In 2009 computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee, who is credited as the inventor of the internet, gave a presentation urging governments, scientists and foundations to utilize the internet as a tool for transparency.  Berners-Lee demanded “raw data now,” and in a 2010 talk on TED he discussed several examples of internet transparency that have occurred in the past year, and their resulting effects.  For Berners-Lee, one of the most important consequences of data transparency online is that it allows for other people to utilize and compare the data in new ways, sometimes resulting in important discoveries.  Learn more by watching his speech on TED.

PlaNYC was launched 3 years ago on Earth Day as a plan to deal with the challenges of the growth of the city over the next 25 years.  It sought to find a solution to the difficult problem of creating housing for the projected one million more inhabitants, and worked to make housing more affordable throughout the city.  Environmentally, the plan set the goal of having the cleanest air of any major city, and reducing the greenhouse gas emissions by 30%.  It also focused on finding ways to improve the aging infrastructure of the city.

PlaNYC has been successful - in 2009 it was reported that 2/3 of initiatives of the plan were on track to be completed on schedule.  The article credits this success in large part to Mayor Bloomberg’s execution of the plan, which used several key business principles as the basis of the approach.  Read the article to learn more about this project and Mayor Bloomberg’s method of running the city like a business.

A New American City article documents some of the most recent developments in transparency in government spending, not just throughout the United States, but internationally as well.  From New York City to the Philippines, people are demanding the right to open records and are looking for new methods of keeping an eye on the destination of their tax dollars.

Read the New American City Article

Visit the website for more information.

Developing and enforcing purchasing guidelines is beneficial for taxpayers, and works to ensure that taxpayer money is spent wisely and efficiently.  It is important to have a transparent system that allows everyone the opportunity to bid, and such systems ultimately save money for local governments.

As the City of Pittsburgh continues to recover from record amounts of snow, many are already beginning to discuss a revamping of the City’s snow removal system for the future.

Earlier this week, Carnegie Mellon University President Jerry Cohon offered to City Council the support of CMU students, faculty and staff to help Pittsburgh create a new winter weather operations plan. While many other cities pay large amounts of money for new operations systems, CMU has offered to design and create a new system free of cost. This new system will become a model for other cities around the country to follow. In addition to this, Councilwoman Natalia Rudiak will be leading a task force that will review the City’s response to the recent storms. Councilman Bill Peduto will begin working with Councilwoman Rudiak, Public Works Committee Chair Councilman Bruce Kraus and CMU to create this new operations system.

In order for this system to be successful it must be a result- based operation plan, in which goals and timelines are set and allow for more accountability. It also must rely on computer software to determine the most effect route system, which you can read about here. Also, it should utilize GPS technology in snow plows so that residents may track the removal progress in real-time online. Read more about Howard County, Maryland’s GPS system here, and see the map here. We must create an outcome-based budgeting process to reward results and enforce accountability, and we need to calculate the size of the worker and equipment force necessary to clear snow within 48 hours.

Learn more about these efforts:
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
WTAE

“It was a historic day for Pittsburgh when City Council passed the reform package in May,” said Councilman Peduto. “The changes that Controller Lamb and I are implementing are an important step in ending pay-to-play politics in Pittsburgh.”

Controller Lamb and Councilman Peduto have been working for the past 7 months to create a user-friendly system that will make the City of Pittsburgh government more transparent and accessible to all.  The new tools for transparency will include lobbyist registration, the disclosure of lobbyists on all RFP responses, and a new searchable dataset of all campaign donations.

View the Searchable Database of all City Government Contracts

Frequently Asked Questions About Lobbyist Registration

View the Lobbyist Registration Form

Campaign Finance Reform Frequently Asked Questions

No Bid Contracts Reform Frequently Asked Questions

Read the Letter

Read the Letter Here

View the Alternative Budget

Many of the recommendations from Controller Lamb and Councilman Peduto were adopted by the Mayor as part of his new proposal. The notion of an Education Tax to balance the books in 2010 was taken out of the budget, but the Mayor still intends to pursue the idea and five members of City Council still support him.

Act 47 Response Letter

Peduto/Lamb Alternative