Great Expectations: Citizens' Voices on Philadelphia's Future
Great Expectations: Citizens' Voices on Philadelphia's Future
The Inquirer Editorial Board’s Citizen Voices project and the University of Pennsylvania’s Project on Civic Engagement, Great Expectations will have a number of key components. One is to engage community leaders and citizens from around the region in a series of dialogues that identify the key problems we need to solve in the next ten years if Philadelphia is to become the next great city. A second is to send editorial board writers to others cities to find the best practices and solutions to deal with these problems. What they find out, along with reports from experts on urban issues, will be the subject of a series of issues forums. Other components will involve training citizen journalists to cover the 2007 election, candidate debates, and other projects that will ultimately lead to the drafting of a an agenda for our newly elected council and mayor. Marc writes about the project on his personal blog:
| If you have been following what I’ve been writing about politics in the city, you already know why I think this project has so much potential. The great failing of our politicians in Philadelphia is that they aims far too low. Instead of trying to create more good things in the city—more economic opportunities and jobs, a more vibrant cultural life, better schools, a 21st century transit system—politics in all about trying to get just a little larger share of the patronage and contracts that provide the good things we have now. By drawing citizens out, and asking them to talk about what would make our city and region a much better place, and by pointing citizens to the best practices in urban areas, the Great Expectations project can go far to create a new sense of hope. If it works, we citizens will demand more from our politicians. We won’t vote for politicians out of fear of losing what we have, but will vote for those politicians who can plausibly show us how life can be better for everyone. |
frequently asked questions about the project
