Mayor Landrieu to adopt NolaStat open data recommendation
It’s become clear since his May 3rd inauguration that Mayor Landrieu will be adopting a performance management policy, like Baltimore’s CitiStat model, to improve the delivery of city services to the public.
Times-Picayune reporter Michelle Krupa has been following government reforms being implemented by Mayor Landrieu to shift away from the closed government policies of the previous administration. Now comes news that Landrieu will also be fostering the creation of a 21st century digital democracy by adopting an open data innovation modeled after the District of Columbia’s Digital Public Square, which also inspired President Obama’s Data.gov website.
“There’s a wealth of potential benefits that accrue when you put that information in the hands of citizens,” said Andy Kopplin, the top aide to Mayor Mitch Landrieu.
While raw data may not be useful to the average person, the ability to access city data will make it possible for innovators to transform that data into useful information that would help to keep the public informed of city activities.
To be sure, there are significant hurdles to overcome before New Orleanians will be able to download some data sets from a city website. The District of Columbia spent years modernizing and integrating its information systems before an open data policy could be fully implemented. Even so, it wasn’t until the mandate was issued to make data public that some D.C. department managers began to improve the quality of their data.
New Orleans currently has some data sets that could probably be examined for immediate publication. 911 calls for service is one data source that should already be robust, since it’s used as a daily tactical decision support tool in the New Orleans Police Department’s Comstat maps. In fact, very soon after being sworn in as the new police chief, Ronal Serpas announced that the public would have access to crime data within 24 hours of an incident occurring.
Other city data will have to undergo a process of evaluation and improvement before it would be truly useful to the public. Not surprisingly, focusing attention on the quality of city data isn’t just useful to the public. It will also help to improve city operations. Transparency isn’t just good for the public. It’s also good for government.
A new era is beginning in New Orleans under Mayor Landrieu. Instead of ranking worst in many categories, New Orleans can now aspire to be striving for first in government reform.
