Dreams are funny....you wonder what they forecast or indicate. Usually I don't remember my dreams, but yesterday I woke remembering a very funny dream about the City Budget hearing that would happen later that day. In the dream when I sat down in the room the woman sitting next to me said that these hearings are a lot of fun and I will enjoy it. A gospel choir suddenly got up and proceeded to sing their proposal for funds, and then several other creative presentations were given. We voted ranking each one on a paper (a little like American Idol). One of the funnier things that happened was that the Jail gave a presentation of how some boating project would help rehab inmates. As is possible in dreams, a big speed boat was put in a river to demonstrate how it would work, the boat driven by an inmate just sped away (and honestly AB ;-] I did not see your picture before I went to bed ). Everyone just watched it go out of sight and then that was it....hmmm, I couldn't figure out what that was suppose to mean. So that was the gist of the dream. When I woke I really wondered what the real thing was going to be all about. My dad's take on it was that "government hearings are just a joke".
I went to the meeting in the evening, and it wasn't anything like my dream. However, it was like no other government meeting that I had ever been to. It was more like a strategic planning meeting that I've attended at several non-profits. There was a kind of "voting" in that we put stickers on categories that we would prioritize. And then had a group discussion about why the results showed dots heavy in some areas and low in others. The Mayor, several Alders, and city workers were there and about 225 citizens of the community. Not exactly reflective of the city's demographics. A higher representation of the non-profit sector, since the evening's discussion was focused on social service.
Throughout the evening many promises were expressed by those representing the City government that this process of relying heavily on citizen input would continue to be developed during Mayor Soglin's administration. That budget decisions will take seriously into account input from these meetings (which will cover 5 funding areas: Social services, administration, facilities & parks, safety, infrastructure) and input from a 40 page on-line survey that they are hoping as many city's residents will take the time to complete.
Survey link: http://www.cityofmadison.com/budgetProcess/survey.cfm
Essentially, they are building a case that this is not a joke, not a carnival or contest, but a serious dialogue and as is a common chant here in Madison these days: "This is what democracy looks like!"
