Getting People There

I might be on a curmudgeonly roll this week. Blame the change of seasons or allergies or something.

My friend and neighbor attended the Saint Paul "Budget Listening Session" last night. It ... was not well attended (clip from Pioneer Press reporter Fred Melo):

I should have gone. I'm interested in how budget decisions are made. But I am relatively tuned in to these things, and I embarrassingly did not know about it (I also had a board meeting, but I digress).

We're constantly told that we should be involving the voices of the people who are not ordinarily heard, and I agree. Every arts organization I know is trying to reach people who don't normally hear about what they do. So how does the council do the same?

Patrick suggests a postcard to all city residents. FWIW, I suppose there might be a card of that kind in the "to deal with" mail pile.

What I DO know is that as a city volunteer (Vice-Chair of the Cultural STAR board), I didn't get an email, and that seems to be a good place to start.

Or what about an email to everyone signed up for city snowplowing services?

Or, since we are married to this weird trash collection system where everyone has an assigned hauler that is one of the big services since the small ones dropped out, requiring them to send an email out about the meeting(s)? Or Eureka, since they do all the recycling collection?

Or an email to the SPPS list or SPPR?

Or a general email list you can opt in to for all city services?

That was the ONLY "listening session" for the 2024 budget. But next year, let's all be more ready.