"Tight times, tough choices" - South Phila.

Community Forums to Explore City Budget Cuts

7-9:30 p.m. Feb. 19 at St. Monica's Catholic School, 16th and Porter Streets
Doors open at 6 p.m.

The University of Pennsylvania
Project for Civic Engagement is hosting four community forums in
neighborhoods across the city. Called "The City Budget: Tight Times,
Tough Choices," the forums are designed to be work sessions where
Philadelphians will meet in small groups to work through some of the
actual budget choices facing the city. Our goal is for participants to
identify priorities and the trade-offs they are willing to make to
reach those priorities. Mayor Nutter and city officials have agreed to
consider input from the forums in developing the city's proposed budget
for 2010.

We'll start with a discussion in which journalists question top city
officials so residents can get a clear sense of the city's fiscal
picture, how things got this bad, and the range of steps the city is
considering to address the situation. Then we'll move into citizen work
sessions, led by trained moderators associated with the Penn Project
for Civic Engagement.

In the 90-minute-long work sessions, participants:
• will focus on data we're getting from city budget officials about the
steps (program changes - additions and cuts, new taxes or fees, etc.)
the city is considering to address that shortfall.
• will take those data and cobble together a manageable list of the actual budget choices the city is considering.
• will review those choices, discuss which they like and don't like,
and why, ending with some advice to city budget officials about how
citizens would suggest handling this set of tough choices.

We'll
end with a plenary session where we share what happened in the
different working groups - looking for agreements and how we might
handle differences.

Schedule:
6:00 p.m. - Registration
7:00 p.m. - City official panel discussion
7:30 p.m. - Small group work sessions
9:00 p.m. - Concluding plenary discussion
9:30 p.m. - Adjourn