Tristan Rader Proposes Participatory Budget Process
Councilperson At-Large Tristan Rader is proposing that Lakewood set aside $1,000,000 for a participatory bud- geting process. This means that residents of Lakewood could propose projects and programs and then vote on what gets funded. As Councilperson Rader puts it, this is “Democracy in its purest form.” He is grateful to Policy Matters Ohio for really leading this charge.
Here is his letter to Lakewood City Council:
Dear City Council colleagues,
I propose we allocate $1 million of the stimulus funds Lakewood is set to receive through the
American Recovery Act for participatory budgeting. The pandemic has affected all of us, and we
as leaders have a lot of responsibility to shepherd resources to begin the hard work of recovery. I
believe strongly that some of these funds should be directed towards a participatory budgeting
process whereby Lakewood residents can make decisions themselves on how their tax dollars
should be spent. When the community is empowered to make decisions in this way, they make
the right calls.
Participatory budgeting empowers people to decide together how to spend public money.
Hundreds or even thousands of Lakewood residents would vote directly on projects their
neighbors have proposed, and the city would implement winning projects with the budget
limitations. I'm confident that if this process is started this calendar year and continues through
2022 there will be no issue with meeting federal spending deadlines and requirements. All of
this can be built into the process.
Through this participatory budgeting (PB) pilot program, Lakewood would deepen democracy,
build stronger communities, and make our budget more equitable and effective.
Nearly one million people across the US have participated in PB, allocating nearly $400 million,
according to the Participatory Budgeting Project, a nonprofit that implements PB strategies in
municipalities across the country. We have excellent resources locally to draw from such as Policy
Matters Ohio, based here in Cleveland, who can provide education and support through this
process.