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Zócalo An ASU Knowledge Enterprise Digital Daily Zócalo An ASU Knowledge Enterprise Digital Daily

civic engagement

Why Does California Hate Public Participation?

Real Civic Engagement Requires Both Money and Robust Infrastructure

Los Angeles is a city of more than four million people. And in its next budget, it might—I repeat, might—launch an Office of Civic Engagement to help all residents better participate in their city government.

Establishing even this tiny office (it could have as many as eight people and a budget of $700,000) would be a major achievement for a California city. This state is governed by processes as complicated as a Google algorithm and as slow-moving as 405 traffic—and offers little assistance to Californians who want to understand and engage …

by Joe Mathews | March 11, 2019

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The National Partisan Nastiness Is Now Poisoning Local Politics

A Former Ventura Mayor Says Washington's Ideological Warfare Is Making Municipal Governing Uglier, Harsher, and Harder

by William Fulton | July 24, 2018

Not long ago, a homeless man wandered into a restaurant on the ocean promenade in the city of Ventura, California, and stabbed to death a young man who was eating …

From the Wreckage of the ’92 Riots, a Better Los Angeles Rises

After 25 Years, a More Diverse, Civic-Minded City Is Embracing Its Shared Destiny

By Roberto Suro and Gary Painter | April 27, 2017

Luxury condominiums compete with foreign banks on the new skyline of Koreatown. On a Saturday night, 20-somethings crowd the sidewalks, huddling around food trucks, circling in and out of karaoke bars, …

Grow up, Sacramento!

Why California Needs Its Central Valley Cities to Step up to Civic Adulthood

By Joe Mathews | February 9, 2017

Are you finally growing up, Sacramento?

I pose that question not to our state government but to the real Sacramento, by which I mean the Sacramento Capital Region. It’s a query …

How to Reclaim Broken Public Places

From Dirty Streets in Bangalore to a Ragged River in L.A., Revival Requires Community

By Marianne Krasny | January 6, 2016

How do you revive a broken place?

That’s a question that I have pondered for more than 15 years, visiting and reading about places broken after long slow declines—from vacant lots …

Who Stole My Polling Place?

I Found Out on Election Day That My Rural L.A. County Precinct Had Gone Vote-By-Mail

by Ashley Trim | June 29, 2014

Out of all the election-related direct mailers I’ve received these past few months none was more crucial than the one that arrived the afternoon of election day: June 3. A …

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