Town Square

An online place to meet, discuss, and act

Problem StatementLocal governments in America underutilize participatory decision-making and rely too heavily on analog methods of public awareness. Citizen participation in legislation and community building is restricted due to communication, financial, and legal barriers that limit social mobilization. The result is reactionary elected officials with limited mandates to provide only basic public services and a general distrust of government amongst the citizenry.

Problem ComponentsProblem Components:• Residents of small cities or towns are often separated by dozens of miles and

community organizing is often too costly or time consuming for the average person. Voting for and petitioning elected officials, letters to the editor, or the occasional referendum are the only means of political representation.

• Elected officials lack the budgets and personnel to conduct analog surveys or opinion polls to analyze policy alternatives or impact necessary to make government decision-making more participatory.

• City websites are beyond the control of the citizenry and do not serve as a means for community initiatives or social mobilization.

• Websites or apps that exist to promote community initiatives approach assistance from a top-down or outsider perspective, i.e. consulting.

• Analog or older technology such as local TV, newspapers, radio, and even the internet (filter bubbles) are increasingly centralized, limiting the ability of citizens to communicate and mobilize.

Proposal

The goal of Town Square is to create a semi-open source web portal that operates seamlessly with social media in which individuals in small communities or neighborhoods control site content and highlight issues, discuss alternatives, and act to promote positive change and a sense of community.

OverviewSite Features:• Create community webpage and profile within state and national network• Access individual local and state laws, government calendars, and

information on redressing grievances (referendums, petitions, etc.)• Community discussion board that links to social media and automatically

generates policy action (petitions, public awareness alerts, etc.)• Crowd source funding of community initiatives (city starter ala kickstarter)• News, photos, video, blogs/op-eds, announcements

Option “Make my hometown” and user will be taken directly to town• http://www.townsquare.org/wi/chetek• http://www.townsquare.org/ny/newyork/brooklyn/williamsburg

(/hipsters – kidding!)

Example 1

• Issue: A small town sees a business close. Large lot sits vacant in downtown area.

• Sequence of events on “town square”– Individual posts idea of utilizing space as community garden– Receives 1,000+ “likes” instantly into online petition– Idea announced through local media for consideration.

Local landscape company donates proposal.Town Council designates area as community garden.

– Project funded via kickstarter feature, bypassing city budgeting– Volunteer opportunity to participate in construction announced.

Space built using local labor, donated materials.

Example 2

• Issue: Local bird species endangered due to invasive predators.

• Sequence of events on “town square”– Community discussion initiated in forum– Links to protecting native species circulated; township initiates public

awareness campaign in local media– Uninhabited river island zoned for species restoration– Volunteer opportunities organized to cultivate island; mobile

messenger alert system established to coordinate rescue/relocation of birds

– Project funding raised through kickstarter feature to sustain bird sanctuary