City budgets are usually pretty dry, hashing out dollars for services like street repair and waste removal.
But Arlington found a creative way to tell its story this year: Legos.
A video explaining the proposed $552 million operating budget has drawn some 750,000 page views on YouTube and Facebook and even attention from national outlets, including the Today show.
The idea for the video came about thanks to a hobby of Jay Warren, the city’s director of communication and legislative affairs.
“I’m admittedly a lifelong Lego nerd,” Warren said.
After noticing the expansive Lego city Warren had built over the years, colleagues wondered if they could use the thousands of tiny Lego bricks to break down the budget.
The result is a four-and-a-half minute stop-motion video with talking Lego characters, police cars, construction workers and bicyclists.
To create the video, the city’s videographers captured thousands of images that they then compiled using a software program. One second of video required roughly 12 to 15 photos, Warren said.
Some of the Legos shown in the video have been around since about 1982, stored by Warren’s mother in boxes until he eventually had room in his own house to rebuild his city. During the pandemic, he said, the Lego city grew even larger as he had more time to devote to his hobby.
Because the Lego pieces were already built, the entire budget video took roughly two to three weeks to create, Warren said.
Most people don’t have an hour or two to spend at a budget workshop or City Council meeting, Warren said, but people still deserve to know how their money is being spent.
“Every year, our goal is the same,” he said. “How do we explain the budget in an interesting, conversational, relatable way? It shouldn’t feel like government is preaching at people, and it shouldn’t feel like an infomercial.”
City Council is scheduled to approve the budget Sept. 14.
