Category: Writing
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OpEd: Disaster Preparedness Requires a 211 System; New York City Still Doesn’t Have One
This piece was originally published on Gotham Gazette on October 3, 2017 Over the last few weeks, New Yorkers have watched with great anxiety as Texas, Florida and Puerto Rico, among many other places, were pummeled by massive hurricanes. Whenever we see storm destruction, memories of Sandy re-enter our consciousness; as does the question: Is New…
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It’s Time for a “Participatory” Democracy Instead of our “Consumer” One
Democracy in the United States was established nearly 250 years ago when news traveled at the speed of a horse and real-time collaboration required sharing a physical location. Today, ubiquitous internet access, smartphones, social media, and online collaboration tools have transformed how we work, play and consume, but the basic structure of our politics remains…
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Devin Balkind runs for 2017 NYC Public Advocate
“I’m running as a politician you can reach with your smartphone — a ‘facilitator’ rather than a ‘representative’ — to give New Yorkers a voice and new ways to participate, reach consensus, and get what they need.”
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How to Run Collaborative Projects That Don’t Fall Prey to Bureaucracy
This piece was published at Sharable on July 21st, 2017. Today, when people call something “bureaucratic,” they usually mean that in a negative sense, but bureaucracy didn’t always have this negative connotation. About 100 years ago when many professional bureaucracies were being built, they were seen as a means of bringing quality control, predictability, and integrity to administrations. But…