I see what you're saying about the proposals system - I've got no idea where I'd start with that but I'm fairly sure it'll be possible to track down some smart cookies who know how to use it.

I think Steemit will be open to ideas if we can present them with something that appeals to them.

Similarly, I don't think Steemit would be uncomfortable being the de facto sole arbiter in deciding who gets any of those funds. They bought Steemit and as things stand, we're all waiting for Steemit to do everything anyway - Make all of the decisions, create a roadmap, write all of the code to deliver that roadmap whilst we're all sat here waiting for it to be delivered to us. i.e. we're waiting for them to spend "their" money improving Steemit for all of our benefit. With this approach, they get what they want and arguably, don't have to pay for it.