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93 Nat'l Civic Rev. 2 (2004)

handle is hein.journals/natmnr93 and id is 1 raw text is: INTRODUCTION Note from the Editor In cooperation with our publisher, Jossey-Bass, the National Civic League undertook the recent redesign of the National Civic Review as a means of repositioning the journal to play a more prominent role in the public discourse of civic democracy. As part of this effort, we continue to seek the most informed, interesting writing on the important challenges and opportuni- ties facing our country in the areas of political reform, commu- nity building, local government, and civic engagement. As we refine our editorial schedule, readers can look forward to upcoming issues that focus on convergent interests between political reform and social justice groups, the status and future of public journalism, and collaboration as a means for promoting civic engagement. We will also continue to build the departments in the back of the journal and use this resource as a way to feature timely and insightful analyses and updates on a number of topics. We encourage anyone inter- ested in contributing to the Review to contact me with your ideas and suggestions. And as always, we welcome your feed- back, and we would like to establish an E-Letters to the Editor section in order to share such comments with our readers. As part of the redesign of the National Civic Review, the Note from the Editor will be used in a more deliberate way to artic- ulate the perspective and communicate the activities of the National Civic League to our readership. In general, this page has introduced readers to the essays of each issue, framing them in broader themes of civic engagement and citizen democracy. This practice will be complemented by periodic commentary on activities of the League that are germane to the focus of the particular issue of the Review. The intent is less to blow our own horn than it is to acquaint our audience with ongoing projects of the organization and encourage dia- logue on the issues raised in the journal. The central focus of the current issue is on organizational structures, leadership, and new ideas about home rule. The three articles by Nicholas P. Bollman, John O'Loooney, and Mara A. Marks set up an interesting array of perspectives on these intersecting topics. Ongoing work by NCL in St. Louis adds another slant to this mix and warrants a brief mention here. Since September 2003, NCL has been working with a stakeholder group in St. Louis that is assessing the structure of their city's government. This project, known as Advance Saint Louis, is predicated on a recent home rule amendment to the Missouri state consti- tution that gave the residents of St. Louis the authority to restructure parts of the city government that had been under state mandate. While still very much a work in progress (stakeholder meetings are scheduled to run through early May), Advance Saint Louis is a remarkable citizen-driven effort that brings deliberation to bear on structural issues of local government reform. The stakeholder group is looking at ways to improve the accountability, effectiveness, efficiency, equity, and responsiveness of city government in four key areas: overall organizational structure, fiscal management, roles and responsibilities of the Board of Aldermen, and per- sonnel administration. These issues are more commonly handled by empowering a blue-ribbon panel of experts. Advance Saint Louis is a dra- matic example of what NCL considers to be part of the new role for citizens in a revitalized civic democracy. Citizen-based deliberative processes hold great promise for creating solu- tions that are not only efficacious but which also enjoy wide- spread legitimacy and public support. Presuming that this deliberative process results in recom- mendations for changing the city charter, ballot language would be drafted for a vote in November 2004. A 60 percent electoral majority is required to approve any changes to the charter. Stakeholders are discussing the trade-offs among different choices and the tensions between different values. The value pair of efficiency and equity is most commonly perceived as involving inherent trade-offs but there are tensions among the values of accountability, effectiveness, and responsive- ness as well. As the stakeholders look to ways of finding con- sensus, they are developing a sophisticated appreciation of the issues involved. This appreciation will be important in the process of communicating to their fellow St. Louisans the recommendations that the stakeholders come up with and the rationale for any proposed changes to the city charter. Citizen-based deliberation around critical governance issues such as home rule, organizational structures, and political leadership is likely to be an ever-more important element in the armamentarium of self-governance. We intend to pay close and continued attention to such processes and would like to highlight developments in other parts of the country as time goes on. Robert Loper 2 National Civic Review

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