By Keith Twitchell | President
This has been a slightly quieter than usual period here at the Citizen Participation Project. While we never seem to slow down over the summer, the city in general moves at a more relaxed pace, with many people away on various vacations. Also, the new mayor and City Council, inaugurated in May, have been considerably occupied with settling in and dealing with various situations left for them by their predecessors.
That said, progress has has certainly continued. First and foremost has been the Big Easy Budget Game, now in its third year. We have been working harder than ever to make sure we include residents who do not have regular computer access and/or have other barriers to participation. This has involved partnering with a variety of organizations and institutions to put on events where we bring the Budget Game to the community. In the last few months, we have been to schools, senior centers, community festivals and meetings, neighborhood meetings, and more. We currently have an international fellow from the Dominican Republic working with us, through the State Department's Community Solutions Program, and Camila has enabled us to reach a larger number of Spanish-speaking residents as well.
Our reach with the Budget Game has also been expanded via partnerships with several of the new City Councilmembers, who have co-hosted Game events with us. In particular, CM Cyndi Nguyen worked with us to put on six Game nights in New Orleans East and the Lower 9th Ward, sections of the city that often seem to get overlooked by decision-makers. All in all, we anticipate both record numbers of participants and the best-yet demographic mix when we release the final People's Budget report later this year. In the meantime, we have attached our mid-year report below.
The other main point of progress has been on the neighborhood boundary mapping project, a vital precursor to implementing the Citizen Participation Program. We have collaborated with new CM Jay Banks and his staff to finalize a resolution authorizing this project to move forward, and anticipate that the City Council will formally adopt it at the first October meeting. In the meantime, we have begun laying out the work plan with our main city partners in this project, the Neighborhood Engagement Office.
We continue to fight for the right of the community to participate in several other major city projects, including redevelopment of the old Charity Hospital and surrounding district, and redevelopment of two French Quarter wharves that are being removed from commerce and repurposed for public use. On the latter project, the Audubon Institute -- which is managing this project -- is engaging us to work with them on the community engagement component of the project.
As we head into the final quarter of the year, we remain very excited about the prospects for institutionalizing meaningful community participation in New Orleans. We always wish the work was going faster, but are pleased with the progress made this year. And of course we could never have gotten this far without your generous support; we are extremely grateful for your contributions, and hope you will continue being valued partners as we move ever closer to the finish line. Thanks so much from the CPP staff!
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