[bouldercouncilhotline] Hotline: Re: Hotline: Public Participation Working Group meeting Monday October 17

[cmosupport at bouldercolorado.gov]

Sender: Morzel, Lisa

Jason,

Thanks for writing.

Yesterday's meeting was the second for the Public Participation Working Group. The group will meet monthly through next June (November 14, December 12, January 9, February 13, March 20, April 10, May 8, June 12), all are on Mondays 4-7 pm. While I recognize this is a difficult time for some to attend a meeting, the group discussed scheduling and arrived at this time.  Information, meeting notes, emails the PPWG receives are posted at https://bouldercolorado.gov/city-council/public-participation-working-group

The residents seated in this group are sincere in trying to identify better ways for the public to engage with the city.  The public is encouraged to attend these meetings or write emails to the group at publicparticipationworkinggroup at bouldercolorado.gov<mailto:publicparticipationworkinggroup at bouldercolorado.gov>

I'm also open to meeting with you or anyone who can't attend the scheduled meetings to listen to your ideas or suggestions on improving public process.

Thanks

Lisa

Lisa Morzel
Member, Boulder City Council

303-938-8520 h
303-815-6723 c

"We interact with one another as individuals responding to a complex haze of factors: professional responsibilities, personal likes and dislikes, ambition, jealousy, self-interest, and, in at least some instances, genuine altruism.  Living in the here and now, we are awash with sensations of the present, memories of the past, and expectations and fears for the future. Our actions are not determined by any one cause; they are the fulfillment of who we are at that particular moment.  After that moment passes, we continue to evolve, to change, and our memories of that moment inevitably change with us as we live with the consequences of our past actions, consequences we were unaware of at the time." The Last Stand, Nathaniel Philbrick


On Oct 17, 2016, at 4:27 PM, "Jason Vogel" <jvogel157 at gmail.com<mailto:jvogel157 at gmail.com>> wrote:

Dear Lisa and the rest of council,

As a participant in far too many public meetings, I'd like to point out the irony that the meeting to determine how to better conduct meetings in yet another meeting in a physical location spanning working hours and dinner time. For those of us with young children or who value family mealtimes (or who have to work!), such meetings, which are par for the course here in Boulder, are problematic. Even adding email to the mix only garners the opinion of people who are already engaged on any particular issue - and this issue is particularly wonkish.

I personally have been willing to sacrifice my personal time with my family and take vacation time from work to attend meetings such as this one in the interests of improving Boulder governance. But the vast majority of my friends, neighbors, and colleagues with young families would never contemplate doing so.

I hope there will be other meaningful venues for discussing how to better engage the Boulder public besides physically showing up at a meeting or soliciting email comments. The excellent survey conducted for council for the BV Comp Plan update is as excellent example of how out of sync perception of the public can be with the reality (in part due to the biased structure of public participation). I'm sure you each will recall the whole Folsom political football just before this survey came out showing multi-modal transportation improvements as the #2 priority of the Boulder public after affordable housing.

Such scientifically designed surveys and other outreach and engagement techniques can meaningfully change who is regarded as "the public" and whether their opinions are even considered in the mix for council, Jane, and staff leadership. As an example, in a recent study I led looking at climate change adaptation efforts across 17 U.S. communities, some communities - such as Baltimore, Cleveland, and Oakland - took very creative measures to engage underrepresented populations. This included engaging with local community-based NGO's, city staff traveling to places convenient to these residents, paying for child care at public meetings, and even paying for or providing travel to and from the physical meeting. In those instances the purpose was to engage poor urban populations, but you can easily see how many creative ideas are out there from other cities.

Anywho, hopefully I'm over-reacting and you have staff or consultants digging in to find ways to meaningfully engage the public (about engaging the public) above and beyond showing up at meetings and sending email.

Feel free to pass this email along to anyone who is considering these issues as part of this working group.

Sincerely,


Jason Vogel
303-525-0832

On Mon, Oct 17, 2016 at 7:39 AM, <cmosupport at bouldercolorado.gov<mailto:cmosupport at bouldercolorado.gov>> wrote:
Sender: Morzel, Lisa

Dear Residents of Boulder,


Many of you have expressed an interest in improving public participation in our city government. To this end, the city manager, with direction from the city council, to seat a group of individuals on the city's Public Participation Working Group.


This group will meet over the next 6-8 months on a monthly basis and will consider public input at these meetings as well as through email.


The first public meeting of the group is this Monday, October 17, 2016 from 4-7 pm at the East Boulder Recreation Center, 5660 Sioux Dr. All voices and interests are welcome. Get involved!

Lisa

Lisa Morzel
Boulder City Council Member

303-815-6723<tel:303-815-6723> c
303-938-8520<tel:303-938-8520> h

_______________________________________________
bouldercouncilhotline mailing list
bouldercouncilhotline at list.ci.boulder.co.us<mailto:bouldercouncilhotline at list.ci.boulder.co.us>
https://webappsprod.bouldercolorado.gov/mailing-lists/mailman-archive/bouldercouncilhotline
Do not reply to this message with unsubscription requests.
To unsubscribe from this list or subscribe to other City of Boulder lists:
https://bouldercolorado.gov/newsroom/city-of-boulder-email-lists