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UID:Indybay-18676065
SEQUENCE:18755459
CREATED:20110401T041200Z
DESCRIPTION:Join the Center for Political Education, SF PODER, JASEcon, San Francisco 
 Community Land Trust, Shareable.net and other community-based organizations 
 for a discussion of Participatory Budgeting and how it could be applied in 
 San Francisco with Josh Lerner and Alderman Joe Moore. Participatory 
 budgeting is a democratic process in which community members directly 
 decide how to spend part of a public budget. Hundreds of municipalities all 
 over the world have used this process to open up decision-making on 
 municipal budgets to community stakeholders. It is an important tool to 
 create more participation in proposal development, transparency of budget 
 allocation, and to get resources to communities whose voices often go 
 unheard and that are significantly under-served by budgets, especially in 
 times of budget cuts.\n \nIn 2009, Alderman Joe Moore, a member of 
 Chicago's City Council representing the 49th Ward (a district that speaks 
 80 different languages), launched the first participatory budgeting process 
 in the US, inviting residents of his ward to directly decide how to spend 
 his $1.3 million discretionary budget.  The initiative was a resounding 
 success that engaged over 50 civic, religious and community organizations 
 in the development of budget proposals, which culminated in a ward-wide 
 election in April, 2010, where over 1,600 49th Ward residents voted on 
 infrastructure spending priorities for 2010.  \n \nAlderman Joe Moore is a 
 member of Chicago 's City Council. Since 1991 he has represented the city's 
 49th Ward, which includes the Rogers Park neighborhood. Moore has been 
 named the "Most Valuable Local Official" in the country by The Nation 
 magazine, in recognition for his successful sponsorship of a resolution 
 against the war in Iraq , measures requiring living wages for employees of 
 big box retail stores, and environmental restrictions on Chicago 's 
 coal-fired power plants. Starting in 2009, he launched the first 
 participatory budgeting process in the US, inviting residents of his ward 
 to directly decide how to spend his $1.3 million discretionary budget.\n 
 \nJosh Lerner is Co-Director of The Participatory Budgeting Project, a 
 non-profit organization that works with elected officials, public agencies, 
 and community organizations to open up public budgets to public 
 participation. He served as a lead adviser to Alderman Moore for 
 participatory budgeting in Chicago's 49th Ward, and he has also researched 
 and worked with participatory budgeting processes in Canada, Argentina, 
 Brazil, Guatemala, Spain, and the UK. Lerner is a PhD candidate in Politics 
 at the New School for Social Research and has taught at Fordham University, 
 The New School, and the Brooklyn Center for the Urban Environment.\n 
 https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2011/03/31/18676065.php
SUMMARY:From Budget Cuts to the People’s Budget (Participatory Budgeting)
LOCATION:Centro del Pueblo Auditorium, 474 Valencia St., Second Floor, San 
 Francisco, CA 94103 (wheelchair accessible, donation for space accepted)
URL:https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2011/03/31/18676065.php
DTSTART:20110427T013000Z
DTEND:20110427T033000Z
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