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Birmingham has them. Atlanta has them. Even Dayton and Missoula have them.

They are neighborhood planning systems. From city to city, they go by various names, but the basic idea is the same: a formal system for neighborhood participation in the planning process. And the rationale is simple:

Neighborhoods need a voice in the basic decisions that affect our lives:

• schools
• policing
• housing
• maintenance and services
• parks
• land use decisions

If they can do it in those other cities, then surely it can be done in New Orleans. With a reform-minded City Council at the helm, and civic involvement at an all-time high, the time is certainly ripe. City governance should be reorganized in a way that gives more control to the local community.

As the broken city rebuilds, it only makes sense to repair broken government as well. That’s why, in Mid-City, neighbors included a section on “Local Control” as part of their neighborhood recovery plan. They believe that governance reform is a recovery issue.

They were especially encouraged by a recent report by the Bureau of Governmental Research. The BGR has drafted specific changes to the City Charter which would give the Master Plan the force of law and give neighborhoods a formal voice in land use decisions—easily one of the most contentious matters in any city.

They’ve added language to their recovery plan endorsing the BGR recommendations. Here is the text from the current draft of their plan:

If the recovery of New Orleans is to be successful, it is critical that every neighborhood be involved as a full partner. The traditional model of top-down governance should be decentralized in a way that gives the local community a formal and meaningful role in decisions.

Community input into the recovery plan is a start but it must be extended to include implementation decisions as well as ongoing post-recovery planning.

To this end, we recommend the formation of Neighborhood Councils, similar to those in Los Angeles, Atlanta, Missoula, Montana and many other communities. These Neighborhood Councils must have a legal basis under State law, the City Charter, and City ordinances. Each Neighborhood Council would represent one of the 100 plus neighborhoods in New Orleans.

We endorse the recommendations of the Bureau of Governmental Research (BGR Report) to amend the City Charter to give the Master Plan the force of law and to include neighborhood organizations in the required approval process for land use proposals. We request the immediate adoption by the City Council of interim ordinances to implement the BGR recommendations, including a formal system of participation by Neighborhood Councils in land use decisions.

However, we believe that neighborhoods are equally affected by operational decisions that impact housing, streets, parks, police, schooling, sanitation, drainage, budgeting, regulatory review, and other issues. Therefore, we also request that the City Council establish a committee of neighborhood organization representatives supported by City staff to propose a City Charter amendment to define the role of Neighborhood Councils in reviewing strategic operational decisions by City agencies. This committee should recommend an amendment to the City Council within four months.

The Urban Conservancy encourages other neighborhoods to include such language in their recovery plans. As the neighborhood plans are cobbled together into a city-wide plan and passed up through various levels of governmental bureaucracy, a demand for reform will provide momentum for a campaign to amend the City Charter in 2007.

Filed under: Editorials