[Vision2020] local control

[Mark Solomon]

The following article on a very interesting use of local city-wide 
voter initiatives appeared today on the New West website: 
http://www.newwest.net/index.php/main/article/3841/

I've never looked at options for city initiatives in Idaho but I'm 
fairly sure they exist.

Mark Solomon

Local Control, the New Way
  By Bill Schneider, 10-13-05



  Most people I know like the principle of representative government 
i.e. electing people who we think will represent our point of view. 
It's the best system in the world, but it can break down, as it did 
in Helena, setting in motion a chain of events that redefined the 
concept of local control.

  In most communities, a handful of well-connected, powerful people 
make things happen-or not happen. We like to call them the Good Old 
Boys. Now, the Helena Good Old Boys are terrified about what's 
happening, and like-minded people in other communities worry that 
this new form of local control could spread throughout the staunchly 
independent populace of the New West.

  This story has humble beginnings. A few influential business people 
wanted to turn a section of Helena's downtown walking mall into a 
street and open it to auto traffic. Helena's historic downtown is 
struggling economically, and these business people were convinced 
that turning the walking mall into a city street would reverse the 
trend.

  What they didn't realize is that most Helenans, including most 
downtown business people, liked the walking mall, considered it a 
community asset (i.e. not the property of downtown businesses) and 
wanted it to remain a pedestrian-only zone. Helena's walking mall 
went in thirty years ago as part of a federally funded urban renewal 
program called Model Cities. Since then, it has gradually transformed 
from a large-scale retail area into an urban park atmosphere with 
specialty shops and entertainment businesses sprinkled among tall 
shade trees, historic statues, and lounging areas. It became more of 
a business center than a retail environment, and people like working 
there. The walking mall provides, right in the heart of Helena, a 
remnant of the great outdoors that Montanans all enjoy-even if it's 
only for a half-hour lunch break or early morning stroll.

  There's really no disagreement on the ultimate goal. Everybody in 
Helena wants a prosperous, vibrant downtown, but for the overwhelming 
majority the people of Helena, that includes a well-maintained, 
enhanced walking mall. Likewise-and buoyed by the fact that many 
street-side downtown business also struggle-most people didn't 
believe another street would solve the economic problems plaguing 
Helena's downtown. Many people, in fact, believed the opposite-i.e. 
taking out the walking mall would worsen the situation by removing 
the main attraction to downtown.

  It started as a normal political issue. Behind the scenes, a few 
influential downtown business people quietly lobbied the mayor and 
city commission and convinced them to devote $1.3 million in Tax 
Increment Financing Funds to converting one section of the walking 
mall into a street. When this decision hit the local front pages, it 
caused a public outcry like Helena has never experienced. Angry 
people packed a series of forums and commission meetings, all wanting 
city leaders to protect the walking mall. Local papers printed dozens 
of letters opposing traffic on the walking mall. Numerous surveys 
showed 90 percent or more of the community disagreed with the current 
commission decision. And two or three particularly engaged citizens 
gathered a whooping 4,300 signatures on a petition asking the 
commission to reconsider its decision. That's a lot of signatures for 
a town this size-more than the number of votes the mayor or any city 
commissioner received in the last election.

  In most cases, the result of such an outpouring of public sentiment 
is a quickly revised or reversed decision siding with the majority, 
but not this time. A few years ago in Missoula, Montana, for example, 
the city commission decided to sell off part of a highly prized 
community asset called Fort Missoula. A passionate public outcry 
followed, and predictably, the commission changed its mind. In 
Helena, though, the commission had its mind made up and nothing 
seemed to sway them from their chosen path. Translation: A 
representative government broke down and did not represent its 
electorate.

  At the end of this heated, year-long, political process, the mayor 
and city commission sought refuge by claiming they had a budget 
shortfall and couldn't afford to build the street. They didn't say, 
however, that they'd changed their minds in the face of such 
overwhelming public opinion. Throwing one last cup of gas on the 
fire, they stated one more time, with the same breath they used to 
vote 3-2 to delay building the street, that they still wanted a 
roadway but didn't have the money to build it at that point in time.

  The foregoing is an excellent example of elected officials not 
representing their constituencies, akin to senators from Idaho, 
Montana or Wyoming pushing for gun registration and expecting to be 
re-elected. So what happens when we have such a breakdown? On a 
national scale, people tend to feel powerless, hold their noses and 
move on with their lives. At the city government level, though, 
people have the power to take control away from elected officials, 
which is exactly what's happening in Helena.

  The ultimate solution is, of course, voting the bums out of office 
at the next election, but what do you in the midst of the four-year 
election cycle? You do what the people of Helena did.

  Unknown to most people, the Montana law that sets up the framework 
for statewide citizens' initiatives has an obscure provision allowing 
city and county initiatives. The rules are generally the same, except 
it's easier and less expensive, and the result is the same-creation 
of new code. The beauty of this statute is that the governing body 
can't "take the action called for in the initiative" during the time 
period that signatures are being gathered and onto when it's decided 
on election day, which can at the least delay "the action" for up to 
a year.

  In Helena, a grassroots group, Friends of Downtown Helena, formed to 
fight for the walking mall. After failing to affect the commission's 
decision, Friends used the Montana law to put the issue on the ballot 
for the local election scheduled November 8, apparently the first 
time this has ever happened in the Big Sky State. Specifically, 
Initiative 2005-1 would require a public vote before any city 
commission could allow auto traffic on the walking mall. The Friends 
group calls it the Let The People Decide initiative.

  Statewide initiatives demand huge, well-coordinated, well-funded 
efforts often involving hundreds of paid workers to gather a massive 
number of signatures from throughout the state-and then hundreds of 
thousands of dollars to wage a statewide campaign. Local initiatives 
are lay ups by comparison. In Helena, about a dozen dedicated 
volunteers gathered 2,430 signatures (only 2,255 were required) to 
put the issue on the ballot. The ensuing campaign will cost less than 
$5,000.

  As the election approaches, the Friends group is campaigning hard 
with yard signs, advertising, mailings to petition signers, and 
e-news alerts, using its popular website as the focal point of its 
efforts. Amazingly, only three weeks before the election, no 
opposition to the initiative has surfaced, magnifying the fact that 
so many people want to save the walking mall and so few want to 
destroy it. The League of Women Voters couldn't have a debate on the 
issue in part because nobody would represent "the other side" and 
oppose the initiative.

  You'll never get anybody to say this out loud, but Helena's Let The 
People Decide initiative panics local officials and business 
development interests because it establishes a precedent for the 
community taking control away from the established power structure 
and creates a truly representative government where the electors 
directly make key decisions. Will the idea spread to other issues in 
Helena? Yes, another grassroots group is already trying to get an 
issue involving fairgrounds development on the next ballot. Will the 
idea spread to other communities? We'll see.

  Footnote #1: No, this isn't a Montana-centric issue. Most states 
have citizens' initiative laws and most include provisions for local 
initiatives. I called the attorney general and secretary of state 
offices in Idaho and Wyoming, for example, and both states have 
similar laws, but they are rarely if ever used.

  Footnote #2: Several Montana cities have had local referendums, 
which are different than initiatives. Referendums seek to reverse or 
change a formal decision already made by a governing body. 
Initiatives, on the other hand, essentially create code with the same 
force of law as an ordinance passed by the city or county commission.
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