Hi Senior Staff and City Council,
Can we shine a little more light on how our city will be spending ARP funds? I'd like to see how the spending aligns with our council's priorities, and the NEEDS of our citizens. What we fund demonstrates our values as a city.
We could be revolutionary with this money. We could send everyone a check! We could house every homeless person! We could convert existing housing units to BMR units! We could give every middle schooler a skateboard, skate shoes and a helmet! We could make a new skate park to improve student mental health! We could give every family who wants one a sewing machine or an instant pot. We could fund public art around town as some of our neighboring cities have done.
It makes sense for us to ask residents what we'd like to do with this money, and moving forward with unrestricted funds. There's a model for this - participatory budgeting.
You can learn more about support for this idea at participatorybudgeting.org. The Participatory Budgeting Project (PBP) is a nonprofit organization that empowers people to decide together how to spend public money, primarily in the US and Canada. We create and support participatory budgeting processes that deepen democracy, build stronger communities, and make public budgets more equitable and effective.
Julie
Julie Shanson
Willows neighborhood resident since 2002
