Public Engagement Can Help Bring Us Back from the Brink

By Susan Charland, AICP

Since January 2021, I’ve been thinking a lot about dialogue and compromise at the local level and how both features are fundamental to our democracy. Since then I wrote a piece for a series on Medium called “Can Real Participation Save Liberal Democracy?” compiled by the authors of Letting Go. In it, I describe the tremendous opportunity local officials have to strengthen democracy through public engagement. The immediacy of local government decisions, paired with the relative lack of partisan divides along local issues creates a major opportunity for local leaders. By focusing on quality public engagement, local officials can help strengthen our democracy from the ground up: through public participation and engagement at the local level.

You can read that post here. 

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