Group 8
Moderators: Carolyn T. Thompson and Bryan McHale
Total points: 34

Group Description:
The group had 10 participants. Based on a visual assessment, rather than asking participants to self-identify, the group demographics were: eight white and two black participants; five male and five female participants; a rage of adult ages. Two participants had to leave early; one participant left proxy votes on items that were important to him.

The group tackled the task at hand to the best of its ability. One member struggled to understand the different proposals and the math behind them, but stuck with the process. The group did not have a large range of opinions, which resulted in limited discussion around many of the issues. Six members of the group stayed for an additional 15 minutes to brainstorm new ideas after the session had ended.
No dissenting work sheets were completed.

Low-Hanging Fruit
Total points: 34
• # 20 Eagles: 4 points
o 10 of 10 voted in favor (100%)
• #17 Amusement: 2 points
o 9 of 10 voted in favor (90%)
• #24 Sales: 6 points
o $8 is a small price to pay to keep services from being cut.
o Could lower sales in the city. (People might buy in the suburbs instead.)
o 8 of 10 voted in favor (80%)
• #21 Parking: 2 points
o Green city goals: Could cut back on car use. Increase public-transportation use.
 If fewer people pay to park then we won’t get the extra tax revenue.
o If people pay $20 for parking, then they can pay $21.
o May keep people from coming into the city.
o 10 of 10 voted in favor (100%)
• #22 Real Estate - raise to 35.05: 10 points
o Concern about who it would impact. Would senior citizens get the money back in tax rebates?
o Need to clarify protection for renters.
 Landlords will get tax breaks, but the cost will be passed on to renters.
o 9 of 10 voted in favor (90%)
• #16 Vehicle Fleet: 6 points
o Can use older vehicles.
o White-collar workers can use their own cars.
o Don’t cut those that deal with services. The city should focus on the most important vehicles first.
 DHS workers shouldn’t be in the office because they don’t have a car to do site visits with.
o 7 of 9 voted in favor (78%)
• #3 DROP Program: 4 points
o Will it really reducing cost like they say it will?
o Should eliminate for elected officials. They shouldn’t be able to get it then run for office again.
o 9 of 9 voted in favor (100%)

Additional items discussed for “Low Hanging Fruit” that didn’t have enough support to make the list:
• #1 Administrative: 5 points
o There is a lot of wasted money in this area.
o We should “start from the top.”
 Disagree: These are the people who will find the solutions.
o Military analogy: Need people to lead.
 Disagree: Others will rise to lead. Can’t compare military and the city.
o 6 of 10 voted in favor (60%)
• #12 Prisons: 10 points
o Whole system needs to be reworked.
o The budget says funding would be reduced for job training, but prisoners aren’t getting job training anyway.
o Too many nonviolent offenders are locked up.
o City needs to release people because of lawsuits.
o Nonviolent offenders should do work for the city.
o Should be restructured to increase reentry and treatment programs.
 Put the proposed budget cuts into these programs instead.
o 5 of 10 voted in favor (50%)
• #15 Streets - levy fee for commercial collections: 2 points
o 5 of 7 voted in favor (71%)
• #25 Wage Tax/Resident: 1 point
o This isn’t a progressive tax. We should move to having an income tax instead.
o 5 of 8 voted in favor (63%)

No Ways, No Hows
Total points taken off the table: 24
• #4 Fairmont Park: 2 points
o Has received the same amount of funding for a long time. Hasn’t increased with inflation, which amounts to a reduction in funding.
o Residents will leave because of decreased quality of life.
o Has already been combined with the Park and Recreation Department; that is enough.
o 8 of 8 voted in favor (100%)
• #6 Free Library: 3 points
o Many schools rely on them because they don’t have their own libraries.
o 8 of 8 voted in favor (100%)
• #13 Public Health (cuts): 7 points
o Basic human service.
o Need to keep until we have universal health care.
o 7 of 8 voted in favor (88%)
• #14 Recreation: 5 points
o 9 of 9 voted in favor (100%)
• #7 Housing : 7 points
o There are too many homeless people already.
o 6 of 6 voted in favor (100%)

Additional items discussed for “No Ways, No Hows” that didn’t have enough support to make the list.
• #5 Fire: 20 points
o Necessary service.
o Is a large portion of the city budget; we should at least look at it.
o Fires are going down because of new technology. (This information was later confirmed by the city representative, which led to a second vote and a change in numbers.)
o Original vote: 6 of 8 in favor (75%); Second vote: 2 of 8 in favor (25%)

Shared Pain
Total points: 0

Gut Wrenchers
Total points: 0

New Ideas
• Tax abatement
• Sell bonds (like war bonds)
o People are looking for other investment options because of the economy.
• Have an income tax instead of a wage tax.
• Have voluntary furloughs.
o Allow city employees to exchange five days’ pay for one vacation day.
o It should not affect their pension.
• Transfer pensions into 401Ks.
o Would protect the city from stock-market liability.
• PILOTS
• Row offices
• First Judicial District
• Court systems needs to be reworked.
o Focus on restorative justice.
o Juveniles shouldn’t go through the court system. The focus should be on youth development programs.