The shot above is just a glimpse of the size of the community center - two full basketball courts, complete with stands on one wall, offices and I think meeting rooms to the side. I'm also going to assume that there are two good sized locker rooms off to the side as well. The forum took place in one half of the basketball court area. Back to the happenings on the floor...
During Round 3 of switches, groups discussed what steps were needed to get to the New Deal and to maintain it. My group had a lot to say about what needed to be changed like Lisa, from Kensington, who said that agencies within the City weren't responsive to calls for help which leaves less time for neighborhood groups to take on larger projects. Gabriel, from The Enterprise Center, leadership from the top needed to lead the non political issues like trash pickup. He added that things like this are easily quantifiable with simple input/output measurements for services with incoming calls coupled to when calls were answered [once again, a CitiStat-esque system]. Rose made a very strategic suggestion to position a group to get close to the incoming mayor's transition team to get their ear; the very who-you-know attitude many want to get rid of. Lisa noted that these days, everything has become a transaction and simple services are not being done without an expectation of something. Our moderator Ben stepped in and asked the group what needed to be changed. Rose simply stated it: those within the City needed to be the civil servants they're supposed to be. Lisa and Rose touched on the issue of leaders of groups becoming too powerful and their personality taking over that of the group's. Also, those leaders were resistant to change within the group holding them back from getting things done [sounds like the Ward system to me]. Gabriel had another simple point that certain things shouldn't require a call to one's councilperson to get things done. That would free up time for neighborhood groups to exchange information in forums like this one.
The forum came back together to quickly discuss findings before breaking up into four large groups to discuss Accountability for services and strategies, Resources & Funding, Coalitions for political leverage and Cooperation for capacity building. Some quick suggestions were thrown out rapid fire. Establish PhillyComplaints.com and have citizens post their grievances for officials to see and respond to. Form a coalition of community groups. Have City Council meet after 5p...
I went to sit in on the Capacity Building group. About 8 people plus myself and 2 moderators took part. Gary, from Longcrest in the NE, started off with some good news - his group had doubled attendance in the last 4 years, but in those 4 years, the community had become much more diverse and the newcomers weren't getting involved. He looked to the group for help. But first, the group wanted to know how the group got so big. Gary said they got very involved in the community and helped get things done. They were clear that residents needed to take the first step and make that first call themselves, but if things didn't get done, his group would do the best they could. His group went to State Rep, and former mayoral candidate, Dwight Evans for help in penetrating the new groups. His office committed two people to helping out.
Kirk, from Dickinson Narrows, said that his neighborhood was incredibly diverse and that their flyers go out in 3 different languages and even that is not enough anymore with multiple Asian populations living in and around the Narrows. Skip, from the Pan Asian Association, recommended a buddy system where those new to the neighborhood or new to the group were escorted to meetings to make them feel more welcome and for civic associations to hold meetings on the turf of newcomers to let them feel at home. He stressed that Asians want to establish a relationship first and do business second. Barbara expanded on that by suggesting a buddy system be created for entire neighborhood groups - for established groups to take on a new of struggling group close by.
Kirk suggested establishing a block coordination system (different from the existing block captain system which works with varying degrees of success) similar to a phone tree in the ability to disseminate information. Freda, from Garden Court and pictured speaking above, stressed the need for the proper resources to establish a block coordinator system.
Susan, from Ashton Square in the NE and pictured above, suggested a centralized place for resources. Perhaps even an office within City Hall as it is technically the center of the city. D-L disagreed with that saying City Hall was not truly representative of a central location in this city of 135 square miles. The issue of getting too close to the politicians was on the minds of the rest of the group. Skip said that if a major citywide coalition, with Great Expectations at the center of it all, were powerful enough with so many different peoples and neighborhoods represented, a new mayor couldn't afford to ignore it. Pay to play and who you know wouldn't be in play anymore if a group were large enough. He added that a coalition should proactively steer clear of politicians (I'm assuming to avoid asking for favors). Jill, from Roxborough, was quiet through the discussion, but when put on the spot by a moderator she put in her two cents. She said that in her experience, coalitions work very well when things are going their way, but once things start going not so well, things get ugly quickly.
Time flew by and it was time to bring the whole group back to the main room. Mayoral candidates Michael Nutter (D) and Al Taubenberger (R) were on hand to answer some questions. But first, they took a tour of the room where the notes from each of the sessions were taped to the walls. The Q&A session with the candidates coming up in Part III.
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