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Boston Civic Summit liveblogging
By adamg on Sat, 05/03/2008 - 9:07am
Let's see if I can do this ...
As I type, City Councilor Maureen Feeney, who helped organize the thing, is opening the event - 400 people in attendance. Wants to revitalize civic discussion and participation in Boston. Only 11% of Bostonians voted in the last election. The city now is supported by "hands too few and too tired." Local groups and neighborhood watches act in isolation.
"Not about potholes and paving sidewalks. It is about political positioning." Positive discussion about civic health and vitality.
James Rooney, executive director of the Mass. Convention Center Authority: Boston has a long history of civic involvement, from Sarah Hale, who raised the funds for the Bunker Hill Monument to the neighborhood groups that stopped the Southwest Expressway. "Can you imagine living today with a 10-mile 400-foot wide highway through those neighborhoods? That's civic engagement."
Then Tom Menino spoke. "I was right in the middle of that. 'Stop I-95.' " Think of it: I-95 comes all the way up from Florida, starts at the other side of the city. "That's the power people had at the time." Boston's a city of strong and diverse neighborhoods. Today we're here to capture that spirit and channel it to affect the issues of our lives.
We all want quality schools, clean and safe neighborhoods, youth opportunities.
"Don't just say what's wrong. Work with us to make it right."
Alan Khazei, co-founder of City Year and now CEO of We The Change.
"Boston, as we all know, is a city of revolution and unparalled social innovation:" First public school, first college, first Sunday school, first integrated school, first kindergarten.
"I know, from my own personal experience. what an extremely nurturing community this is."
Rugged idealists. It was rugged idealists who managed to bring a 2 1/2 year period of no youth homicides in Boston. "If we did it once, we can do it again."
Challenges: Foreclosures, poverty (76% of Boston public-school kids eligible for school lunches), homelessness.
Boston has enormous resources and enormous goodwill. 70% of Bostonians say they can rely on their neighbors if they need help.
"We have to inspire others to join us" to make Boston the wonderful city we know it can be.
A few hours later: I was on the panel on dealing with media and bloggers. I told folks bloggers are even more cranky than reporters, so be careful about just mass mailing them. Also gave some (hopefully not stupid) suggestions on setting up a blog. One woman from East Boston thought that would be a good idea because she's tired of people hearing she lives in East Boston and replying "Oh, Logan Airport!"
73% of the participants are white, compared to 50% of city residents. Only 10% are black, compared to 23% citywide; 6% latino compared to 15% citywide.
Results of workshop with all 400 participants:
People particularly concerned about education, safety and economic development.
Short term improvements: After-school mentoring, citywide litter and graffiti fighting campaign, expand summer job programs, create a citywide civic-association exchange program.
Long term: Make community service mandatory in all schools. Increase community policing. Make Election Day a city holiday.
So what does all this mean? Group will create four "action teams" to deal with the four top short-term improvements; to meet June 3 at convention center.
Free tagging:
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Comments
Civic Summit
I just got back a bit early from the summit (had to skip out early to relieve babysitter!). Encouraging to see so many turn out on a Saturday on this subject. Challenge with things like this is sustaining the energy and the ideas. We're interested in doing what we can to help at Social Capital Inc.
More substantive reports
Ross Levanto files his account of the summit (especially of the lunchtime session). Michael Pahre reports on the summit as well - and puts everything in its political context (and it was good to meet both of you).
Looks like Cleveland wants to replicate the idea.
Now that I'm back home and with some good Chinese food under my belt:
It was really cool to see so many charged up people who care about Boston in one place (although as I noted above, the thing wasn't exactly representative of the city as a whole - it was a lot whiter and older, and, oddly, there were relatively few people from South Boston). And the long-term goals arrived at by consensus (well, except at my rebel of a table, where we talked about civic engagement goals) are sort of the apple-pie stuff that, in practice, will never happen (we can dream of a city with 100% graduation rates and zero murders but ...). But the short term goals? Doable. I signed up for the anti-litter, anti-graffiti "action team" myself.
Boston City Council Reference Library's J. Bernstein
J. Bernstein on the Council staff, maintains our municipal Boston City Council Reference Library a little used resource available for researching civic matters... "The City Council maintains a reference library which is open to city employees, students and the general public. The library contains City Council Minutes, Municipal Registers and City Documents dating from the early 1800's to the present. In addition, the library contains current publications relating to municipal law and finance."
http://www.cityofboston.gov/citycouncil/citycounci...
Great to meet you as well
Thanks Adam!
Audio from the Boston Civic Summit
Where is there any audio from Boston Civic Summit?... presentations?... speeches?... etc.?...
There was somebody with a serious videocamera
Recording the keynotes and lunch session. Dunno who he was with, however.
the camera guy
he was with BNN I believe...
nnnonline.org
http://nnnonline.org/
http://www.bnntv.org/
Budget hearings. Other hearings. Boston City Council M-F May 5-9
Subscribe to the Boston City Council Calendar template at
http://www.cityofboston.gov/contact/default.aspx?i...
http://www.cityofboston.gov/citycouncil/citycounci...
See also
http://www.votejohntobin.com/blog/_archives/2008/4...
BOSTON CITY COUNCIL CALENDAR
Updated 05/02/08 4:04 PM
All hearings are in the
Christopher A. Iannella Chamber on the
fifth floor of City Hall, unless noted.
NOTE:
Date and time in parentheses denotes Comcast 51 cablecast time.
Live City Council Hearing and Meetings may be viewed via
Webcast @ watch Boston City Council Television
http://www.cityofboston.gov/citycouncil/live.asp
_ _ _ _ _ Mon 5-5 _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ Tue 5-6 _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ Wed 5-7 _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ Thu 5-8 _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ Fri 5-9 _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ Mon 5-5 _ _ _ _ _
9:00 AM - GOVERNMENT OPERATIONS #0341
An Ordinance to Establish
Guidelines for the Cleaning of Commercial Cooking Hood and
Ventilation Systems.
#0322 - Standard Licensing and Regulation Process for Commercial
Grease Cleaners and Inspectors. (Live)
11:30 AM - ARTS, FILM, HUMANITIES & TOURISM #0345
A grant of $159,450.00 for the
Office of Arts, Tourism and Special Events (Live)
4:00 PM - GOVERNMENT OPERATIONS #0321
Special Law re: The preparation of Certain Ballots in the City. (Live)
_ _ _ _ _ Tue 5-6 _ _ _ _ _
10:00 AM - WAYS & MEANS
FY09 Budget: Property & Construction Management (Live)
1:30 PM - WAYS & MEANS
FY09 Budget: Arts, Tourism, Special Events (Live)
*Working Session*
4:00 PM - SPECIAL COMMITTEE ON BOSTON COMMON #0284
Order for a hearing re: the Boston Common
Location: Curley Room
(not televised)
_ _ _ _ _ Wed 5-7 _ _ _ _ _
11:30 AM
COUNCIL MEETING
(Live)
_ _ _ _ _ Thu 5-8 _ _ _ _ _
10:00 AM - WAYS & MEANS
FY09 Budget: Parks and Recreation
(Live)
1:15 PM - WAYS & MEANS
FY09 Budget: Parks and Recreation
(if necessary)
4:00 PM - HOUSING #0501
Message and order authorizing the
Department of Neighborhood Development to apply for, accept and expend
Federal FY08 Housing and Community Development Grants. (Live)
_ _ _ _ _ Fri 5-9 _ _ _ _ _
12:30 PM - PUBLIC SAFETY #0453
Boston's Emergency Dispatch System (911) (Live)
2:00 PM - GOVERNMENT OPERATIONS #0199 Ordinance calling for
mandatory use of GPS technology
on all emergency vehicles operating in the City of Boston.
(if necessary)
Further information available at council website
http://www.cityofboston.gov/citycouncil
Subscribe to the Boston City Council Calendar template at
http://www.cityofboston.gov/contact/default.aspx?i...
http://www.cityofboston.gov/citycouncil/citycounci...
See also
http://www.votejohntobin.com/blog/_archives/2008/4...
Our municipal Boston City Council has a staff of one hundred people.
What does our City Messenger do at our municipal Boston City Council?...
Who at our Boston City Council has relatively the most skill and talent with this medium, with this technology?...
Budget. Boston City Council
click on...
Non-Mayoral Department
at
http://cityofboston.gov/budget
Mumbles was "in the middle
Mumbles was "in the middle of that Stop I-95?" What was he doing - getting the donuts for the protesters?
I-95 project
Menino was a city councilor for that region at the time, i.e. Rossie and Hyde Park.
I lived through the I-95 horro and watched my neighbors eaten up, moved away, and the threat of a 6-lane highway just off our back porch.
Menino was among those helping to fight it and eventually Gov Sergeant stopped it. By then a lot was gone already.
However it is interesting that it got as far as Rossie and was finally stopped there, i.e. the property seizures.
Now those parcels are being eaten up for redevelopment and we are experiencing bad memories yet again, and making matters worse are the newbies who have no clue what the area went through or how much hurt we experienced that are willing to sluff it off as immaterial history.
Like... wow.
Reports. Boston Civic Summit.
Ask for the materials, the binder from the Boston Civic Summit and for the reports... contact
G. Dhamo
Office of the Boston City Council President Maureen Feeney
Boston City Hall, 5th Floor
Boston MA 02201
G. Dhamo
tel 617 635-3455
email
gdhamo at cityofboston.gov
http://www.cityofboston.gov/contact/default.aspx?i...
Don't ask for the binder
It'll be a waste of your time to ask for it and a waste of the City Council's budget for them to send it to you. Unless you really, really need a bio of the executive director of the convention center authority.
What's in The Binder?...
What's in the binder handed out at the Boston Civic Summit?... the binder has been mentioned in one of the news articles about the summit.
Ah, yes, The Binder
It's our secret plan for taking control of the city. So take that, Menino, bwa-ha-ha!
OK, OK. It's about as stupid to mention in a news story as the fact that, gasp, they fed us lunch (breakfast, too, why didn't the paper mention that? But maybe that's why the story only mentioned three of the four things we pledged to do; no room left after reviewing the menu).
It's a binder with copies of the schedule, bios of the featured speakers and basically empty spots in which to put the handouts you were supposed to get at workshops, except the communications workshop, where we didn't give out handouts (and, durr, I forgot to give the URL of the page I'd set up here).
In other words, nothing to get excited about.
Almonds
It was great they mentioned in the Globe that we got fresh almonds.
From little acorns ..
Chris Lovett reports on the summit:
comments not enabled
http://civicboston.blogspot.com does not have comments enabled for readers of the blog!
Preliminary Report. Boston Civic Summit.
Attached you will find the Preliminary Report for the Civic Summit. We do have more information in a binder here and it would be best to come pick it up. I can leave it at the receptionist desk so you can come pick it up at a time convenient for you.
Have a good day!
Gerta Dhamo
Office of the Boston City Council President Maureen E. Feeney
Boston City Hall, 5th Floor
Boston MA 02201
tel 617 635-3455
Gerta.Dhamo at cityofboston.gov
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Preliminary Report
May 3, 2008
The 2008 Boston Civic Summit brought over 450 civic leaders together to strengthen relationships, share ideas, and identify common priorities. In the afternoon session, 322 attendees participated in a Citywide Town Meeting to discuss their collective vision for Boston civic revitalization and what can be done to reach it.
The Citywide Town Meeting was designed to:
1. Create a vision for civic revitalization in Boston,
2. Identify priorities for reaching Boston’s vision,
3. Launch a process to develop action plans for each of our collective priorities, and
4. Strengthen relationships between civic leaders from across Boston.
Participants discussed their hopes and concerns for civic engagement in Boston and their vision for what it could be. Together, they identified priorities for short- and long-term action to reach their vision and what they are willing to do to advance their collective priorities.
Why are you posting stuff that doesn't say anything?
Basically, what that preliminary report says is a bunch of people got together and talked about a bunch of stuff. Scroll way up this thread to see what they actually talked about and decided to do.
Have you not learned?
It's the_zak... Would you honestly expect anything more?
Preliminary Report. Boston Civic Summit.
Preliminary Report
May 3, 2008
The 2008 Boston Civic Summit brought over 450 civic leaders together to strengthen relationships, share ideas, and identify common priorities. In the afternoon session, 322 attendees participated in a Citywide Town Meeting to discuss their collective vision for Boston civic revitalization and what can be done to reach it.
The Citywide Town Meeting was designed to:
Create a vision for civic revitalization in Boston,
Identify priorities for reaching Boston's vision,
Launch a process to develop action plans for each of our collective priorities, and
Strengthen relationships between civic leaders from across Boston.
Participants discussed their hopes and concerns for civic engagement in Boston and their vision for what it could be. Together, they identified priorities for short- and long-term action to reach their vision and what they are willing to do to advance their collective priorities.
PAGE 1
On which of the following issues would our community benefit the most from greater civic participation?
Economic Development 26%
Education & Youth Development 65%
Environment 41%
Health & Human Services 13%
Housing 15%
Job Training 7%
Parks & Recreation 29%
Public Safety 52%
Transportation, Traffic, & Parking 19%
Other 3%
Response to Vision
How well do these themes reflect a vision for the future that you support and hope to achieve?
60% Very well
30% Well
8% neutral
2% Not well
0% Not at all
Hopes for Civic Engagement in Boston
To begin the discussion, participants discussed experiences that made them hopeful about citizen engagement in the city:
. This Summit could be the beginning of a new era of civic revitalization.
. Our neighborhoods have been working toward real solutions to make Boston a better place (e.g. clean-up).
. Increasing diversity in our neighborhoods, "The Dorchester I'm living in is very different from the Dorchester I grew up in."
. Inspired by the increase in youth engagement (e.g. voting, City Year)
Reaching Our Vision
After identifying how we will know we have achieved our vision, the group focused on how to get there.
What are the most important actions we should take over the next year to reach our vision? (In order of priority)
. Create an after-school mentoring and tutoring program engaging area retirees and college students
. Establish a city-wide litter & anti-graffiti campaign
. Expand the city program for summer employment for at-risk youth
. Scale-up the youth summit
. Create a civic association exchange program
. Replace incandescent bulbs in the city with fluorescent
. Expand ESL classes to serve "New Bostonians"
. Make 50 % of city wi-fi accessible
Types of Organizations Represented
(What is your primary organizational affiliation?)
Civic Neighborhood Association 39%
Social Service Agency 0%
Private Citizen 8%
Government 7%
School Youth Org 6%
Private Business 3%
Media 3%
Non-Profit 27%
Faith Based 5%
Other 2%
Our Vision for Revitalized Civic Engagement
Participants envisioned thriving civic engagement in Boston in 2020 and discussed how we would know we have achieved our vision. The group identified the following concrete, measurable things that would indicate we have reached our vision of revitalized civic engagement in our city:
. Boston has a 100% high school graduation rate and Boston Public Schools are as good as schools in the suburbs
. Neighborhoods are green and sustainable (more green development, clean public spaces, decreased reliance on cars)
. The digital divide has been eliminated, partially through free wi-fi throughout the city and City services are more easily accessed through the web
. Lower crime rate, "zero murder rate every year"
. Young people fully involved in civic programs
. City government is more transparent (fully utilizing new technologies, participation is more full encouraged)
. City government is more representative- both ethnically and of neighborhoods.
How well do these themes reflect a vision for the future that you support and hope to achieve?
Very Well xx%
Well xx%
Neutral xx%
Not Well xx%
Not At All xx%
. Who Participated?
Summit Participants All of Boston
What is your gender?
Female 55% 51%
Male 45% 49%
How old are you?
15-24 3% 21%
25-34 13% 22%
35-44 17% 19%
45-54 27% 15%
55-64 28% 10%
65 and better 12% 13%
How would you describe your racial background?
African-American/Black 10% 23%
Asian 4% 8%
Caucasian/White 73% 50%
Latino 6% 15%
American Indian 1% <1%
Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander 0% <1%
Two or more races 4% 1%
Other 1% 2%
Where do you live?
Council District 1 12%
Council District 2 7%
Council District 3 20%
Council District 4 10%
Council District 5 6%
Council District 6 9%
Council District 7 8%
Council District 8 8%
Council District 9 8%
Outside of Boston 12%
How long have you lived in Boston?
0 - 4 years 12% 26%
5 - 9 years 7% 34%
10 - 19 years 15% 21%
20 - 29 years 16% 8%
30 - 39 years 18% 5%
40 years or more 32% 5%
How many hours do you volunteer per month for community groups?
0 - 5 hours 24%
6 - 10 hours 18%
11 - 15 hours 14%
16 - 20 hours 16%
21 - 30 hours 8%
31 - 40 hours 10%
More than 40 hours 10%
Next Steps
Near the end of the Citywide Town Meeting, the Boston Civic Summit Advisory Committee announced that they will reconvene to review the priorities participants identified.
Participants signed up to join Civic Action Teams. These action teams will meet at the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center on June 3rd from 6 pm to 9 pm.
How Did the Citywide Town Meeting Work?
The Citywide Town Meeting at the Boston Civic Summit was designed and facilitated using the unique 21st Century Town Meeting[R] format developed by AmericaSpeaks, a national non-partisan non-profit organization. AmericaSpeaks is well known nationally and internationally for engaging over 130,000 people in complex public policy and planning issues, including New Orleans recovery, designing of the World Trade Center site after 9/11, and social security reform.
To increase participation and input, participants were seated in small groups of 4 to 10. A trained facilitator worked with each small group throughout the session to ensure each person had an opportunity to share her or his opinion. The meeting's lead moderator presented discussion questions to the group and the ideas from each discussion were collected through networked computers stationed at each table. A team of data analysts reviewed the comments from all of the tables simultaneously and reported the common ideas back to the group almost immediately.
Then, using polling keypads, the participants reviewed and prioritized these ideas. The results from the polls were reported instantly to the group via large video screens. Polling was used both to gather demographic information and to give participants the opportunity to prioritize their comments.
Concerns about Civic Engagement
Participants also discussed experiences that made them concerned about civic engagement in Boston:
. Low youth participation
. Violence / public safety stifles public participation
. Disconnect between citizens and their government- people feel out of the loop, local officials do not attend or follow-up from community events
. Difficult to bridge racial divisions and polarization
. Many people do not feel welcome by long-time community activists
. Lots of "us vs. them" & "me vs. us" in community groups
. Lack of new people in public service, few new people running for office, lack of diversity.
Please Note: This preliminary report does not include the final results from the end of the day. A final report will be e-mailed shortly and will be available online at http://www.bostoncivicsummit.org
What do you believe are the most important issues facing our city?
Economic Development 43%
Education & Youth Development 61%
Environment 26%
Health & Human Services 17%
Housing 33%
Job Training 6%
Parks & Recreation 14%
Public Safety 37%
Transportation, Traffic, & Parking 23%
Other 6%
EMBED MSGraph.Chart.8 \s
Transparency. Preliminary Report. Boston Civic Summit.
With regard to
> Our Vision for Revitalized Civic Engagement
> . City government is more transparent
> (fully utilizing new technologies, participation is
> more full encouraged)
Transparency, beginning with our municipal Boston City
Council Staff Director, the one hundred Council staff,
our City Clerks Office, Council Stenographer and Council President...
a. More robust Council Minutes with ambiguous references made more clear, for example what is the 17F Order?, what is the legislative authority for the 17F Order?, where papers are approved what are the particular papers approved and related docket numbers?...
b. Cross reference for Council Docket Numbers.
c. Make readily available the stenographic machine data.
d. Closed captioning for Council webcasts for people with hearing loss.
e. More robust responsive staff for enquiries about public Council transactions and proceedings.
f. Develop a better customers services approach for following up enquiries about public Council transactions and proceedings.
g. Develop a variety of mechanisms for people to contribute feedback about Council communications, Council communications mediums, the usability of Council communications' technologies, the usability of Council communications' templates.
h. A Mayoral Directive and City Council Order for the more routine transmittal of public city documents to our Boston Public Library Government Documents Department http://www.bpl.org/research/govdocs