Distribution of power?

[Peter Kay]

What about the idea of a distributed government instead of a strong, centralized one?

Should the counties have stronger "home rule"?

What about neighborhood boards? Right now they are advisory-only. What if they had budgetary control? I'm a neighborhood board member and would like to believe that we could make better decisions that affect the local residents like potholes, park maintenance, police, fire, and zoning issues than a centralized body.

Personally, I'm in favor of decentralized systems, especially when you allow for the idea that centralized services (e.g. accounting) can still be offered to the "nodes".

I'd like to know what you folks think.

[cashpoor]

I totally agree, a hundred times that we should have small governance, not centralized. I believe that is what the American constitution suggests too.

It is imperative to see that if you want government to be effective and cost efficient, it must be done locally.

I don't know what neighborhood you live in, but from here I don't think you need all that money for potholes, parks etc. But my neighborhood does. And my new boat needs nice harbor. That is what happens with centralized governance. Priorities in funding go to the lobbyists interests first. I wish the current white house admin would think about that....

[Marty]

Stronger "home rule" is a good idea.
Part of this I think is the idea of returning moving all road maintenance to the counties, along with revenues from gas taxes (which are suppose to be for road maintenance) and removing all roads from state DOT. Same with small boat harbors, where taxes and fees can stay with counties and they can make decisions on priorities.

As for neighorhood boards, this is more of a city charter issue, BUT, I do feel that they should have a larger role. I not sure about budgetary control, as a strong, active board may end up with a larger then appropate share, but agree with the idea of NBs having a larger role in zoning and park maintenance.