I just received the Mayor’s latest E-mail newsletter. (I highly recommend receiving it. She doesn’t send out too many, hasn’t sold my address to any spammers…yet – could be something to consider as the city steels itself for a $6 million budget deficit, and includes some interesting information in it. Add your E-mail and click the box for it here on the left.)
What I learned in the latest edition is the existence of a new Web page on the city’s site called the City Speaks. This is where the Mayor’s Office is posting ideas sent in by city residents and employees to help bridge the ginormous gaping maw of a deficit expected in fiscal year 2010.
According to Karen Bellavance-Grace of the Mayor’s office, they’ve received so many ideas she needs to add another page. So far the ideas include consolidating spending among departments (answer pending), closing school buildings at 5pm (fine as long as there aren’t any other council meetings happening), and instituting wage freezes (already happening with non-union jobs and posed to unions as something to consider). The ideas are posted and then answers are provided as to the their feasibility.
It’s a worthwhile read to be sure. But I’d like to see more…inventive ideas thrown up there. As we’re learning more and more often in these bleak economic times, the old systems, the way we used to do things just won’t cut it. I say set loose your imagination, unlock the top of your head, and let’s see what crazy notions help us navigate out of this dark night of the economic soul.
My first offering: pedal people school buses
