperatrice
History of New York City’s Housing Movement: Tom Angotti and Peter Marcuse
Current Affordable Housing Programs: Mario Mazzoni

Tactics for Control of Community Land --
Community Land Trusts: James Tracy and Alice Liu (San Francisco CLT)
Limited Equity Coops: Jessica Hall (HDFC), Marina Metolis (UHAB)
Participatory Budgeting: Josh Lerner (The Participatory Budgeting Project)
Community Planning: Ester Wang (CAAV), Julie Lawrence (Community-Based Planning Campaign)
Mutual Housing Associations: Val Orselli (Cooper Square)
Squatting and Occupations: Frank Morales, Rob Robinson (Picture the Homeless)

Purchase lunch on-site ($7.00) or bring your own.
Please let us know if you require childcare or translation services.

To RSVP or for more information, contact:
212-650-3328
communitylandnyc@gmail.com

Conference organizers: Peter Aleksa, Tom Angotti, Sam Imperatrice, Francesca Manning, Mario Mazzoni, Frank Morales, Felix Gottdiener, Avi Rosentalis, Mary Tek

Video: Participatory Budgeting in Chicago

There's a new video short on the 49th Ward Participatory Budgeting Process in Chicago:

Participatory Budgeting and Community Organizing: Update from Chicago

Participatory Budgeting continues to move forward in Chicago's 49th Ward, thanks in large part to community organizing. Since November, dozens of community representatives have been meeting regularly in six committees: Parks & Environment, Public Safety, Traffic Safety, Streets, Transportation, and Art & Other Projects. Starting with ideas proposed at neighborhood assemblies, they have been developing full project proposals - and doing the legwork necessary to make these proposals a reality.

Each committee has been working as a team to assess project ideas, research their feasibility, and work through key details. To develop a proposal for a new bike path, the Transportation Committee has reached out to Loyola University and Chicago transportation officials, trying to build support for a preferred route and navigate the legal obstacles to implementation. The Public Safety committee met with the 911 Center and Police, and after reviewing the results of different public safety measures has shifted its emphasis from blue light security cameras towards more street lighting. Park & Environment has organized separate community meetings to discuss proposals for a community garden and dog park.

The community representatives are now gearing up for the final voting day (April 10th), when all ward residents age 16 and over will be invited to vote for up to 8 projects. Each committee is working to mobilize public support for its proposals, through the ward's participatory budgeting blog, other blogs, community meetings, and word of mouth. The Art & Other Project committee is even organizing an exhibition of proposed projects at a local art space. Many of the committees are thinking even further into the future and discussing how to continue organizing around their key issues after the voting. The residents of Chicago's 49th Ward are turning participatory budgeting into not just a vote over spending, but also an opportunity to organize their neighbors around improving their ward and their city.

PB in the Pacific

Some news from the Pacific: The organization Foundation of the Peoples of the South Pacific International (FSPI) has implemented 2 PB projects recently. One is called 'Making Resource Allocation Pro Poor and Participatory in the Pacific (funded by the ADB) and the other is a current project called 'People, Participatory Democracy and Policy: A PB Project' (funded by AusAid).

Most of the work around PB has been implemented to different extents in Fiji, Vanuatu, Tonga and Kiribati. Based on funding, they hope to extend PB to other countries in the region in the near future. Thanks to Albert Cerelala of FSPI for this update!