The New Normal Dilemma
You all know the dilemma; you feel it, you deal with it, you fight it and you wish it would go away.   Yes, you have less revenue, less staff yet the same high expectations from your residents, which you can’t possibly meet anymore.

Can’t We Just Do Better at What We Are Doing?
One approach is to keep doing the same thing you have always done but just work harder and smarter.  Unfortunately, this approach won’t get you out of the hole you are in.   The “New Normal” is an opportunity to confront your assumptions, beliefs and views of local government that you have learned and adopted.  These assumptions, beliefs and views can be summarized as follows:

• The city must be all things to all people.  We can solve everyone’s problems.  The city is responsible for the quality of life of our city.  Councils were elected to serve the people and solve their problems.  Residents are not smart enough to solve the problems or don’t care or only care about their self-interests.  City managers are put on earth to solve all problems. Our residents are customers and we must treat them as such.
• Many of us knew, even when we had lots of revenue and staff, that we couldn’t be all things to all people and solve all problems: however, we pretended we could and didn’t challenge that assumption.  The New Normal is causing us to reexamine the role of government.  We have begun to see that our old view of local government is outdated and ineffective.  

There are Two Ways to Approach the New Normal
Door # 1 is to continue doing what we have been doing: cutting staff, reducing services, consolidating departments, contracting with neighboring cities to combine services and renegotiating labor agreements.  All this is necessary and important to do but it is not sufficient to deal with the full dilemma.

We can continue to reduce, cut and consolidate and hope that our city will recoup the revenue we have lost over the last 4 years. It will be a long wait and “hoping” for a return of the “good old days” is not a good strategy.

Door # 2 is to start building community and tap into the potential of your citizens. Let me explain Door #2 can do that.

Don’t Do the Same Old Things Differently Do Different Things

We must change our assumptions/beliefs/views of local government.  We were never able to be all things to all people but we pretended we could.   Why have we gotten stuck in this way of thinking?  Either we always wanted to be the superhero or we thought this was our job or we have been hesitant to admit that the old view is outmoded and ineffective. Change is difficult for us, too.

Door #2 has a new set of assumptions, beliefs and views:

• The City can’t solve all problems and never could. The City is only partially responsible for the community’s quality of life.
• Residents are sometimes customers but mostly citizens.
• Customers are not problem solvers, don’t create anything and are not good partners.
• Citizens are primarily responsible for the community’s quality of life. They have enormous skills, talents and abilities to partner with the city.  Citizens are great problem solvers, very creative and make wonderful partners.
• Wicked problems like the new normal can only be solved by a partnership between local government and citizens.
• Citizens can and will be your partner; customers can’t and won’t be your partner.
• Community building is the most powerful and effective way turn your customers into citizens.  Community is your most important infrastructure.
• Community building paired with effective civic engagement is a powerful resource most cities have not fully utilized.

Why Build Community?  What is its Value?
There is firm research data that shows that increasing community can lead to higher education performance, lower crime and improved physical and mental health. Only 4 policy areas were studied but they clearly demonstrate the power of community. Although this article is too short to thoroughly discuss why you should build community building, I recommend that you read the following article (Community Building: How to Do it, Why It Matters; ICMA IQ Report Volume 41/Number 4 2009).

How Does One Build Community?
When I was the city manager in Redwood City, we did many different things to build community.  We initially focused our efforts citywide and soon realized that we must connect neighbors to build a strong community. Community doesn’t exist until neighbors know each other and feel connected to their neighborhood community.   Once neighbors feel part of their neighborhood, they help each other and look for ways to improve their neighborhood. Neighbors then begin to realize they are responsible and accountable for the quality of life of their city.  This evolution happens over time and is compelling and effective.  Cities have significantly underutilized this powerful tool to solve community problems.

Technology is now available to help cities build community.  The most powerful, community building, neighborhood-oriented website that I know is Nextdoor. Nextdoor does a marvelous job of connecting neighbors with each other.  It also enables a city to post relevant information to each neighborhood.

Nextdoor helps neighbors improve their lives: find a babysitter, give away or sell stuff, ask or get recommendations from neighbors, organize a block party, find a lost pet and more.  Neighbors first connect over the website but, unlike other social media, they connect in person as well.  Nextdoor is free to cities and neighborhoods.  It takes minimal staff time to offer it to your residents.  Nextdoor was successfully tested in Redwood City for a year.  Nextdoor can help move your residents from being customers to becoming citizens.  If you are interested in more information on Nextdoor, please feel contact me or to see a 90 second video, go to www.nextdoor.com/city.

Cities have 4 important roles to play in building community: consciousness raising, catalyst, facilitator and convener. Community building takes at least 5 years of focused effort but no one said there is an easy answer to our dilemma. I refer you to the previously mentioned publication for specific examples of how to build community.  Building community is the most sustainable and powerful legacy you can leave.

Summary
Based on my six years of experience with building community in Redwood City, seeing the changes, and feeling the positive affects it had on residents and the city, I strongly urge your city to begin building this forgotten infrastructure….Community.

1. There is hard data that building community positively impacts a city’s quality of life.
2. Community building will significantly help cities face the new normal.
3. The more connected residents feel to their neighborhood and city, the more they are willing to partner and help solve problems.
4. There is great technology to help cities build community.
5. Building community acknowledges what we know… “It takes a village to do almost anything worthwhile”.