It's Our City is a project that uses TV, Radio and Web
to promote civic engagement in the Philadelphia region.City’s first “Budget 101″ Video Hard To Watch
Thursday, January 29th, 2009 at 2:41 pm - by Matt Campbell. Filed under: Budget.
- City of Philadelphia has website dedicated to the budget crisis
The City of Philadelphia is using its management performance meetings known as PhillyStat as a public education tool in the current budget crisis. The first video recorded on Monday (1/26) shows the City’s Managing Director Camille Barnett leading a discussion on the region’s demographics and employment trends.
The information presented is compelling and important but unfortunately I don’t think many people will be watching these session on Ch 64 or online. Why? The sound quality suffers from too many open mics creating a loud hiss and making it a little painful to stick with it. It might have been better to do a short series of YouTube videos with Mayor Michael Nutter explaining how the budget works to the Philly Phanatic and maybe even with the Ballgirls.
I am not bringing this up to be a naysayer, but rather as red flag to the city that these budget themed PhillyStat meetings may not achieve their desired goal of educating the masses before the four budget workshops and before he presents his budget to city council on March 19th.
The information in the first PhillyStat Budget meeting is actually quite fascinating and alarming. At one point, city officials point out that because two of the region’s biggest sources of jobs are educational and medical institutions that we may not have seen the worst. That many of these institutions are still trying to assess the damage before announcing either hiring freezes or layoffs. Also the it’s mentioned that Philadelphia takes longer than most cities to feel the full effects of a recession and takes longer to rebound.
Bad videos, of course, are no excuse to not become informed. The city’s special budget crisis section of its website is well laid out and helps you appreciate that the mayor is trying to be more open about this round of budget cuts. They are coming and people will still be mad. But the city has given everyone the tools to at least understand what can and cannot be cut. For instance, we hear a lot about the unions’ pension plan as being too expensive for the city. But the mayor will have to present a spending plan before the city and the union even begin to lock horns over issues like benefits. So, cutting pensions isn’t an option for drafting this budget..
I’m curious if any of you have been lurking around the city’s website hunting for info on the budget? Have you found it useful? Has anyone you know watched the PhillyStat budget video online or on TV? Is there anything else the city can do to help the public understand the budgeting process?
Related links:
City of Phila budget crisis website
