Glenn's blog

After reading the wonderful example of dialogue and engagement in the DTES yesterday, I came across this example by Kennedy Stewart of how not to conduct public engagement.

Every year the city asks the public how they think council should raise and spend money and every year the public is invited to input into the budget making process. Robertson has just announced a series of eight public consultation meetings and a website where “residents and businesses are encouraged to provide their views on City budget priorities and closing the budget gap.” Apparently, no topic is off limits and citizens can explore a range of possibilities through which the city can “prioritize services and keep property taxes down” - including providing input on topics such as “library hours, book and DVD purchases for libraries, hours of operation at community centres…”

While this appears to be an effort to bring the community into the decision, Kennedy points out some serious flaws in the process.

He notes that the process was announced on a Friday:

Friday is always the best day to announce news you want no one to hear. And no one did.

He then notes the schedule of the consultation meetings:

The first of the eight meetings occured three days after the date of the buried media release, the final meeting two weeks later. This schedule provides no time for citizens to hear about, prepare or organize to attend these meetings.

There is also a poorly publicised online space where people can post their ideas. To be fair to the city officials, Kennedy's criticism of this because it isn't highly trafficked or well-used doesn't necessarily indicate that the process is flawed. I think that the online portion could be more publicised (as could the whole process) but it is there, and it does work. It remains to be seen if they actually listen to any of the comments.

The meetings are set up at reasonably convenient times at community centres around the city. However, I don't know how many people they will be expecting, since I hadn't heard of the process until yesterday when I read Kennedy's post – the first day of the meetings. My neighborhood meeting is scheduled for tomorrow, which is fine for me, since I don't have any children to worry about. I am also far less dependent on city services and can bear higher property taxes more than a family with children who may not be free to drop everything with a single day's notice.

It would seem to me that if the city council were really, genuinely trying to involve the residents they would plan a process that provides more advance notice and would work to better promote these events in each community. Based on the feelings I now have about the process, I am far less inclined to believe that anything that is said during the "consultations" will be listened to. It feels like a show, and is the exact opposite of empowering.

[Note: view the city's page on the budget consultation process.]