Actual Democracy in America?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pm1o64BapxM&feature=recentu
Chicago's 49th Ward is the first U.S. government to let the people make their own budget, following a practice begun in Porto Alegre, Brazil over twenty years ago.
It's got to start somewhere, do you think it'll spread?
So the 49th ward gets direct democracy and they spend it on:
Murals and artistic Bike Racks.
I liked the idea until I saw that in the vid.
If they had said that spending on, say, schools improved by 30% or something, I would have been like, "This is an awesome idea!" However, I do not think it is such a good idea, anymore. Also, I usually think murals are usually hideous and are an eyesores.
Originally posted by dadudemon
So the 49th ward gets direct democracy and they spend it on:Murals and artistic Bike Racks.
I liked the idea until I saw that in the vid.
If they had said that spending on, say, schools improved by 30% or something, I would have been like, "This is an awesome idea!" However, I do not think it is such a good idea, anymore. Also, I usually think murals are usually hideous and are an eyesores.
I knew someone was going to say that. But they weren't given the authority to vote on those things. In areas where people were, the vid says that school and health funding increased dramatically.
Originally posted by Symmetric Chaos
I knew someone was going to say that. But they weren't given the authority to vote on those things. In areas where people were, the vid says that school and health funding increased dramatically.
That was SA, not the 49th district.
They were given, what, $1.3 million and they spent it on murals? Even if they weren't given the authority to spend it on schools...isn't there a billion better things to spend it on other than artistic bike racks?