o
Green Power Cooperative
o
Solving problems through power of eminent domain granted by city
What we would like to be doing
Reframing the problem and the solutions
•
Develop best practices to challenge the empire
•
Show that democracy is much more than just voting
o
Provide ways for people to get involved in their community
o
Address ways people’s lives are impacted
•
Create the “democratic citizen” both in everyday life and in government processes
o
Increase participation in town meetings
o
Consider whether voting should be required
o
Empower local governments in face of developers’ assumed rights to havewhatever they want
o
Show that democracy is not a celebrity sport
•
Develop community vision and values related to the common good
•
Promote regional integration
•
•
Make more people politically involved by reaching people who have tuned out or nevertuned in because they feel discouraged
o
Unfreeze existing ideas, eg, it’s OK to talk about religion & politics
o
Provide information with a broader perspective which is relevant to people’s lives
o
Make the information understandable, especially cross-culturally
Use humor
Make participation, eg, voting, “cool”
o
Build skills needed for democratic participation and decision-making at all levels,including the workplace (and non-profit organizations!)
o
Provide training in empowerment through cooperative democratic processes
o
Build a sense that people are moving together
o
Make the action relevant to people’s lives and demonstrate that what people doreally matters. Examples given:
Success in opening commuter rail station in Roxbury
Success in getting mail boxes put back in communitySpecific initiatives
•
Promote participatory budgeting
o
Control the use of taxpayer dollars in order to humanize our representative system
o
Give people a direct say in how tax dollars are spent in their neighborhood
•
Establish real
home rule
for MA communities and cities
o
Idea of home rule is not having to ask the state legislature for permission to passlocal budget or pass ordinances to protect the community
o
MA home rule law still requires localities to request permission of state
Leave a Comment