At what point does your spidey-sense tell you that you have the right amount of community input?

I asked this question at a meet-the-candidate event yesterday for someone running for my Ward’s city council seat in Evanston.

The candidate is really solid. An empathetic, self-proclaimed policy wonk whose career includes a rich mix of community roles and work. At this point, he certainly has my support and vote.

I asked the question after a good discussion (with a roomful of other attendees) about the effort of the city to draft several key new policy initiatives: A 20 year comprehensive plan, a wholesale updating of the zoning codes and one major “safe streets” transportation effort impacting our neighborhood.

A lot of what was being shared during this discussion, by the audience and the candidate, is that the community has not been given enough opportunity to weigh in. Or that the opportunities to do so were fumbled (i.e., the messaging or news which prompted input generated a lot of pissed off people who then wanted to weigh in).

But it’s pretty easy to declare “well, the community input was poorly managed.” To be fair, the candidate was really effective in discussing this point and is well aware of the realities of gathering good input. But the point remains: It’s a tough challenge to have confidence that there is the “right” amount of community input and the quality of the input is good.

What does that look like?

I realized, today, that what I was trying to get at with the question may be where I really want to focus my skills and time.

The candidate’s answer was ok, but not exactly what I was driving at. That’s probably more my poor question phrasing than the candidate’s fault. “Tell me about a time, in one of your community roles, where you felt confident you had the right amount of community input for a decision.” That gets at it more precisely. (And I am slapping my forehead, duh, thinking about all I’ve learned from my good friend Teresa Torres and then whiffed in this question-asking moment).

Clearly this candidate has a lot of experience – years – gathering input from diverse voices about a variety of community issues that generate emotions. In doing so he undoubtedly developed tacit know-how to gauge when things are pretty good when you’re making a decision that requires community input. I was sitting there thinking: Ok, you’re elected and now represent the Ward we live in. The council is at some point in 2025 where it is finalizing one of the major initiatives. You’re about to vote. You’re spidey-sense gives you high confidence about the community input and engagement on the initiative, and that you are effectively balancing the desire to make real progress (resisting the deadening forces of Nimby-ism) while also being true to your effort to represent the values and interests of your Ward.

What happened that gave you this high confidence?

I clearly recognize this as the type of challenge that has many possible correct answers, and is a never-ending journey. That’s why it is so appealing. And why it really piques my curiosity.

And why I emailed the candidate to say I’d be happy to volunteer to work on that specific challenge.

Note: The photographs which accompany these posts are taken by me, and show different settings and views of Evanston (where I live). It is a visual reminder that this is the most important setting for belonging and contributing to community; my neighborhood, my city.