Participatory Budgeting is a Necessity with a bit of Nuisance

By Bob Spoerl for rogerspark.com

Last year, Joe Moore decided to do something that no other alderman in the history of the United States had done: He implemented participatory budgeting, which allows Rogers Park residents to vote in a completely democratic process for how to spend $1.3 million allotted to ward 49 from the city budget purse.

It was a popular move that arguably won him a landslide victory in this year’s municipal elections.  Many Rogers Park residents applauded the transparency and overall process of participatory budgeting – it allows them a voice in how to make infrastructure improvements in their neighborhood. 

“A majority of the budget was spent nowhere; it was spent in a variety of places,” Sarah Lisy, chair of the Participatory Budgeting Neighborhood Assembly said on Thursday at a participatory budgeting meeting at Pottawattomie Park, a preliminary event held five weeks before the May 7 neighborhood participatory budget vote. The meeting was one of several meant to inform Rogers Park residents of what infrastructure improvements will be on the ballot.
At the meeting, Lisy compared spending on infrastructure before participatory budgeting – in 2008 more than $1 million of infrastructure improvement money went toward fixing streetlights – to the 2010 participatory budget. Last year, after residents cast votes for their desired projects, the most expense improvement was budgeted under $300,000 and took up less than 20 percent of the entire participatory budget.

But for all of its glitter neighborhood budgeting isn’t all gold. As Winston Churchill put it: “It has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all others that have been tried.”

Participatory Budgeting began in 1990 in Porto Alegre, Brazil as a way for local residents to claim a voice in government. It swept through regions in South America, as well as Europe, Asia and Africa. Cities in Canada initiated some form of participatory budgeting several years before Joe Moore introduced it to the United States.

(For more on Participatory budgeting: http://www.participatorybudgeting.org/)

As University of Illinois-Chicago political science professor Dick Simpson notes, participatory budgeting is highly taxing on the alderman’s staff. It takes more than a staff member working on the process for about a year to get the democratic voting initiative in order for residents to participate.

“To organize that level of participation is very labor intensive on the alderman’s office,” Simpson said. “It doesn’t just happen by magic.”

During Simpson’s tenure as a Chicago alderman in the 1970s he implemented a ward assembly. This was a more democratic way to govern within city council.

“We met monthly and dealt with all issues, not just budgeting issues. We elected delegates from every precinct,” Simpson said.

The ward assembly in his 44th Ward waited until a two-thirds vote to pass any measure. But that assembly, like the relatively new Participatory Budgeting Neighborhood Assembly in Rogers Park, was a time consuming entity. It was labor intensive to both implement and maintain.  When Simpson tried to pass a measure through city council that would make a ward assembly mandatory in every city ward, all but four of his fellow alderman voted against the democratic governing style.

Currently, there are only a handful of independent aldermen in city council who support participatory budgeting. But the number is growing.  Ameya Pawar, a 31 year old from the 47th Ward, and the first Asian American elected alderman in Chicago, pulled off an upset victory in February running on a progressive and independent platform that included participatory budgeting. After the April 5 runoff elections, a few more Chicago wards might get introduced to some form of participatory budgeting.

Simpson said that between seven and fifteen aldermen in the new city council might implement some form of participatory budgeting. The range depends on who wins in the April 5 runoff elections. The former alderman Simpson wants to see ward-wide participation on matters above and beyond the budget.  That’s what his ward assembly was all about.

And in a city with a scathing and growing structural deficit – more than $650 million of the 2011 budget cannot be covered by city income – participatory budgeting could help relax the tension inherent in making local funding cuts.

A Tale of Two Budgets: Participatory Budget in Rogers Park

One obvious concern highlighted in Thursday’s neighborhood participatory budgeting meeting at Pottawattomie Park was undervalued vetting of projects in 2010.  For instance, what was expected to be a $260,000 fix of a traffic signal on Chase and Clark will cost the ward more than $320,000.

After Luis Klein, the ward staff assistant on participatory budgeting made that announcement about the expensive traffic signal, a resident in the crowd of around 50 people sarcastically suggested we “buy a used one.” 

“On Craig’s List,” another resident immediately followed, as if he were the Andy Richter to the Conan O’Brien in the crowd.

In the arena of resurfacing, the Streets Committee of Rogers Park severely underestimated the cost to fix sidewalks. When residents voted last year to improve sidewalks in 27 locations, the committee had estimated it would cost the ward $188,000. It turns out they underestimated by more than a quarter of a million dollars.

There are 11 sidewalks that have not been fixed from last year. Those will remain on the ballot this year.

Sue Biver of the Streets Committee, in her presentation to defend more sidewalk prepares for 2011, wore a construction paper cutout of the number 80. People laughed and groaned when Biver walked up to the microphone.

“Vote 80 for streets on May 7,” Biver coined her slogan for the night.

Biver wore the number 80 because her committee wants people to vote that 80 percent of the aldermanic menu budget be devoted exclusively to street resurfacing.

Of the $1.3 million allotted to ward 49 in 2011, $300,000 will automatically go toward paying off projects not completed last year and a ward emergency fund.

That leaves $1 million for participatory budgeting. The committees vying for money include Arts, Park and Environment, Public Safety, Streets, Traffic Safety and Transportation.

Rogers Park residents over the age of 16, regardless whether or not they are citizens or registered to vote, can participate in budgeting on Saturday May 7 at the Chicago Math and Science Academy at 72121 N. Clark Street. The only requirement is that they bring two forms of ID, one of which proves their residency in the 49th Ward.

(Find out more at http://www.ward49.com/participatory-budgeting/)

And here’s a list of the 2011 projects being considered: http://participatorybudgeting49.wordpress.com/2011/02/16/2011-projects-being-considered/)

More Links
Learn about citywide budget concerns:
http://www.civicfed.org/civic-federation/blog/city-chicago-budget-continues-structural-deficit-tradition

And learn about aldermanic expert Dick Simpson:
http://www.midlandauthors.com/simpson.html

* Bob Spoerl is a young journalist based here in Chicago. He attends the Medill school of Journalism and interned for the WTTW news hour ‘Chicago Tonight.’ Before Medill, he earned a bachelor’s degree in English and Philosophy from Loyola, where he developed an affection for Rogers Park. Read his weekly contributions at rogerspark.com.

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