The New Orleans Citizen Participation Project

Between our municipal election cycle that is about to conclude and the New Orleans Master Plan review and amendment process, which sometimes seems like it is never going to conclude, CBNO has been very busy though more narrowly focused than usual.  However, there is some very good news to report on one of these fronts.

Before we get to those, we have found some time to continue work on the Big Easy Budget Game, both locally and globally.  The Budget Game recently won its category in the Tech All-Stars national competition relating to the use of technology in civic engagement.  Our Budget Campaign Coordinatory, Kelsey Foster, attended a resulting conference in Philadelphia last month, and CBNO will participate in a conference on how technology and community participation can pave a path to a better future in New York next month.  Locally, we are preparing the next People's Budget report for release next week, with well over 500 participants having weighed in with their priorities for the 2018 New Orleans city budget.  The Budget Game continues to serve as a viable option for residents to provide meaningful input to the city budget process here in the city, and we hope to ramp up our efforts to license it around the world once we conclude the local budget cycle this fall.

The Master Plan review and amendment process has become pretty frustrating.  This process began in June 2016 and was never, ever supposed to take this long.  The scheduling of public hearings has been delayed repeatedly, and even when they are scheduled, the timing frequently becomes something of a moving target.  It is hard to not see this as intentional on the part of the administration; right now the community is deeply fatigued with the process and of course thoroughly distracted by the elections.  CBNO's Community Guide to the Master Plan Amendments resulted in a clear increase in community participation in the first three Master Plan public meetings after its release, but at the most recent hearing six weeks ago, participation had dropped significantly.  There is another hearing scheduled for this afternoon, but between the lengthy between-meeting gap and the fact that the time of the meeting was changed just yesterday, it is hard to be optimistic about turnout.  These processes that often seem to be intentional in supressing engagement are very disappointing, and point yet again to the need for a formal Citizen Participation Program (CPP) in New Orleans.

The good news is that the CPP seems to be closer to becoming reality than it has at any time since Mayor Landrieu squashed it three months shy of adoption back in 2011.  CBNO began working on a strategy for the current election cycle five years ago, when it became clear that Landrieu would be re-elected, and thus far it has gone exactly as drawn up.  Every coalition in which CBNO participated has put the CPP into its platform, its candidate questionnaires and the questions it asks during candidate interviews and forums.  The result is that all three of the leading mayoral candidates have made unequivocal written commitments to implementing the CPP if elected.  Further, both the projected winners of the two City Council-at-Large positions have made the same commitment.  This means that the new city government will be led on both the administrative and legislative side by individuals who have stated very strongly and publicly that they will implement the CPP.  Of course, we as an organization and a community will have to work diligently not just to make sure that they follow through on their commitments, but also that the final CPP is truly equitable, inclusive and creates meaningful information and input opportunities for all New Orleans residents.  To that end, CBNO is in the beginning stages of work to assemble a very broad and inclusive Community Advisory Council, with the ability to reach every single segment of our community.  The purpose of the Council will be to inform all residents about the CPP and the implementation process; to review and refine the model prior to its adoption; and to generate enough pressure on the elected officials to make sure they adopt and implement the right CPP on a timely basis.  CBNO will also be working with a variety of partners to accomplish some of the interim steps that are necessary for successful CPP implementation, such as updating the city's antiquated neighborhood boundary maps and also updating our very succesful Neighborhood Association Manual so that it can be the guidebook for all neighborhoods to participate in the CPP.

This report cannot truly convey the complexities, the careful relationship-building, the delicate communications, the exhaustive outreach, the countless hours of pushing just hard enough on countless buttons to get to this point.  It has made for a highly intense last six months, but as we see the result unfolding, it has all been worth it.  We want to express our sincere gratitude to all the many supporters who have supported us on this journey.  There is still a lengthy path ahead, but it seems to be a clear path to implementing the CPP that will transform community life in New Orleans.  We thank you for being with us as we have gotten to this point, and look forward to reaching the finish line with you in the not terribly distant future.