PHOTO BY BRUCE CHECEFSKY

September 26, 2023; Public debate on People’s Budget Cleveland ballot measure, Little Theater, Cleveland Public Hall, 500 Lakeside Avenue: Jonathan Welle, Executive Director of Cleveland Owns, makes a case for voters to support Issue 38, the People’s Budget.

by Bruce Checefsky

   (Plain Press, November 2023) Supporters of the Peoples Budget (PB CLE) declared victory after House Speaker Jason Stephens, a Lawrence County Republican, said Senate Bill 158 would not pass through the House before the November 7 election. The legislation, sponsored by Kirtland Republican Senator Jerry Cirino, prohibited localities from any budgeting scheme that allows public funds to be distributed or otherwise disbursed by a vote of residents.

   Stephens did not expect the legislation to pass after the election and raised concerns that the bill might violate the Home Rule Amendment in the Ohio Constitution, which reserves certain powers to local governments. The Home Rule Amendment empowers municipalities to legislate on issues of most concern to that locality. Cuyahoga and Summit Counties have home rule charters that allow them to pass laws, which, for PB CLE, could mean more challenges ahead.

   Issue 38 would set aside as much as 2% annually, or about $14 million, from the City of Cleveland general fund to give residents control over spending via a voting process overseen by an 11-person steering committee. Mayor Justin Bibb and Council President Blaine Griffin oppose the amendment along with the 17-member City Council, saying the plan is “not in the best financial interest of Clevelanders.”

   Ward 13 Councilman Kris Harsh, representing Old Brooklyn and part of the Stockyard neighborhoods, along with Griffin, has been an outspoken opponent of the measure. In an Op-Ed published by cleveland.com, he called out the proponents of participatory budgeting for undermining movements for social justice and failing to engage residents in the electoral process, challenging the coalition to a public debate. PB Cleveland organizers accepted his challenge, and a public debate took place in September in the Little Theatre inside the Public Auditorium.

   Jonathan Welle, Executive Director of Cleveland Owns and one-half of the debate team for PB CLE, said in an email to the Plain Press following the debate that it was an honor to represent Issue 38 on the debate stage.

   “It felt like the thousands of Clevelanders who support Issue 38 were cheering us on last night. At the debate, People’s Budget Cleveland could lay out our case for why Cleveland voters should support Issue 38, The People’s Budget. Issue 38 gives residents real power to make real decisions about how to spend 2% of the city’s budget,” said Welle, “I’m inspired by people all over Cleveland fighting hard in this campaign to put streets over stadiums.”

   Councilman Harsh argued that funding was the first of several disagreements with PB CLE.

“Section 204.2 states that the City of Cleveland will allocate funds to the People’s Budget annually. They do not seem to understand that to put money in that fund as prescribed, we must take that money from somewhere.”

   Harsh said passing Issue 38 could force cuts to critical city services like first responders and take officers off the streets amid an ongoing labor shortage. Welle countered that giving limited budgetary control to citizens will make the government more responsive to the needs of the people, foster civic engagement, and boost voter turnout, which has lagged in the city.

   Participatory budgeting is not a new idea. The Brennan Center for Justice reported challenges arose in cities where PB projects received too little funding. Non-white residents were underrepresented as voters in the selection process compared to their numbers in the total population.

   In San Jose, California, the program ran for five cycles before ending in 2020. Turnout averaged around 500 in a district of about 100,000 residents. Toronto, Ontario, ultimately declined to expand the pilot into a citywide program following low resident participation.

   Durham, North Carolina, launched its PB process in 2018 when the City Council voted to allocate $2.4 million, divided equally among three wards. Proposals were required to be all service projects funded through grants to nonprofits rather than capital projects.

   Marcia L. Godwin, Professor of Public Administration at the University of Le Verne, published a study in the State & Local Government Review in June 2018, finding that participatory budgeting (PB) stood out as both a civic engagement and budgeting innovation because members of the public generate and then vote on funding proposals. She also warned that limited research on the effectiveness of PB as a budgeting tool is a problem, and there is a “need to evaluate the views and perspectives of government employees who will be critical to the sustainability and diffusion of PB programs.”

   Her study found that participant involvement depended on how well the steering committees carried out mobilization strategies to reach beyond their networks. Childcare was a challenge for lower-income residents. The budget delegate pools often include people who have already made time for civic engagement, which translates into lower proportions of traditionally underrepresented groups. PB does not automatically lead to quicker or more efficient project completion.

   Gianpaolo Baiocchi, the founder of the Participatory Budgeting Project (PBP), realized its inherent paradoxes and inconsistencies, noting that structured consensus building in PB processes could cause a “banality of politics”, resulting in a genuine conflict over community priorities.

   Aleena Starks, Ohio Political Party Director for the Working Families Party and Peoples Budget Petition Committee, disagreed. During the debate, as a partner with Welle to support PB CLE, she questioned the City Council and their decision to oppose the measure.

   “What is Cleveland City Council scared of? The benefits of voting yes on Issue 38 and bringing participatory budgeting to Cleveland outweigh the harm by a long shot,” said Starks. “Cleveland is fifteen years behind, and we need to move forward. There are immense amounts of wealth in Cleveland. They can find a way to pay for this.”

   When asked who won the debate, Harsh said, “You cannot go into a debate and ignore everything the other side says, then call yourself the victor. Their case was based entirely on emotional appeal. If you get emotionally swayed to believe that anything is better than the status quo, then you might believe their entire case. If I can get you to think critically about their proposal and find the serious flaws in their amendment resulting in a ‘no’ vote for Issue 38, then we have won the debate.”             Absentee Voting by Mail and Early In-Person Voting starts on October 11 and includes Saturday and Sunday. Election Day is on November 7, with voting polls open from