What Barn Raising Looks Like in Petaluma, California

<p>My last post argued that we should think of the role of local government in communities more in terms of “barn raising” than the more transactional metaphor of a vending machine. This idea was put forth in the great book Community and the Politics of Place by former Missoula, Montana mayor Daniel Kemmis, and later picked up in a popular article written by Frank Benest, former city manager of Palo Alto, California. The crux of the notion is the need for communities to move away from an “us” and “them” relationship between citizens and community organizations on the one hand, and local government on the other, and rather think of local government as a key community institution that is both part of and an extension of the community.</p> <p></p> <p>Thinking in terms of the barn-raising ideal, citizens think of themselves as citizens (as opposed to customers), with responsibilities to the community. Public servants think of themselves of what Professor Terry Cooper (USC Price School of Public Policy) has described as “citizen administrators” with a deep sense of responsibility to the community. And so when issues in the community need to be addressed, an ethos of “we” pulls people and institutions together, an ideal the image of a barn raising evokes.</p> <p>When I wrote about this a few weeks ago, I received a request from my friend (and champion of community engagement), Melody Warnick to showcase examples of that barn-raising model in practice. While the idea seems appealing in the abstract, is it realistic? I think it is, though [...]</p>