Terry Goddard, the former Arizona Attorney General from 2003-2011 and former Mayor of Phoenix from 1984-1990, will be teaching a course at ASU’s School of Public Affairs in the Fall 2011 semester.
PAF 591 Phoenix and the Art of Public Decision Making is a new course elective for Fall 2011.
The course meets Tuesdays, 5:40-8:30 PM in UCENT 213. The class # is 88238.The course is open to graduate students from across ASU, and also highly motivated undergraduate students. (Students in Barrett, the Honors College, may register.)
Instructor: Samuel Pearson “Terry” Goddard III was the Attorney General of Arizona, from 2003 to 2011, and also served as Mayor of Phoenix, Arizona from 1984 to 1990.
Course description: The course will provide a case history examination of efforts to include significant public participation in the major decisions facing Phoenix between 1984 and 1990. The course will examine some of the critical issues facing Phoenix 25 years ago and how public participation was encouraged and the extent to which it was achieved. In this context, participation is not defined as opposition to the latest zoning outrage or to public officials run amok, but how a city can engage large numbers of citizens as constructive players in public decisions. Phoenix during this period tried many different ways to bring the non-lobbyist public “into the room”, some successful, others not so much.
Mayor Goddard’s campaign slogan to “Open the Doors to City Hall” got the ball rolling, but how to take the Open Door concept beyond campaign rhetoric was a challenge few if any municipalities have taken so seriously. Issues to be examined include the adoption of Council districts, establishing and locating a homeless shelter, the Village Planning Process in planning and zoning, stimulating arts, culture and historic preservation, adopting a city logo, billboards and the control of visual blight, locating major entertainment venues such as Desert Sky Pavilion and the Suns Arena, and, finally, the comprehensive strategic planning process known as the Phoenix Futures Forum. During this time, thousands of nonelected volunteers took on significant responsibility for the future of their city. The class will discuss the actual impact of this involvement as well as the practical and philosophical limits to public involvement in government. Did the various programs survive to the present day? Why and why not. Today, as high expectations for government seem more and more disconnected from personal responsibility and involvement, and public confidence in governance at all levels plummets, the lessons from Phoenix in opening the door to citizen participation are particularly relevant.
For more information and to register, check the ASU catalog.
Downtown Voices Coalition 