Copy-and-paste open government
“Within 120 days, each agency shall develop and publish … an Open Government Plan that will describe how it will improve transparency and integrate public participation and collaboration into its activities” (President Obama, Open Government Directive, 12/08/2009).
President Obama has already laid out a robust open government template that can be easily adapted to local government, and it’s a model that’s completely consistent with NolaStat recommendations.
Only 12 days remain until the inauguration. Is Mitch ready for open, collaborative, participatory government?
You might have a chance to ask him at the “One Voice. One Mission” event on Thursday. Mitch will “solicit policy recommendations from the public and to receive the preliminary reports of 17 citizen task forces set up to offer advice on issues from choosing a new police chief to eradicating blight.” The public forum will be held from 1:30 to 4:30 at the Mahalia Jackson Theater of the Performing Arts in Armstrong Park.
In the meantime, Mitch has set up a “Social Innovation” survey to solicit public views on how his administration might support the community’s efforts to improve quality of life in the city. What’s your issue? Finding out what progress the city is making in eradicating blight? Are you concerned about the police suppressing police reports in order to produce artificially better crime statistics? Would you like to have more input on the quality and timing of street repairs?
NolaStat supporters might like to use the survey to express the importance of increasing public access to city data, and to explain why the creation of a participatory performance management process is vital to reducing waste and improving city operations.
Again, there are just 12 days until the inauguration. A bold first step would be for Mitch to follow President Obama’s example, announcing the launch of a broad open government initiative based upon NolaStat recommendations on his first day in office.
