Expanding ways to be heard

The Gazette Editorial Board

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A new website, crtalks.com, has the potential to be a great way for Cedar Rapids residents to share ideas and concerns with city officials. We think it can be one of many ways the city gathers input.

On the site, city leaders create topic areas and solicit ideas and comment from citizens who sign up to use the site. For example, one topic area on the site is titled: “If you could make one improvement in one park in the next five years, what would it be?” So far, residents have offered 18 ideas, including adding a playground at Greene Square Park, a concession stand at Noelridge and a skate park in Time Check. Other users can rate those ideas, or offer their own. CRTalks also features polls and other features.

Any time government provides another open avenue for public input and participation, we're for it. But we also caution that the city shouldn't rely on any one route for public debate.

For several years, the city held “open houses” where residents could view informational placards and ask one-on-one questions to city staff. Open houses took the place of town hall-style meetings. The weakness of the open house format was the inability of a broader number of residents to hear both those questions and answers, as they would have at an open town hall meeting.

We appreciate the city's effort to try new things. But we also worry that an understandable desire to create input formats that blunt the potential for confrontation also could hurt efforts to broaden public understanding and build consensus.

We believe that the city should use multiple formats to gather input and answer concerns, online, one-on-one and in open public forums. When Cedar Rapids talks, it should have many ways to be heard.

Comments: editorial@thegazette.com or (319) 398-8262