Similar to the last article posted, but with pictures:
Tough budget choices? Ask an everyday citizen
http://today.brown.edu/articles/2009/05/baiocchi
By Alison Fairbrother, Today at Brown
An experiment in democracy is brewing in Chicago’s 49th Ward. The neighborhood is vying to become the first community in the United States to use participatory budgeting, in which residents directly decide how to spend public money, to allocate its municipal funds. It is an experiment that imports concepts developed as far away as Brazil. And it takes on added significance as federal, state, and local officials across the country face greater public scrutiny in allocating federal stimulus funds and scarce budget dollars.

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