Monday, October 21, 2013

The Arlington Way: A Collaborative Method

            The Arlington Way, is essentially a method of decision making that creates a process in which city residents are able to actively participate by giving their input on certain policies, and development plans. The overall process is collaborative and allows for input from various parties to be included in the overall decision making.
               
             While the Arlington Way seems to be an attractive method of preventing corruption it seems that it too is also not immune to human faults. The first issue with the Arlington Way is that there is not one set definition for it. The idea of it is to be able to involve people from civil society within Arlington. It composed of an elaborate system of advisory commissions and committees to tap into the talent that is within Arlington. Essentially is a way for local government to have a more collaborative process with the local community.

While this seems to be how the Arlington local government has chosen to make many of its decisions, it seemed to have fell into criticism. Citing those allowed to participate in the Arlington Way are influential individuals within the  city of Arlington.          


   
          The problem faced isn't that the process itself is flawed, but the sense that while the process is utilized and concerned residents are able to give their input through this democratic process. The County Board does not put into account the input from the process when making decisions on important issues. This disregard of the input gathered from the process as recently brought into question if the Arlington Way is no longer an effective tool for local governance. The Arlington Way may be a possible example of how to stimulate active participation in local governance and  work towards preventing corruption. (Arlington Way

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