City Manager Mike Letcher and Katie Bolger, aide to Councilmember Glassman made the welcoming remarks.

Neighborhood leaders present (whom I recognized) for this final dialogue were: Margo Gray, Dina Scalone-Romero (Pro Neighborhoods) and Paul Mackey, but there were also less people than were in attendance at the Wards 3 and 6 dialogues.

The results of all eight meetings will be posted online at www.tucsonaz.gov/dialogues. Already on this website are links –results from the dialogues– long, long lists of what residents/participants in the previous ward meetings thought needed to be improved, and what could be cut from the City’s budget.

Also online is the power point presentation made at these meetings for those of you who were unable to attend.

The website also states:”This is not a one-time effort. We will be inviting you to participate in additional dialogues in the future: City Budget & Work Plan (1 – 3 year view), Economic Recovery Plan (3-10 year view), and the General Plan Update (Vision for the future).”

Let’s wait and see what the new City Manager and his staff recommend from the results from these dialogues. At the very least, there appears to be more community input into the budget process than before. When I asked Mr. Letcher about budget priorities from these 8 dialogues, he responded that they would look for “common threads and themes” and then make suggestions to the Mayor and Council for early 2010.

In attendance were the some of the City staffers that were there last week at the first dialogue in Ward 3 (at the NW Neighborhood Center). Councilmember Nina Trasoff and City Manager Mike Letcher did the welcomes. The format was the same, with six break out tables of residents discussing the same questions I wrote about in my previous blog “Let the Dialogues Begin” on 9/28/09.

Neighbors/activists I recognized participating tonight: Paul Mackey, Les Pierce, Don Ijams (Neighborhood Support Network), Colette Altaffer & Ruth Beeker (Neighborhood Infill Coalition), Robin Gomez, Bill Dupont, Mary DeCamp (candidate for Ward 3 council seat), Joanie Sawyer (Pro Neighborhoods), Alice Roe, Tres English.

Again, there was a promise at the end to post these comments and suggestions on their website, www.tucsonaz.gov/dialogues. But again there was no consensus on what are the City’s top budget priorities and what areas need to be cut. I wonder how the City Manager & his staff will weed through all these suggestions to come up with “key services” that should be prioritized for the City’s budget. Otherwise, these public dialogues may become mere “discussions”, with no solutions.

There are still five more City dialogues to attend in case you’ve missed the first three.

Coming up tomorrow night is the one in Ward 4 at Desert Sky Middle School, 9850 E. Rankin Loop, at 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.

Be there to express your opinion on how the City of Tucson should prioritize their budget, but I wonder what the final outcome after these 8 dialogues will be. Stay tuned.

7 tables of about 10 residents dialogued with each other and a facilitator in answering these initial questions, followed by brief welcomes from Councilmember Karin Uhlich and City Manager Mike Letcher. A budget analysis disclosed that the discussion tonight was to concentrate on the 32% of discretionary funds of the City’s budget.

Then the same tables were asked these questions: 1) What City services do you use? 2) What City services would you maintain or cut, and why? 3) What new resources, revenues or efficiencies should be pursued by the City? 4) What services should the City invest in for our community’s future?

I recognized several activists present at the meeting: John Kromko, Tres English, Dick Bayse, Judith Anderson (Pro Neighborhoods), Jim Murphy (PCOA), and Ben Buehler-Garcia, candidate for Ward 3 Council seat. About 15 City staffers (including TPD officers) were available as resource persons.

No consensus was reached or vote was taken in answering these questions, but records of each table’s discussion with lots of creative, varied responses will be collated and put onto the City website at: www.tucsonaz.gov/dialogues. I question whether these comments won’t just be a compilation of anecdotal responses from all 8 dialogues/ meetings, without any clear mandate from the participants. Let’s wait and see since the website says that the goal of this process is “working together to set city budget priorities”.

The calendar for the upcoming meetings are listed in my previous blog and by clicking on the link above. The next meeting will be on Sat. 10/3 at El Pueblo Neighborhood Center, 9 to 11 a.m. Questions/comments can be directed by email to dialogues@tucsonaz.gov, or by calling 520-791-4204.

“The City of Tucson is beginning a new era of communication and collaboration with you – and the first step is the Community Key Services Dialogues.”

Calendar for upcoming 8 meetings in the six city wards, one starting tomorrow for Ward 3 residents:

Mon Sept 28– 6:30pm – 8:30pm Ward 3– Northwest Neighborhood Center, 2160 N 6th Avenue

Sat Oct 3– 9:00am – 11:00am Ward 5– El Pueblo Neighborhood Center Building # 9,101 W Irvington Rd

Wed Oct 7– 6:30pm – 8:30pm Ward 6– Council Office, 3202 E 1st Street

Thu Oct 8– 6:30pm – 8:30pm Ward 4– Desert Sky Middle School, 9850 E Rankin Loop

Tue Oct 13– 6:00pm – 8:00pm Ward 1– Fred Archer Center, 1665 S La Cholla Blvd

Mon Oct 19– 6:30pm – 8:30pm Ward 4– Clements Center,8155 E. Poinciana Drive

Wed Oct 21– 6:30pm – 8:30pm Ward 5– Quincie Douglas Neighborhood Center,1575 E. 36th Street

Wed Oct 28– 6:00pm – 8:00pm Ward 2– Council Office, 7575 E. Speedway Blvd

For more information call 520-791-4204 or email — dialogues@tucsonaz.gov.