By Tobi Nussbaum, Catherine McKenney, Mathieu Fleury, Jeff Leiper, David
Chernushenko, Ottawa Citizen Op-Ed, February 8, 2015
The words “budget” and “public consultation” may evoke suppressed memories of
uncomfortable folding chairs, stale muffins and cold coffee. More worrisome,
however, is the fact that for many, those words are synonymous with being talked
at, not listened to. This week, we are hosting two sessions of what we are
calling Budget Speak, in addition to the city-run area consultations. These will
be an opportunity for residents of the urban wards to identify their municipal
priorities, communicate their views on how to fund them, better understand the
city budget process and learn how to influence budget decisions over the
long-term. With help from Citizens Academy, a local citizen engagement
organization, we are designing the sessions to be interactive – a mixture of
small group discussions, voting and exchanging ideas, preceded by a short
presentation on the draft budget. Importantly, we are asking residents to come
prepared for thoughtful deliberation. via
Op-Ed: A new kind of city budget consultation | Ottawa Citizen.