Subsidiarity empowers neighborhoods to act

By Paul Jadin

	An Advent series on Catholic Social Teaching

It has often been said that the United States is the greatest democracy in the history of the world. I suppose that is accurate, even though ours is not a true democracy. Indeed, our founding fathers opted to establish a republic rather than a democracy so that critical decisions could be made by representatives with the wisdom and time to make decisions on behalf of average citizens who could not invest such time.

It is inevitable, therefore, that decisions made by local representatives, who campaign door-to-door rather than over the airwaves, are going to be the easiest to understand and the most likely to generate input from constituents simply because this representative is accessible. In fact, in most cases local representatives are literally your neighbors.

Nevertheless, as communities continue to grow, even these officials can seem remote and democracy can become even more distant. That is one reason that, as Mayor of Green Bay, I sought to reinvigorate our local democracy by empowering neighborhoods to play a more active role in local government.

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Our "Urban Partnership" called for an expansion of neighborhood associations while introducing community policing and an array of other resources that would create lasting effects rather than the "band-aids" of sporadic and uncoordinated investment of housing rehabilitation dollars. The number of associations grew from one (Astor) in 1995 to eight as I left office in 2003 and has passed a dozen since then under Mayor Jim Schmitt.

These associations serve as a social foundation for the neighborhoods in addition to being a clearinghouse for information on general civic activities and the most visible means of holding an alderperson and/or supervisor accountable between elections.

I had overwhelming support from the City Council in fostering these grass-roots organizations but, a couple years into the plan, was chided by some elected officials for "creating a monster."

In other words, democracy was indeed at play in the neighborhoods because many alderpeople were getting unprecedented amounts of calls; they were being invited to more neighborhood functions (as was I) and more of their constituents were showing up at City Council meetings. And, lo and behold, association officers were showing an interest in running for public office.

Indeed, at least three of our 12 current alder-people have their political roots in neighborhood leadership; Mayor Schmitt even launched his political career while serving as Astor Neighborhood Association president.

I recall one instance where I asked an association to vote on an issue by canvassing their entire neighborhood and using the results to encourage their alderperson to vote the wishes of his constituency.

The notion didn't play well with the media which was, appropriately, looking for leadership on the issue, but I did find my tipping point and was able to better understand just how much democracy could be introduced to our republican form of local government.

Just as Green Bay borrowed the concept from other cities, we found our neighbors modeling us. I continue to encourage such activism throughout northeast Wisconsin as a means of getting to know your neighbors better, ensuring the safety and cleanliness of your neighborhood and, if all goes well, creating your own little democracy with the amplified voice and leadership that comes with it.

(Jadin, who served as mayor of Green Bay from 1995 to 2003, is president of the Green Bay Area Chamber of Commerce.)