Political scientist Ram n Borges-M ndez of Johns Hopkins University called the Porto Alegre model and other experiences like it an entirely new way of doing things in Latin America, where a whole new generation is getting political experience at the local level. Marcio Gomes da Cruz stressed the importance of citizen participation as a guarantee of transparency in public administration. Only if a society effectively controls public administration can we see the establishment of a modern state, he said. As part of the project, the municipalities will include citizen participation in their fiscal reform plans. Pros and cons.
Many urban experts see participatory budgeting as the wave of the future.
White-collar workers, professionals, business owners and the wealthy normally shun the mass meetings and assemblies at which neighborhood priorities are determined and delegates elected. In the case of Porto Alegre, Mayor Raul Pont describes how the city government established thematic assemblies to counteract the notion that participatory budgeting is only for the poor. These meetings deal not with specific neighborhood problems, but with broad subjects such as transportation, health and social assistance, education, culture, leisure, economic development, taxation and urban development. In San Salvador, Mayor H ctor Ricardo Silva s answer is to hold smaller meetings that have a broader scope and include issues such as urban parks that are more likely to interest middle-class residents. Not everyone thinks participatory budgeting is a good idea.