This is an Open Thread / Coffee Hour and all topics of conversation are welcome. Today's suggested topic is an update on the PB-Vallejo project that I'm involved in.
PB-Vallejo Budget Delegates at Economic Development Committee
What is for dinner? How are you doing? What is on your mind. If you are new to Street Prophets please introduce yourself in a comment. This is an Open Thread / Coffee Hour and all topics of conversation are welcome.
PB-Vallejo is a process that opens up the Vallejo government to the public by letting the public submit ideas to improve the City and then working the project(s) through a process to realize the projects implementation.
This is the second year of PB-Vallejo, and for background please see a diary I did last year about it: Street Prophets Coffee Hour: The National Broadband Plan. From the titles in my diaries it should be clear that I favor technical projects related to the internet and the web. And this year I'm advancing a similar eVallejo project for consideration by the Vallejo community. See: eVallejo - 21st Century Infrastructure Projects. (As you may remember my eVallejo project was pulled from the ballot last year at the last minute because of technical reasons.)
Participatory budgeting (PB) is a process of democratic deliberation and decision-making, and a type of participatory democracy, in which ordinary people decide how to allocate part of a municipal or public budget. Participatory budgeting allows citizens to identify, discuss, and prioritize public spending projects, and gives them the power to make real decisions about how money is spent. When PB is taken seriously and is based on mutual trust local governments and citizen can benefit equally. In some cases PB even raised people's willingness to pay taxes.
Wikipedia: Participatory Budgeting
This year over 645 ideas were submitted to the process. But, only 30 will be selected for funding. Vallejo is now starting step two of a four step process.
1) Community members identify spending priorities and select budget delegates,
2) Budget delegates develop specific spending proposals,
with help from experts
3) Community members vote on which proposals to fund
4) The city or institution implements the top proposals
Wikipedia: Participatory Budgeting
Because of my involvement with the
www.eVallejo.org organization and the potential for it to receive grant funding from the PB-Vallejo process this year or in the future I'm unable to participate this year as a budget delegate. So, I will be watching from the sidelines and reporting to the Daily Kos community on the progress of my idea in the process and the PB process in general.
JON