At age 50, assessing the pros and cons of St. Paul’s district council system

Born in St Paul s district councils are a decent example of a local neighborhood group structure Supported by million in annual city funding the system is one of the a multitude of quasi-democratic local engagement processes that shape politics in U S cities for better and worse For the last half-century St Paul s council system has displayed a great number of of the pros and cons of constituents engagement and local control in general a practice that can be a boon to democracy in particular contexts and an inflexible hindrance in others In an era the present day where change is often complex for example the Abundance discourse it s worth pausing to reflect on St Paul s local engagement efforts It s done chosen things well but given the inequality of the current situation across the city s diverse geography district councils could be improved in selected critical solutions The local control movement St Paul s district councils emerged in as part of a planning trend emphasizing local control and region engagement Then called citizen participation the impulse reflected a reaction to mid-century planning overreach particularly around urban freeway construction and urban renewal demolition of housing It also fit into the conversation around bottom-up politics of the civil rights era and concerns over the future of cities in a rapidly suburbanizing country Related In urban America abundance framing can in fact be a good thing District councils drew on the federal shift away from direct funds to cities and toward Region Improvement Block Grants in the mid- s The passage of a new federal law encouraged the creation of official group groups and a year later St Paul s councils were born The early vision laid out laudable aims for the new structure including well-informed neighborhoods citizen involvement channeled into a process which is constructive and other improvements to city communication One early goal was to help people do their own small area plans setting out processes for change to their communities and getting buy-in A lot of these ideas were easier reported than done As years went by in-depth plans and projects became too ambitious and or expensive to maintain and they were often left to languish as elected authorities and neighbors changed and turned over As city budgets shrank due to shrinking federal and state promotion district councils evolved to be less proactive and more reactive The overall robustness of groups varied significantly depending on the geography of the group That noted having official groups certainly works well for a few things for example building neighborhood identity and making it appear at the very least that people are consulted before change happens When the small engaged group is thoughtful about its larger neighborhood the system can be a situation evaluation of local good governance Ideally you re able to with the city s help pull together a system of creating a district council elected to be somewhat representative of the group explained Jane Prince who served for eight years as a city council member on St Paul s East Side It just felt really good to me that that the structure was available in St Paul Before constituents office Prince worked as a city council aide and city staffer dealing with district councils for decades She s a fan of the system and often used district council votes as a barometer of population opinion West Side Population Organization helpers tabling to engage renters Credit Bill Lindeke As she explains it when she began working for the city in the s district councils were relatively new In those early days the city had planners dedicated to serving district councils three staff who split up the groups across the city and attended each meeting There was a really good feedback loop in those days Prince commented The system was relatively new when Mayor George Latimer came into office but he was very respectful of it Prince points out that not every mayor or elected official has worked well with the council structure and the results vary quite a bit There s a huge variety of factors that can make a district council effective or less effective she disclosed One of the things we realized in the last years or so is that the district council should do a better job of reaching out to renters and neighbors of color That s a common critique of local governing body groups like this see also the fresh scrutiny of Minneapolis neighborhood group engagement practices which often perpetuated already existing inequalities No two councils are the same In St Paul s circumstance each of the district councils is idiosyncratic Though they all get annual funding based on a complex formula typically enough to hire one or maybe two staff none of them is exactly like another There aren t strict rules or measures by which the councils are evaluated and other than being supported by a single City Hall staffer they re mostly left to their own devices As a consequence specific of the city s district councils languish for years doing very little while others are continually functioning with helpers doing outreach teaching serving on committees or hosting events That kind of variability remains a obstacle I think it was an ahead of its time idea especially back pre-internet became a great organizing tool for neighborhoods explained Amy Brendmoen who served as St Paul City Council president from until One of Brendmoen s first moves when she took her Ward office was to adjust a district council boundary a process that proved to be more controversial than she had initially thought I don t regret it she admitted but also pointed out that inflexibility was a challenge with the district council structure Even small changes prove demanding illustrating a heavy bias toward maintaining the status quo As a outcome she has ideas for improving the system There could be an even better way to do neighborhood engagement that provided specific continuity and similar expectations to neighbors Brendmoen offered For example could they have similar website formats Could they have shared robustness insurance plans Could they share costs for different things It s a horribly inefficient system Brendmoen points to another dilemma that emerges from the lack of transparency around district councils In specific cases district councils become so negatively polarized against executive agents that in effect city funds end up creating opposition to its own efforts For example there might be an ambitious plan approach or function proposal put forward by a hypothetical mayor If district councils launch campaigns against them it s as if the city is creating its own road blocks to change It s a sign of the times but certain of the district councils are really very political Brendmoen mentioned That can be useful but it s also arduous for council members and elected functionaries who happen to work in those areas District councils have a blurry line around the city-funded work versus the political work that they re doing I do think it should be clear that if you re going to be an advocacy organization you re not also the district council Personally I ve more than once witnessed unrepresentative groups of people at district council meetings typically a handful of older homeowners use neighborhood groups to subvert city plans or policies With the legitimacy as an official neighborhood group a tiny group of people can prevent change that might benefit thousands Those who do show up are often already the largest part privileged people in the neighborhood Related Minnesota Homeownership Center s new president wants the state s racial gaps gone This is because in general the level of democracy within district councils and similar groups leaves a lot to be desired District council board elections are often informal with infinitesimal turnout Years ago in Minneapolis for example elections in neighborhoods around universities were deliberately planned to disenfranchise students Thankfully since then there have been a lot of useful reforms around university neighborhoods All in all nobody is likely to change the system anytime soon In Minneapolis for example a agenda that might have upended the existing neighborhood group structure proved to be politically toxic when after advocates protested mightily Majority of district councils have hired somewhat professional executive directors people who know how to raise money and apply for grants Prince stated Several don t and various neighborhoods seemingly at any given time are struggling and not getting the attention they need It s by no means a perfect system but it gives neighborhoods in St Paul a way to organize where they can be heard If St Paul is going to keep its district council structure in place then it makes sense to tweak it for example by making the groups larger or more streamlined I hope that the next years allows for more flexibility and transparency than the last When they work well and do the hard job of reaching out to renters and less engaged residents district councils make the city work for the better The post At age assessing the pros and cons of St Paul s district council system appeared first on MinnPost