Small business owner, entrepreneur and broadcaster, Angela Vithoulkas, is Living Sydney’s Lord Mayoral candidate in the upcoming City of Sydney council elections. Picture: Cameron Richardson Source: The Daily Telegraph

Up to 40 people from a cross-section of the city community will be randomly selected to join the juries, funded from council coffers, and will have real power to decide large projects such as cycleways.

The plan will be launched today by cafe owner Angela Vithoulkas, who is standing against Clover Moore for the lord mayoralty, and heads the seven-member Living Sydney ticket in next month’s local government elections.

Citizens’ juries already are used at Canada Bay and have been proposed to guide major state infrastructure projects.

Ms Vithoulkas, 46, said yesterday the juries would be selected and run – at arm’s length from council – by the newDemocracy Foundation, started by Transfield director Luca Belgiorno-Nettis with the aim of improving the democratic process.

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THE citizens’ juries proposed for major projects in the City of Sydney will be outsourced to an independent research organisation called the newDemocracy Foundation.

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“The jury system is a community engagement plan we will implement immediately (on election),” Ms Vithoulkas said.

“We want to give power back to the community, to assess and make decisions and choices on the issues that affect them.

“The community is unhappy about the present consultation process, where decisions have a pre-determined outcome.”

Ms Vithoulkas, who has run Vivo Cafe in George St for the past 10 years, said she believed the city cycleways would never have been built if citizens’ juries had been in operation. “We would want to hear voices from all parts of the community,” she said.

“And that could be on a development application, a transport issue, or cycleways.”

Under the plan it is expected jury members would attend five to seven meetings and have access to council staff, documents and external experts.

A citizens’ jury is likely to cost $10,000 to $12,000 for each project, with an annual budget of several hundred thousand dollars factored in.

Ms Vithoulkas said a council controlled by Living Sydney would pledge to act on the views and findings of the community juries.

“We need a more open and transparent system … we need to bust open the Clover club,” she said.

“People should be a lot more involved in decision-making before problems arise.

“We will apply the jury model to some public decisions and people will get involved when they see we are passing to them genuine authority.”

Living Sydney claims the City of Sydney has $530 million available in its bank account and yet more money could be freed up by eliminating waste and inefficiency.