Category: <span>Life</span>

@Ross Currier, my Locally Grown co-host, tweeted on Monday, “As citizens increasingly challenge politics as usual, is it no longer left vs. right, nor faith vs. reason, but individual vs. institution?”

Then Steve Clift @democracy retweeted this from @72prufrocks today, a report titled Listen, Participate, Transform: A social media framework for local government from the UK-based Young Foundation. It’s part of their Local 2.0 project (see the Local 2.0 Blog here), funded by the Department of Communities and Local Government. 

The report’s emphasis on the importance of public officials building relationships with citizens, using social media in part, is encouraging and is the best writing I’ve seen thus far on the topic.

In Northfield, this is more than a little timely because:

1. Significant budget cuts have to be made soon and the process is receiving some criticism
2. Citizens are being asked to support a referendum for new police and fire facilities
3. The Northfield City Council has a goal of improving communication with staff, citizen advisory groups and community

From the report’s introduction: