49th ward participatory budgeting. pretty interesting.

[mopinko]

so, my alderman, a great small d dem, is budgeting the ward "menu money" by way of an extensive series of meetings, culminating in a vote yesterday. it was a very interesting enterprise.
see the results here-http://www.ward49.com/

unfortunately, i don't think the voters had their eye too much on the big picture, and i think they are going to be a little upset when they find out what happens when you don't keep up with the street resurfacing. but other than that, it is kinda nice to see the money spread around for things that make the ward a nicer place to live. glad that the paranoids appear to have stayed home- police cameras mostly got trounced.
it should be interesting to see how this goes in the future.
and politically, it was a brilliant move, i think. joe barely held on to his job last time around, and rightly wants to answer his critics, even tho they are insane. very interesting all around.