Updated: City budget workshops announced

The University of Pennsylvania Project for Civic Engagement has announced the dates and locations of four community workshops to gather citizen input for the City of Philadelphia’s 2010 budget process. Mayor Nutter announced at a press conference last week that city officials will participate in these workshops to examine with citizens the real budget alternatives that will be generated by city departments.

All workshops begin with registration at 6:00 pm. Registration is vital to the process of dividing participants into evenly sized, diverse working groups. The program will run from 7:00 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Here are the dates and sites:

Thursday, Feb. 12th – St. Dominic’s School, 8510 Frankford Ave. (Northeast)
Wednesday, Feb. 18th – Mastery Charter School, Pickett Campus, 5700 Wayne Ave (Germantown)
Thursday, Feb 19th – St. Monica’s Catholic School, 16th and Porter Streets. (South Philadelphia)
Monday, Feb. 23rd – Pinn Memorial Baptist Church, 2251 N. 54 TH Street (West Philadelphia)

On Thursday, January 15, Mayor Nutter announced that the City of Philadelphia is facing a second budget deficit of $1 billion and that further painful choices will be required to ensure the fiscal integrity of the city. Mayor Nutter also announced that there will be unprecedented level of public engagement in the budget process as options to close the budget deficit are examined.

These budget workshops are one piece of this public engagement which will ensure that citizens are involved early on in the budget process, like never before. The aim is to examine different budget options, discuss choices that need to be made, and gather input from people across the city on their concerns and priorities.

Further information on the budget workshops can be found at: www.gse.upenn.edu/ppce.