Boulder must consider new ways of implementing important city initiatives

I, like many people, am frustrated at the rate of change to help solve emergent issues in Boulder. As I peruse the City Council work plan, I am disheartened by the very, very slow pace of progress made on each of the initiatives. Except for moving elections to even years, nearly all the items sit either not started or inching along at a glacial pace.

For instance, loosening Accessory Dwelling Unit restrictions is moving very slowly to produce new ADU rules that will likely not move the needle on producing more housing for Boulder; unfortunately, as temperatures hover below zero for weeks, our unhoused residents shiver outside waiting on a years-long process of creating a day shelter. Finally, the middle-income down payment assistance program pushed to the ballot in 2019 by Councilmen Yates and Weaver and passed by voters, appears no closer to launching after four years of studying. Should it be scrapped? Even putting the city council aside, small business owners are complaining about the financial burdens of waiting on yearlong permitting processes to open new businesses — with no fix in sight.

Is this institutional delay a “feature” or a “bug” of the system?

My complaint isn’t that the delay is caused by our city council and staff not working. It is the opposite; they are working very hard and following the processes laid out for them. My complaint is that the processes are overly hierarchical, ridged, and leave little room for speed, experimentation or agility.

With nearly every decision the city makes on the council’s work plan, nearly the same process is followed: 1) the council sets the priority for city staff to work on an issue; 2) the staff studies the issue, perhaps hires consultants and/or survey’s the community or gathers feedback from a city board or commission; 3) the staff presents the findings and proposed solutions the council for feedback from council and/or the community; 4) the staff reviews the feedback and proposes solutions, rules or regulations; and finally (or maybe), 5) the council deliberates on the solutions and adopts, modifies or rejects them after more community feedback.

But is this process necessary for every decision? What if the council empowered city staff to implement council priorities without a call-up to council meetings? For instance, city staff could engage in community outreach, incorporate the results and post planned actions in Boulder’s Hotline for council members to comment on and provide input and feedback. Alternatively,

what if the council formed empowered community assemblies (demographically representative groups of citizens picked at random from the population) to implement policy decisions with the help of city staff? Or simply, what if the council set tight deadlines for policy implementations — something like ideation to policy changes in 90 days?

The point here isn’t necessarily that our council adopt any of these specific ideas, but that it’s flexible in how it implements its policy. Some decisions may call for the full-blown process, some may call for a city-wide vote, some may not.

The key thing to consider is that with each policy initiative, the council considers the best means of implementing the initiative into action, considering the emergent nature of the problem, while insuring that people who the initiative affects have a say in the final proposal to the extent that the proposal implicates them.

When implementing council priorities, we shouldn’t be afraid of instituting solutions as prototypes, something that can be remolded or changed based on the people it is currently governing. The best test of whether something will or will not work is when it is put into practice.

We can and must consider new ways of implementing important city initiatives that are based on the seriousness of the problem, the speed at which it needs to be implemented, and the effect on the people it implicates. Staying stuck in the same old model serves no one.

Doug Hamilton is a parent, lawyer, engineer and human who believes in free public spaces and a more participatory society. Contact him at hamilton1801@ aim.com or @doug_c_hamilton on Twitter.