Dear friends,

It was just a year ago when a few New Orleans idea leaders who supported NolaStat met at a coffee shop to discuss how to ensure that the policy recommendations were implemented by the next mayor. There were positive assurances from many candidates, but not all. Furthermore, there was no certainty that promises made in the heat of a campaign would be realized after the election.

That was last year.

This year, NolaStat is no longer just a collection of good ideas to improve and open up local government for its citizens, but has been enacted by Mitch Landrieu and is now official city policy.

Looking back over the last three-year campaign to raise awareness of the benefits of a NolaStat reform, there are innumerable people to thank for their hard work, perserverence, and courageous support. It was hard, yes, but it was also fun.

What’s left to do?

As NolaStat transitions from advocacy to action, I think we should all pause to consider yet again the great Katrina lesson, that motivated citizens can rise to any challenge, and can accomplish things never before imagined.

But of course this is not the time to stop working to improve our city. It’s time to elevate our expectations. Let’s mark the achievement, and raise the pole a little higher to see what we can get done in 2011.

Happy New Year!

Brian Denzer

Tags: 2010 Election, Mitch Landrieu, Open Data, Performance Management

This entry was posted on Saturday, January 1st, 2011 at 1:44 pm and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.