Big Municipality (of Nizhny Novgorod), colloquially the Big NN Government — a virtual advisory council under the city manager, putting forward grassroots progressive ideas on all aspects of running the city's affairs (except property matters).

An important difference from earlier advisory bodies with similar functions, such as the Public Chamber of Nizhny Novgorod Region and the Youth Parliament, was that Big Municipality was meant to organize its work on a network principle.

Applications for enrollment in Big Municipality were accepted until November 4, 2012.

Participation in Big Municipality is unpaid.

The Essence of the Phenomenon

A local "clone" of President D. A. Medvedev's Big Government.

The first project in the Nizhny Novgorod Region for simulating broad participation of representatives of intelligentsism in the affairs of the avtoriti (local power-brokers).

Official Launch

December 19, 2011 was announced as the official launch of the "Big Municipality" project. Any resident of Nizhny Novgorod could take part, regardless of age or social standing. All that was needed was to clearly formulate one's proposals for improving life in the city. These could be large-scale projects as well as ideas for improving a courtyard, relocating a transit stop, and so on. The main thing was that the proposal be useful to city residents and that the result of implementing it be evident.

Background

According to its developers, headed by the head of administration of Nizhny Novgorod Oleg Kondrashov, any resident of Nizhny Novgorod, regardless of age or social standing, could join "Big Municipality".

All that was required was to formulate one's proposals and send them to the head of the city administration. Applications were accepted until November 4, 2012.

On the day of the 400th anniversary of the victory of the Nizhny Novgorod people's militia of Minin and Pozharsky, Oleg Kondrashov intended to meet with the 400 most active residents of Nizhny Novgorod who had put forward interesting ideas for improving city life, and to sum up the results of the citywide project. The head of the city administration planned to discuss the details of the projects personally with the authors of the most original ideas.

Kondrashov sought to draw a clear parallel between the militia of 1612 and that of 2012, implying the participation of all strata of the population in a common cause. "Except this militia is not 'against' but 'for'," Kondrashov emphasized.

The head of the city administration made no secret that the idea was born by analogy with the "Big Government" project: "At the federal level the idea of a 'big government' made up of the most active citizens is already in the air. How is our city any worse? Why not create a 'big municipality' in Nizhny Novgorod too, within which all concerned citizens could voice their ideas for transforming life in the city."

"It is important that the project not turn into idle talk, that it really become a platform where the real problems troubling residents are discussed, where recommendations to the authorities on effectively solving pressing problems are worked out," believes Lev Shaposhnikov, rector of the Kozma Minin Nizhny Novgorod State Pedagogical University.

"As someone who has worked with public organizations for 12 years already, I fully welcome initiatives by the authorities to establish a dialogue with the population. If the city authorities are ready for this, it can only be beneficial. What is troubling is the name of the project — 'People's Militia'. In Russian there are more peaceable formulations, semantically speaking, for denoting such phenomena," stated Oksana Tazhirova, head of the PR service of the "Sluzhenie" (Service) center for the development of public initiatives.

In Kondrashov's blog, where he put the idea up for discussion, opinions were divided. Skeptics consider the project a PR move meant to distract residents from real utilities problems, while other readers find the idea useful.

"The idea is sound from a communications-organization standpoint. But it carries a number of positional risks: 1. overload of the governance system. 2. absence of established norms, ties, and values within society. It seems to me that in light of this, the role of the authorities in implementing this idea should be reconsidered," commented user Ekaterina Nikolaeva on Kondrashov's blog.

(Federal Press columnist A. Gorodzeisky)

Contacts

You can send ideas marked "Big Municipality" by email. Proposals can also be submitted through a special form on the website, or by regular mail.

Email

Postal Address

In the Comments of Nizhny Novgorod Residents

User Dreamseer, NNRU city forum, NNRU 19.01.2012 at 19:30:08.

"There are ideas.

  • 1. Send Valery Shantsev into well-earned retirement, the bulldozer has been tired for a long time. The resorts of Krasnoyarsk Krai (no typo here) have long been waiting for him. Put the money saved toward extra pay for doctors, kindergarten teachers, and school teachers.
  • 4. Disband the City Council as unnecessary. Leave one 40in with personal criminal liability for ALL decisions made.

5. Immediately after 40in is jailed and his property confiscated, hold new Duma elections under the DIRECT AND IMMEDIATE observation of observers invited from abroad. Vote counting should also be carried out by them.

The idea is given free of charge, no money needed."

User Blackpool, NNRU city forum, NNRU 18.01.2012 at 12:03:04.

"About a year or a year and a half ago, flyers were dropped into every mailbox (naturally under the aegis of United Russia) proposing to draw the desired layout of your own courtyard — where to put benches, where to put a playground, where to put a flowerbed — and then send this sketch somewhere, either to UR headquarters, or drop it into special boxes with a bear logo at post offices...

Where are they now, those pieces of paper with the clumsily drawn layouts of everyone's shabby little courtyards, all those who believed and decided to make their contribution?

Do many people even remember this?

And now, once again, official pseudo-activity about "involving the population in running the city"? And after March 4, will this project also be conveniently forgotten?"

Interesting Facts

  • Big Municipality's email has already received original ideas about relocating a transit stop and revising the traffic pattern on Ilyinskaya Street, about bringing passenger electric transport to a break-even level, and about laying heating mains in an unconventional way that would create pedestrian sidewalks. This is reported by the Public Relations Department of the city administration.
  • The number of Big Municipality participants is limited to 400 people — matching the number of years since the victory of the Nizhny Novgorod.

See Also