Group Number: M
Moderators: Chris Satullo and Harris Sokoloff
Total points: 24

Group Description:
The group consisted of approximately 80 people, ranging from college age to a few in their 70s and 80s. Ethnically the group consisted of approximately 40% African-American and the rest Caucasian. There was great socio-economic diversity as well, since the group included several people who identified themselves as homeless, while others came with significantly greater economic resources. Given this great number of people in the room, we decided to start the work in smaller groups and go from there.

The group started a bit roughly, with one of the homeless people arguing that we shouldn’t focus on all of the items on the worksheet, but focus on how to better help homeless people, or people living in shelters for a variety of reasons. One African American male, an adjunct professor of social work at a local college - who had brought most of this class that evening - spoke up, acknowledging the seemingly great diversity in the room - economic, educational and other - and suggested we use that diversity in our deliberations that evening. He suggested that the homeless people spread themselves across the smaller groups - so that their voices could be heard by all. This set a positive and accepting tone for the evening, one that clearly contributed to the deliberations.

Low-Hanging Fruit
Total points: 24 points
• # 20 Eagles: 4 points (100 %)
• # 9 Law: 2 points (90%)
o Cut outside lawyers
• # 16 Vehicle Fleet: 6 points (80%)
o NO! to private use, uses should use their own cars and pay for own repairs.
• #12b Prisons at 20%: 10 Points (80%)
o Private companies make a profit on running prisons
o Non-violent criminals should have rehab services and be required to do community service and alternative punishments (e.g., help clean city)
o Prisons should be for those who commit more serious crimes
o Need reentry programs
• #17 Amusement: 2 points (90%)
o Those amusements are luxuries and can be taxed more
• Proposed as Low Hanging Fruit, but not approved:
o # 4 Fairmont park - N
Fountains are not essential to the city.
BUT: We need to pride ourselves on the parts. They attract tourists who spend money here.
o # 1 Administrative: recording fee
o # 15c Sanitation service fee/Pay as you throw
Those on fixed income, and the elderly, cannot afford it
Need a way to do means testing before we do this.
o # 15c Public health revenue
Will disproportionately and negative affect poorer people

No Ways, No Hows
Total points: 110 Points
• #12b Public Health: 7 points (100%)
• # 7 Housing: 7 points (100%)
o Without the shelter system (which is already too full and turning people away), people will die
o As one person said “Without the shelter system, I would have had to go back to a domestic violence and drug abuse situation.”
• # 11b Police: 52 points (95%)
o “It’ll be chaos” without the police, or with significantly fewer police.
• # 5b Fire: 20 points (77%)
o We did two votes - first was too close to call, so we had conversation:
As population has declined, we’ve increased the number of fire fighters. We need to make some hard decisions and we can cut some here.
BUT: “Fighting fires are about reaction times.”
o Second vote: 90% voted to make it “now way, no how”
• # 8b Human services: 19 points (95%)
• # 14c Recreation: 5 points (80%)
• Proposed for “No Way, No How” but not accepted:
o # 6 Free Library
Shared Pain
Total points: 32 points
• # 6 Free Library: 1 point (70%)
o Don’t fully close any libraries, but stagger hours so that when one is closed, there is one nearby that is open.
• # 21 Parking tax: 2 points (70%)
• # 26b Commuter wage tax (01. percent): 5 points (75%)
o Why should I who live in the suburbs pay for no services just because I work here?
o But:
If you work here, you do use those services
• # 25b Resident wage tax (01. percent): 12 points (53%)
• # 24 Sales tax: 6 points (__%)
o No one wants to raise the tax, but it’s 0.1% and it won’t cost much but will help retain services.
o But those who buy bit-ticket items will just buy them outside the city.
o People should take more ownership of clearing the streets.
• # 1 Administrative (4 points) (60%)
o “I think we have some fat”
o Some of those people may be involved in collecting fees or making money (e.g., Film Office)
o “Exempt revenue-producing people and offices.
• # 15b Trash fee for 15000 businesses 2 points (70%)
o “I worked for a small business and we had lots of trash. If we paid a fee, we’d have been forced to recycle.”
• Proposed as shared pain, but voted down:
o # 15c Sanitation Service Fee/Pay per throw
Can it be done on a sliding scale?
But poor renters will be charged at rate of richer landlords
Doesn’t seem practical
General Principle: Do things so they have less impact on poor people”

Gut Wrenchers - didn’t get this far

New Ideas:
• A city public health worker said:
o The public health system is not effective at doing paperwork for reimbursements for those people who use the system and have outside insurance. We could raise a lot of money if we applied for those reimbursements.
• Why not collect real estate taxes on a quarterly basis and don’t offer a discount for early payment.