"Study of public participation rejected"
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The South County Independent has given good coverage of this week's Town Council meeting. See Study of public participation rejected by Liz Boardman/Independent Staff Writer.
Rebuffed but with lessons learned
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Yesterday, I was rebuffed in my attempt to have the South Kingstown Town Council commit to studying how to more effectively enable community involvement. I want to thank Jonathan Daly-LaBelle for speaking and Hellen Allen for attending. If this goal is going to be successful more people need to attend and support it. I have now learned this leason.
Last night's meeting was principally to approve the 2009-2010 capital budget. This approval meeting is part of the new budget process. It was approved with only one question from the community. In April 2008 Michael Marran said
Last night's meeting was principally to approve the 2009-2010 capital budget. This approval meeting is part of the new budget process. It was approved with only one question from the community. In April 2008 Michael Marran said
"It would be helpful for the council to spend time outside the budget discussing those items. They are things taxpayers are legitimately concerned about," Marran said. "But it’s absolutely overwhelming for an individual to do what Steve [Alfred, the town manager] takes six months to deal with."in the South County Independent's article Budget draws scant interest
Road work sign for the near future
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Here is an idea for a South Kingstown road sign for the future. Telling me to slow down is not helpful: There is a road work sign and so I know to slow down. However, telling me when the project starts and stops, whether it is on time or not, and how to get more information (at URL http://skri.us/p/45) is useful.
Corporate responsibility to the local community
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Tracy Hart asks
Would you be volunteering your services to assist whomever at the Town Council to create the system?Yes. I believe strongly that we should use our professional skills to help community projects: Often times applying these skills is much more valuable than the money we can give. There is a section of Lou Gerstner's Who Says Elephants Can't Dance?: Leading a Great Enterprise Through Dramatic Change where he talks about corporate responsibility to the local community. In it he advocates providing skills more so than money. This idea had an enormous impact on me. Each year I have found a project that I could help in this way. It has been enormously stratifying.
What can you do once you have data?
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Brian Jepson says
While I have ideas about the kinds of tools I would like to see, having the data sooner will allow the community to start using the wealth of existing tools on the web and their desktops to use it. What would you know if you had community development grant data and arrest records and combine it with Many Eyes and Google Maps?
The folks at EveryBlock are doing inspiring work. They are funded by the Knight Foundation and the plan is to make the tools available to everyone in the near future.
You should check out these guys: http://sunlightlabs.com/about/The Sunlight Foundation is doing great things. But the Sunlight Foundation has data from the US government while South Kingstown has no data. It would be great if South Kingstown becomes a model municipality regards data (open records). One of my fears is that the state government will enact an incoherent set of data mandates that effectively cripple online data. (Much as they have done now for open meetings.) The work done at RI.gov is an encouraging sign, however.
I think their approach is different; they take existing government data and make it useful.
While I have ideas about the kinds of tools I would like to see, having the data sooner will allow the community to start using the wealth of existing tools on the web and their desktops to use it. What would you know if you had community development grant data and arrest records and combine it with Many Eyes and Google Maps?
The folks at EveryBlock are doing inspiring work. They are funded by the Knight Foundation and the plan is to make the tools available to everyone in the near future.
Attending Jan 26 Town Council Meeting
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I am going to attend this Monday's (Jan 26) Town Council meeting to address the issue of cost because it is a distracting maneuver. Nothing would be planned, let alone be acted upon, if it were pre-judged to be expensive. How do you know until you analyze the problem and a solution what the cost will be? You really can't. Instead, you make an instinctual decision based on past experiences and past data. When you are hunting mastodons this is prudent. When you are considering technology this is blindness.
Technology scares many people. It has a similar aura as does medicine. It is to be practiced, discussed, and decided upon by the trained experts. But, anyone who has had to care for a sick loved one knows that you can become an expert. It might only be in a single area of medicine but here you are an expert. You can meaningfully engage with the practitioners and the care. The amount of technology needed to be known about for community awareness is tiny. It has nothing to do with operating systems -- Windows or Macintosh -- or applications -- Microsoft Outlook or FileMaker. It has to do with understanding a few principles of data sharing and data securing. Understand the principles, let the experts debate the tools, and then come together to ensure that the tools enable the principles.
The last paragraph is not as clear as I would like. I am sure by Monday I will have a better story to tell.
Technology scares many people. It has a similar aura as does medicine. It is to be practiced, discussed, and decided upon by the trained experts. But, anyone who has had to care for a sick loved one knows that you can become an expert. It might only be in a single area of medicine but here you are an expert. You can meaningfully engage with the practitioners and the care. The amount of technology needed to be known about for community awareness is tiny. It has nothing to do with operating systems -- Windows or Macintosh -- or applications -- Microsoft Outlook or FileMaker. It has to do with understanding a few principles of data sharing and data securing. Understand the principles, let the experts debate the tools, and then come together to ensure that the tools enable the principles.
The last paragraph is not as clear as I would like. I am sure by Monday I will have a better story to tell.
Liz Boardman wrote a great article in the South County Independent
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Liz Boardman of the South County Independent and I talked for some time on Monday about the town and school administrations using online tools to enable greater community participation. She did a great job of summarizing much of what we talked about in her article Resident proposes town use Web more efficiently.
I have not been able to attend the last few Town and School committee meetings. I was saddened to read in her article that there was no discussion about the issue yet. In fact, at this stage my request for public documents is over 10 business days old and this constitutes a RI Access to Public Records Act crime. I hoped emails would work. I guess I will have start using the telephone. How very late-nineteenth century.
I have not been able to attend the last few Town and School committee meetings. I was saddened to read in her article that there was no discussion about the issue yet. In fact, at this stage my request for public documents is over 10 business days old and this constitutes a RI Access to Public Records Act crime. I hoped emails would work. I guess I will have start using the telephone. How very late-nineteenth century.
"Recessions provide opportunities for re-evaluating services and the cost of services. ..."
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In this month'sAmerican City & County magazine, Stephen Alfred is quoted in the "Ideas & Trends" section, "Weathering the recession", as saying "The attitude should not be 'woe is me.' Recessions provide opportunities for re-evaluating services and the cost of services. Review the statutes in place to see if they are appropriate or need to be revised."I agree.
Making other plans alongside the financial ones
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A second response to Vincent Murray's email.
Rereading your letter I want to address the part
"At present the Town Council, School Committee, Town Manager and Superintendents primary focus is developing a budget in very difficult fiscal circumstances. Given this singular focus, the consideration of changes to engage and inform the citizenry though electronic means will have to await the municipal and school budgets being crafted and finalized."
It is my experience that if projects are not made part of the budget then the project is not done. The town is very careful about planning: It is to the town's great credit that it has a multi-year perspective on necessary changes. Even the lowly trailer get has a multi-year replacement plan! Further, the only means of enabling ACTUAL change within the town is via the budget process. I do understand that this is a difficult budget year. It is difficult for my family too (I have no job in Feb). However, the difficulties must not prevent the town or my family making other plans alongside the financial ones.
If there is alternative way to have change happen within the town and school outside of the budget process then please do help me and the greater South Kingstown community understand.
Yours truly,
Andrew Gilmarin
Rereading your letter I want to address the part
"At present the Town Council, School Committee, Town Manager and Superintendents primary focus is developing a budget in very difficult fiscal circumstances. Given this singular focus, the consideration of changes to engage and inform the citizenry though electronic means will have to await the municipal and school budgets being crafted and finalized."
It is my experience that if projects are not made part of the budget then the project is not done. The town is very careful about planning: It is to the town's great credit that it has a multi-year perspective on necessary changes. Even the lowly trailer get has a multi-year replacement plan! Further, the only means of enabling ACTUAL change within the town is via the budget process. I do understand that this is a difficult budget year. It is difficult for my family too (I have no job in Feb). However, the difficulties must not prevent the town or my family making other plans alongside the financial ones.
If there is alternative way to have change happen within the town and school outside of the budget process then please do help me and the greater South Kingstown community understand.
Yours truly,
Andrew Gilmarin
Response to Vincent Murray's email
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My response to Vincent Murray's email.
Mr Murray:
Thank you for your detailed letter in response to my earlier email to the Town Council and Mr Alfred. My email was not about how the town currently supports participation -- I have a fairly good knowledge of this -- but how the town's administration manages its day to day activities. What tools and what processes does it use to do this. How does the Planning Department or the Parks and Recreation Department track what it has to do, who is doing it, what are the documents needed and the documents produced, etc. Having a better understanding of the tools and processes will make any suggestions or recommendations I have as to how to increase public awareness informed and, I very much hope, beneficial.
I understand that my concept of civic participation is different than is generally seen. For me, participation starts with awareness. For example, a townsman might ask "Why is there a concrete mixing truck sitting at the end of my driveway?". An online neighborhood (geo-location) search of the town's records would show the building permits in the area. Within this list of building permits the townsman would have an answer to the question. This is re-actionary awareness. There is also pro-actionary awareness where, for example, the same townsman would register interest in any town activity with his neighborhood: This would include, building permits, planning applications, zoning change applications, maintenance to town water lines, maintenance to town sewer lines, burn permits, etc. The full wealth of what can be done (and done at little monetary cost) is only hinted at here.
To this end, I am less interested in (open) meetings and more interested in (open) records.
So much of citizen awareness is either 1) after the fact or 2) far too late in the process to substantively change. Replacing the Financial Town Meeting with the new budget process addresses point 2. I want to address point 1. How can we make citizens aware as soon as possible of administrative activities in which they have an interest? During the planning of the new budget process I questioned how the administration was going to get the people to attend when attendance at any public meeting except the FTM was negligible. Without attendance the new budget process is less inclusive and participatory than the FTM.
I know that this can be achieved and that now is a good time to take the first steps. A first step is analysis. This should be a joint analysis by citizens and administrators but I know that this would require a more formal approach. At this time I am just looking to help give better shape to my concept of citizen awareness that is compelling enough to motivate the council (and the school committee) to include in their its goals (and support in the budget) enabling the first steps.
I would very much like to sit down with you rather than continue the conversation via email. When are you available next week to meet?
-- Andrew
Mr Murray:
Thank you for your detailed letter in response to my earlier email to the Town Council and Mr Alfred. My email was not about how the town currently supports participation -- I have a fairly good knowledge of this -- but how the town's administration manages its day to day activities. What tools and what processes does it use to do this. How does the Planning Department or the Parks and Recreation Department track what it has to do, who is doing it, what are the documents needed and the documents produced, etc. Having a better understanding of the tools and processes will make any suggestions or recommendations I have as to how to increase public awareness informed and, I very much hope, beneficial.
I understand that my concept of civic participation is different than is generally seen. For me, participation starts with awareness. For example, a townsman might ask "Why is there a concrete mixing truck sitting at the end of my driveway?". An online neighborhood (geo-location) search of the town's records would show the building permits in the area. Within this list of building permits the townsman would have an answer to the question. This is re-actionary awareness. There is also pro-actionary awareness where, for example, the same townsman would register interest in any town activity with his neighborhood: This would include, building permits, planning applications, zoning change applications, maintenance to town water lines, maintenance to town sewer lines, burn permits, etc. The full wealth of what can be done (and done at little monetary cost) is only hinted at here.
To this end, I am less interested in (open) meetings and more interested in (open) records.
So much of citizen awareness is either 1) after the fact or 2) far too late in the process to substantively change. Replacing the Financial Town Meeting with the new budget process addresses point 2. I want to address point 1. How can we make citizens aware as soon as possible of administrative activities in which they have an interest? During the planning of the new budget process I questioned how the administration was going to get the people to attend when attendance at any public meeting except the FTM was negligible. Without attendance the new budget process is less inclusive and participatory than the FTM.
I know that this can be achieved and that now is a good time to take the first steps. A first step is analysis. This should be a joint analysis by citizens and administrators but I know that this would require a more formal approach. At this time I am just looking to help give better shape to my concept of citizen awareness that is compelling enough to motivate the council (and the school committee) to include in their its goals (and support in the budget) enabling the first steps.
I would very much like to sit down with you rather than continue the conversation via email. When are you available next week to meet?
-- Andrew
Vincent Murray, Director of Planning, response to my earlier email
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Email from Vincent Murray, Director of Planning, response to my earlier email to the town manager and council
January 16, 2009
Andrew:
Steve Alfred directed your emails to my attention for review and reply. Although your email is very general in nature one question you pose seems to be a general inquiry about the broad processes and procedures that the Town utilizes to engage the public in participatory democracy on the local level. In broad form the Town's Charter defines our local governmental organization and procedures with regard to the Town Council's powers and duties and its relationship to the electorate. It also details the duties and requirements of the various Town Boards and Commissions and administrative departments and procedures. With reference to the crafting and adoption of the Town's budget and Capital Improvement Program the Charter defines the post "Financial Town Meeting" procedures adopted in November of 2006. These changes, which include detailed provisions to engage the public's interest in the budget development process, were crafted by an appointed Charter Review Commission and subsequently approved by the Town Council and the electorate in November of 2006.
All meetings of the Town Council and other municipal public bodies are conducted in accordance with the requirements of RIGL 42-46 "Open Meetings" and all town records are available to interested parties under the provisions of RIGL 38-2 "Access to Public Records". As you know the historical essence of participatory democracy is the public interaction of elected officials and the electorate in open, public forum. The interest of the electorate and public at large in issues and proposals that come before Town Councils and other municipal boards and commissions is as variable as the New England weather, sometimes intense and other times more tepid. Often the most intense participation is seen in neighborhood type issues rather than those related generally to the Town as a whole. This interaction is critical in shaping policies and programs that are balanced, rational and reflective of the best interests of the community. It can't be forced but the Town can (and does) make a substantial effort to inform, engage and outreach the community though a variety of means. This includes all postings and advertisements required under the open meetings law and the Town's Charter and Code of Ordinances, providing detailed informational packages on all agendas to the local press (Narragansett Times, South County Independent and Providence Journal) and at the Peace Dale Library as well as increasing utilization of the Town's website, www.southkingstownri.com for a wide array of information, schedules, reports, contact information, data sets (including tax assessment information and access to the Town's GIS system) various links, etc. The Town provides a concerted effort to maintain and update the site. The website also provides interested parties the ability to communicate with the Town Hall via email to ask questions, express opinions or raise issues of any kind. These inquires are relayed to the Town Manager's office for handling and response. The website is a well-used resource in the community with an average # of hits per day of 320 (new and repeat visitors), new visitors average 162 per day. The monthly average # of visits to the website is 9,733.
We view online participation through the Town's website as valuable adjunct to the public participatory process for the Town Council and Town Boards and Commissions. It is not a substitute for the public process nor should it be. The newer trend you cite (use of "wiki's, issue tracking blogs and the like) is of interest locally and may be something we can use as an adjunct to and support of the public processes of government in the not too distant future. We did in fact use the Town's website to assess and engage the public's views on issues relating to the budget development process during the Charter Review Commission process. This type of outreach will likely be utilized again on an issue specific basis.
However, the use of anonymous blog sites raises concerns in terms of open meeting law requirements and the overriding need that the process to consider issues, develop policies and conduct government business generally must be of an open and public nature. You may recall that Special Assistant AG Laura Marasco at this weeks forum, "Open Government 101" (which you attended) indicated that local governments should avoid use of blogging sites due to open meetings concerns, (we also had a staff member in attendance at the seminar). We are consulting with our legal counsel to gain a better understanding of these issues from the legal perspective, but at the moment will be guided by the advice given by Assistant AG Marasco and not move in this direction. At present the Town Council, School Committee, Town Manager and Superintendents primary focus is developing a budget in very difficult fiscal circumstances. Given this singular focus, the consideration of changes to engage and inform the citizenry though electronic means will have to await the municipal and school budgets being crafted and finalized.
It is hoped this discussion is useful as a reply to your recent communications. Should you have questions or comments please direct these to my attention. Best regards.
Sincerely,
Vincent Murray
Director of Planning
January 16, 2009
Andrew:
Steve Alfred directed your emails to my attention for review and reply. Although your email is very general in nature one question you pose seems to be a general inquiry about the broad processes and procedures that the Town utilizes to engage the public in participatory democracy on the local level. In broad form the Town's Charter defines our local governmental organization and procedures with regard to the Town Council's powers and duties and its relationship to the electorate. It also details the duties and requirements of the various Town Boards and Commissions and administrative departments and procedures. With reference to the crafting and adoption of the Town's budget and Capital Improvement Program the Charter defines the post "Financial Town Meeting" procedures adopted in November of 2006. These changes, which include detailed provisions to engage the public's interest in the budget development process, were crafted by an appointed Charter Review Commission and subsequently approved by the Town Council and the electorate in November of 2006.
All meetings of the Town Council and other municipal public bodies are conducted in accordance with the requirements of RIGL 42-46 "Open Meetings" and all town records are available to interested parties under the provisions of RIGL 38-2 "Access to Public Records". As you know the historical essence of participatory democracy is the public interaction of elected officials and the electorate in open, public forum. The interest of the electorate and public at large in issues and proposals that come before Town Councils and other municipal boards and commissions is as variable as the New England weather, sometimes intense and other times more tepid. Often the most intense participation is seen in neighborhood type issues rather than those related generally to the Town as a whole. This interaction is critical in shaping policies and programs that are balanced, rational and reflective of the best interests of the community. It can't be forced but the Town can (and does) make a substantial effort to inform, engage and outreach the community though a variety of means. This includes all postings and advertisements required under the open meetings law and the Town's Charter and Code of Ordinances, providing detailed informational packages on all agendas to the local press (Narragansett Times, South County Independent and Providence Journal) and at the Peace Dale Library as well as increasing utilization of the Town's website, www.southkingstownri.com for a wide array of information, schedules, reports, contact information, data sets (including tax assessment information and access to the Town's GIS system) various links, etc. The Town provides a concerted effort to maintain and update the site. The website also provides interested parties the ability to communicate with the Town Hall via email to ask questions, express opinions or raise issues of any kind. These inquires are relayed to the Town Manager's office for handling and response. The website is a well-used resource in the community with an average # of hits per day of 320 (new and repeat visitors), new visitors average 162 per day. The monthly average # of visits to the website is 9,733.
We view online participation through the Town's website as valuable adjunct to the public participatory process for the Town Council and Town Boards and Commissions. It is not a substitute for the public process nor should it be. The newer trend you cite (use of "wiki's, issue tracking blogs and the like) is of interest locally and may be something we can use as an adjunct to and support of the public processes of government in the not too distant future. We did in fact use the Town's website to assess and engage the public's views on issues relating to the budget development process during the Charter Review Commission process. This type of outreach will likely be utilized again on an issue specific basis.
However, the use of anonymous blog sites raises concerns in terms of open meeting law requirements and the overriding need that the process to consider issues, develop policies and conduct government business generally must be of an open and public nature. You may recall that Special Assistant AG Laura Marasco at this weeks forum, "Open Government 101" (which you attended) indicated that local governments should avoid use of blogging sites due to open meetings concerns, (we also had a staff member in attendance at the seminar). We are consulting with our legal counsel to gain a better understanding of these issues from the legal perspective, but at the moment will be guided by the advice given by Assistant AG Marasco and not move in this direction. At present the Town Council, School Committee, Town Manager and Superintendents primary focus is developing a budget in very difficult fiscal circumstances. Given this singular focus, the consideration of changes to engage and inform the citizenry though electronic means will have to await the municipal and school budgets being crafted and finalized.
It is hoped this discussion is useful as a reply to your recent communications. Should you have questions or comments please direct these to my attention. Best regards.
Sincerely,
Vincent Murray
Director of Planning
Thank you and your staff for another informative capital budget meeting last night
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Email to the town manager and council after the first capital budget meeting presentation
Thank you and your staff for another informative capital budget meeting last night. Every time I see the budget document I wonder how much hair was lost wrangling Microsoft Word and Excel together to produce it.
I have been giving thought to my call for online participation. For me the principle element of participation is awareness of the activities of the town and school administration. When you know what is happening then you know that you need to be engaged. (How to engage is a related but different participation problem.) While I have experience with commercial and open-source [1] tools that simultaneously enable internal management and external awareness for software development organizations -- such as issue trackers [2] and extranets [3] -- but my thinking is hindered by my lack of knowledge of what is done today in town and school administration. Would you or someone on your staff be willing to introduce me to the tools and processes the town uses to manage its activities? (I plan on asking Robert Hicks the same question.)
Yours truly,
Andrew Gilmartin
[1] The tool and documentation is free. Support is sometimes available at a cost. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_source
[2] See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Issue_tracking_system
[3] Shared and secured data. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extranet
Thank you and your staff for another informative capital budget meeting last night. Every time I see the budget document I wonder how much hair was lost wrangling Microsoft Word and Excel together to produce it.
I have been giving thought to my call for online participation. For me the principle element of participation is awareness of the activities of the town and school administration. When you know what is happening then you know that you need to be engaged. (How to engage is a related but different participation problem.) While I have experience with commercial and open-source [1] tools that simultaneously enable internal management and external awareness for software development organizations -- such as issue trackers [2] and extranets [3] -- but my thinking is hindered by my lack of knowledge of what is done today in town and school administration. Would you or someone on your staff be willing to introduce me to the tools and processes the town uses to manage its activities? (I plan on asking Robert Hicks the same question.)
Yours truly,
Andrew Gilmartin
[1] The tool and documentation is free. Support is sometimes available at a cost. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_source
[2] See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Issue_tracking_system
[3] Shared and secured data. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extranet
Town and School Contacts
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Town Council
Town Council
towncouncil@southkingstownri.com
Mary S. Eddy, Vice-President
782-8261
salaam1@cox.net
Kathleen A. Fogarty, President
782-1919
BINGFOG@cox.net
Carol Hagan McEntee
401 789-4541
James W. O'Neill
789-3663
coastal4ri@aol.com
Ella M. Whaley
789-2996
ellawhaley@cox.net
Stephen A. Alfred, Town Manager
789-9331 ext. 1201
salfred@southkingstownri.com
School Committee
Anthony Mega, Chairperson
783-8936
Andrewjoe1@cox.net
Kevin Jackson, Vice Chairperson
792-3222
KJackson41@cox.net
Stephen (Scott) Mueller
954-6045
scottmueller@cs.com
Maureen Cotter
789-0835
mcotter@skschools.net
Richard Angeli, Jr.
783-7889
rangeli@cox.net
Frederick Frostic
284-3850
fredfrostic@aol.com
Elizabeth (Liz) Morris
284-0255
lizsmor@mac.com
Robert Hicks, Superintendent
360-1307
rhicks@skschools.net
Town Council
towncouncil@southkingstownri.com
Mary S. Eddy, Vice-President
782-8261
salaam1@cox.net
Kathleen A. Fogarty, President
782-1919
BINGFOG@cox.net
Carol Hagan McEntee
401 789-4541
James W. O'Neill
789-3663
coastal4ri@aol.com
Ella M. Whaley
789-2996
ellawhaley@cox.net
Stephen A. Alfred, Town Manager
789-9331 ext. 1201
salfred@southkingstownri.com
School Committee
Anthony Mega, Chairperson
783-8936
Andrewjoe1@cox.net
Kevin Jackson, Vice Chairperson
792-3222
KJackson41@cox.net
Stephen (Scott) Mueller
954-6045
scottmueller@cs.com
Maureen Cotter
789-0835
mcotter@skschools.net
Richard Angeli, Jr.
783-7889
rangeli@cox.net
Frederick Frostic
284-3850
fredfrostic@aol.com
Elizabeth (Liz) Morris
284-0255
lizsmor@mac.com
Robert Hicks, Superintendent
360-1307
rhicks@skschools.net
Participation starts with awareness
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Blog posting January 2009
For me participation in South Kingstown municipal government and school administration starts with awareness. What is happening right now in town and school? For example, did you know that the engineering drawings for the bathrooms on main st & bike path are complete and implementation is waiting on state funding (promised but now on hold)? Perhaps you are an avid bike path user and want to see the bathrooms built in place of buying more open land this year. Being aware of bike path activities would empower you to advocate for this construction. (The town, by the way, already has been able to set aside 29% of the available land for open-space.) When you are aware of what is being considered and what is being acted upon as early as possible then you don't feel blind sided when the change happens nor do you feel that nothing is happening.
You need to be able to subscribe to specific issues, categories of issues, and full text searches of issues. When new data is added to an issue -- a fact, a comment, a data set, a PDF, a GIS layer, etc -- you will be automatically notified. For some issues you want just a weekly summary sent in email on Saturday morning. For other issues you want detail emailed ASAP and an text message sent now.
For me participation in South Kingstown municipal government and school administration starts with awareness. What is happening right now in town and school? For example, did you know that the engineering drawings for the bathrooms on main st & bike path are complete and implementation is waiting on state funding (promised but now on hold)? Perhaps you are an avid bike path user and want to see the bathrooms built in place of buying more open land this year. Being aware of bike path activities would empower you to advocate for this construction. (The town, by the way, already has been able to set aside 29% of the available land for open-space.) When you are aware of what is being considered and what is being acted upon as early as possible then you don't feel blind sided when the change happens nor do you feel that nothing is happening.
You need to be able to subscribe to specific issues, categories of issues, and full text searches of issues. When new data is added to an issue -- a fact, a comment, a data set, a PDF, a GIS layer, etc -- you will be automatically notified. For some issues you want just a weekly summary sent in email on Saturday morning. For other issues you want detail emailed ASAP and an text message sent now.
A call for a new kind of town hall
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Letter to the South County Independent editor, December 2008.
Public participation in South Kingstown (RI, USA) town and school governance is negligible. Most public meetings, like this week's joint town council and school committee meeting formally opening consideration of the 2009 & 2010 budget, have only a handful of people present. Too often there is no one present.
A little consideration shows that this is to be expected: The current means of public participation were designed around the needs and wants of a very different time then our own. The town council chamber is itself a monument to these needs and wants. It is a physical community gathering spot. Other community gathering spots include the newspaper (for public notices) and the town hall bulletin board. Even the early evening meeting times accommodate a past when the man of the house could leave his children to the care of his (house)wife in the comfort of his home.
This is not the world I live nor the world of most of the people I know. Both parents work, care for the children, and do housework. Sometimes they work in staggered shifts so that at least one of them is at home with the children. And when the children have gone to bed work picks up again for another hour or two: The "mommy work hours" of 9 AM to 3 PM and then 8 PM to 10 PM.
We also communicate differently. We use e-mail and voice-mail. We chat via IM (instant messaging) or texting on our phones. We discuss every kind of subject in online groups. We share our lives with our friends through our blogs and Facebook "walls." And when we do gather in person we do so by "homing in" on a place, a time, and who will attend via a ever tightening circle of short messages over time.
This pattern is not going away. It is deepening. Just as the town council chamber was build to support participation we need now to build a different and effective mechanism for today.
We need our public documents, meetings, and other artifacts online. We need to be notified about additions. We need to be notified when they have changed. We need to be able to comment upon these online and have this commentary considered. These new tools of participation are not ancillary. They are as primary as the existing ones.
Doing this is not a great technical challenge. The software development industry routinely uses these tools everywhere and everyday. Doing this does not require a great operational cost. The tools are free, the storage and computational costs minuscule, and the support costs reasonable. The most challenging cost is to the school's and town's processes. It is not that more work will be required of officials and staff but that the work is done differently. The difference results in making visible to online tools the workings of the school and the town.
I ask all of you to please contact the school committee and town council and ask that they initiate the changes necessary to enable citizen participation in our time. Now is a very good time for change.
Public participation in South Kingstown (RI, USA) town and school governance is negligible. Most public meetings, like this week's joint town council and school committee meeting formally opening consideration of the 2009 & 2010 budget, have only a handful of people present. Too often there is no one present.
A little consideration shows that this is to be expected: The current means of public participation were designed around the needs and wants of a very different time then our own. The town council chamber is itself a monument to these needs and wants. It is a physical community gathering spot. Other community gathering spots include the newspaper (for public notices) and the town hall bulletin board. Even the early evening meeting times accommodate a past when the man of the house could leave his children to the care of his (house)wife in the comfort of his home.
This is not the world I live nor the world of most of the people I know. Both parents work, care for the children, and do housework. Sometimes they work in staggered shifts so that at least one of them is at home with the children. And when the children have gone to bed work picks up again for another hour or two: The "mommy work hours" of 9 AM to 3 PM and then 8 PM to 10 PM.
We also communicate differently. We use e-mail and voice-mail. We chat via IM (instant messaging) or texting on our phones. We discuss every kind of subject in online groups. We share our lives with our friends through our blogs and Facebook "walls." And when we do gather in person we do so by "homing in" on a place, a time, and who will attend via a ever tightening circle of short messages over time.
This pattern is not going away. It is deepening. Just as the town council chamber was build to support participation we need now to build a different and effective mechanism for today.
We need our public documents, meetings, and other artifacts online. We need to be notified about additions. We need to be notified when they have changed. We need to be able to comment upon these online and have this commentary considered. These new tools of participation are not ancillary. They are as primary as the existing ones.
Doing this is not a great technical challenge. The software development industry routinely uses these tools everywhere and everyday. Doing this does not require a great operational cost. The tools are free, the storage and computational costs minuscule, and the support costs reasonable. The most challenging cost is to the school's and town's processes. It is not that more work will be required of officials and staff but that the work is done differently. The difference results in making visible to online tools the workings of the school and the town.
I ask all of you to please contact the school committee and town council and ask that they initiate the changes necessary to enable citizen participation in our time. Now is a very good time for change.
With awareness comes participation
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I am engaged in changing the way the South Kingstown town and school administration keeps us -- the members of the South Kingstown community -- aware of their activities. I believe that with awareness will come participation. This blog is a record of ideas and communications.
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