I’d like to thank everyone who came out to Create Baltimore 2013 and took part in the government transparency and audit discussion. As individuals, we have Mint.com to track our personal finances and help us make fact based decisions in real time. Why don’t citizens and our leaders have something like mint.com for Baltimore? New York City recognized this need and built their version of a ‘mint.com’ and they call it Checkbook NYC.
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| Screen Shot of Checkbook NYC |
Why Care About Audits and Baltimore Data?
I’m passionate about audits and transparency in Baltimore for several reasons that you may or may not have seen in the news. Most effective companies or cities that have budgets the size of Baltimore's audit their books regularly. This helps create a management environment of accountability, transparency and data driven leadership decisions. Baltimore hasn’t audited some agencies for decades and some say since Eisenhower was president. Making leadership decisions with this lack of insight is like driving your car blindfolded. We’ve heard some bizarre arguments why this can’t be done, such as there isn’t enough money, when Baltimore has one of the largest audit budgets of its size in the country. We have also been given the reason by Budget Director Andrew Kleine in his 5-23-2013 memo to the City Council that "Most City agencies, boards and commissions do not prepare annual financial statements and lack the expertise to prepare these documents."The current administration might superficially support transparency with events like the $10,000 City Civic Apps contest or Open Baltimore but the reality is the current administration is throwing Baltimore Sun reporters and activists such as Kim Trueheart out of City Hall for exercising their basic rights to engage in the democratic process. For another indicator of how Baltimore compares with the rest of the country review this example: We were given $9.5M from the federal government to help the homeless. How effectively did we spend it? Who knows? According to HUD and this article from the Baltimore Brew, 100% of the funds didn't have supporting documentation. Baltimore was the worst in the country. The next worst offenders were Buffalo with 6. 6% undocumented and Newark with 8. 5% undocumented.
During the last election cycle, our leadership missed the perfect political opportunity to say we’re going to continue the work of previous administrations by encouraging transparency and data-driven public policy decisions. Leadership could have expanded CitiStat or demanded the Comptroller perform annual audits of all agencies. Instead we ended up with an ineffective measure put forth to the voters that may get some agencies audited. With the current language some agencies will never get audited which is well out of line with best practice audit guidelines for cities of our size.
As citizens, it’s time we demand results, or at least demand the data and tools that give us a fighting chance to make effective leadership decisions. It’s time for Baltimore citizens to expect more from our city. Before we give up basics like trash pickups, pay cuts for fire fighters, or rec centers, we should ask for the basic fundamental data about why we need to give up these things when we have some of the highest tax rates in the country and the least insight into where our tax dollars are going.
What do we do? I’ve been architecting a tool that may break bureaucratic gridlock and lack of transparency. The tool I've been thinking about is just a small piece of the overall solution but it would automate and demystify Maryland's equivalent of the Federal Freedom of Information ACT (FOIA). In Maryland the law is called Public Information Act. The attorney general has an excellent website outlining how citizens can use the law, including previous cases. My goal is to simplify the process around this law so someone with only a high school degree and no legal resources can get more deeply involved in the democratic process and get government data that they have previously been denied. We also don’t have to start from scratch. OSI and Hivos have funded a platform for the United Kingdom called Alaveteli which we may be able to use as a starting point.
Instead of looking at the PIA tool as a confrontational tool, let's look at it as a tool for citizen and government do-gooders to break through gridlock. As Andrew Zaleski said, there are many people in the government, like our new CIO, who want to do good work, but there are also people who want to keep things they way they have been for decades. Perhaps this is a tool for all the citizens and government employees getting stuck in the political process.
I’d like your feedback about how we architect a tool or use previously built tools such as Alaveteli to encourage our leadership to use more data-based decision making, encourage citizen engagement, and break up the status quo when needed. We also need to agressively fund systems which will allow real time reporting like we expect out of our personal Mint.com type financial reporting.
One of my favorite ideas that came out of brainstorming was the idea of requiring votes or "likes" to push the PIA through to avoid frivolous PIA requests. It reminded me of the White House's "We The People Platform" (wikipedia article). This type of voting or petitioning could also be used to decide which PIA requests get submitted and which get litigated if they haven’t been properly responded to. Perhaps there is a way to avoid the voting process for reporters, veteran users, and automated community-driven PIA requests such as Board of Estimates approvals.
I’ve suggested this in the features section and this concept might already be in place but I'll throw it out there nonetheless. What if we flip the current political money model around a little bit. What if we build a mashup of the grass roots components of Change.org, crowd funding of KickStarter.com, petitioning components of the White House’s “We The People Platform” and awareness ad campaigns? In situations where our leadership refuses to act, we follow up with volunteer or crowd funded litigation. In Maryland, the citizen or organization that wins a PIA lawsuit gets paid their legal fees and the government entity is required to pay fines so there is an incentive for lawyers to take these cases.
I'm not set on strategy, features, and functionality. If you would like to add or remove features, have input on the strategy, or help build pieces of it, I'd encourage your participation.
If you would like to do further reading Chris Delaporte has been one of Baltimore’s Pioneers on moving this issue forward. You can read his articles, op eds and other news over at the Baltimore Brew.
2/26 UPDATE: I thought I'd share some comments from facebook, clarifications.
Rob Wray reply:
Thanks for taking the time to read my post and for your comments. Let me clarify some potential long term goals and how I hope this tool gets us there.
• Goal: A shift in leadership philosophy to data driven decision making in all levels of city government.
How this tool may help: Currently we have little or no data which can be used to make decisions. We can't change leadership philosophy and the approach to problem solving without data. After we get the data it is then up to leaders or voters to make their decisions with this data.
• Goal: Increased accountability on all levels.
How this tool may help: Nobody is watching where our public funds go. This should provide another set of eyeballs on our money. It also may create a sense that someone might dig deeper into the finances of any project in the future. Would people be more likely to have ethical behavior knowing their actions might be inspected in the future? Sayings like "absolute power corrupts absolutely" and "locks are only to keep out the honest people" come to mind. I believe we have mostly honest people but right now we have no locks and nobody watching.
• Goal: Increased citizen involvement.
How this tool may help: Whether a concerned citizen or a data hacker looking to make a mash up, without details of what's happening it's hard to get involved. Increasingly I think our citizenry is feeling powerless and disengaged. Hopefully raw data leads to engagement.
• Goal: Rethink and replace non-transparent systems. Build and implement future computer and data systems with transparency as a feature.
How this tool may help: City compliance costs will be high due to the fact that existing systems haven't been built with transparency in mind. Hopefully it will no longer be cost effective to have systems that don't quickly generate data for leadership or citizens.
For leaders that embrace transparency, data should be a way to explain complex issues and the thought process about how difficult decisions are made.
Thanks again Ed.
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As citizens, it’s time we demand results, or at least demand the data and tools that give us a fighting chance to make effective leadership decisions. It’s time for Baltimore citizens to expect more from our city. Before we give up basics like trash pickups, pay cuts for fire fighters, or rec centers, we should ask for the basic fundamental data about why we need to give up these things when we have some of the highest tax rates in the country and the least insight into where our tax dollars are going.
What do we do? I’ve been architecting a tool that may break bureaucratic gridlock and lack of transparency. The tool I've been thinking about is just a small piece of the overall solution but it would automate and demystify Maryland's equivalent of the Federal Freedom of Information ACT (FOIA). In Maryland the law is called Public Information Act. The attorney general has an excellent website outlining how citizens can use the law, including previous cases. My goal is to simplify the process around this law so someone with only a high school degree and no legal resources can get more deeply involved in the democratic process and get government data that they have previously been denied. We also don’t have to start from scratch. OSI and Hivos have funded a platform for the United Kingdom called Alaveteli which we may be able to use as a starting point.
Possible PIA Tool Goals and Features
- Allow citizens to easily access data available under the PIA.
- Track delivery of PIA requests to make sure the city is responding and complying with the law. In the event the city does not comply with the PIA, the tool may document lack of response or lack thereof for future litigation.
- Allow crowd funding of PIA legal action.
- Implement a "We The People" petition system to decide which PIA requests get filed and which ones get litigated.
- Send automated compliance reminders. i. e. You have 20 days to comply, you have 2 days to comply.
- Document and publicly post replies and compliance failures.
- Show agency response statistics in a leaderboard.
Ideas From Create Baltimore
Some Create Baltimore attendees, such as Mike Brenner, brought up a few good points about a less confrontational approach, which I agree with up to a point. Nice behavior and peacemaking only goes so far until you start conflicting with political goals, back room political deals, career goals, or fundraising interests. Once we hit those road blocks I believe something besides being nice will be needed to break that status quo. It shouldn’t be a big check from a wealthy donor. A tool to break the old ways of thinking is going to become more critical as the Baltimore Sun continues to lose its teeth and the democratic balance becomes disrupted. I don't want to see the current administration discredited. We're going to be working with them for years to come. I'd like the current political leaders to take a more data-driven approach towards public policy, decision making, and citizen engagement through greater transparency. $10,000 hackathon grants aren't enough when the underlying governing philosophy isn't aligned. As suggested by people at Create Baltimore, I also don't want to see the city fall into paperwork overload while complying with frivolous PIA act requests.Instead of looking at the PIA tool as a confrontational tool, let's look at it as a tool for citizen and government do-gooders to break through gridlock. As Andrew Zaleski said, there are many people in the government, like our new CIO, who want to do good work, but there are also people who want to keep things they way they have been for decades. Perhaps this is a tool for all the citizens and government employees getting stuck in the political process.
I’d like your feedback about how we architect a tool or use previously built tools such as Alaveteli to encourage our leadership to use more data-based decision making, encourage citizen engagement, and break up the status quo when needed. We also need to agressively fund systems which will allow real time reporting like we expect out of our personal Mint.com type financial reporting.
One of my favorite ideas that came out of brainstorming was the idea of requiring votes or "likes" to push the PIA through to avoid frivolous PIA requests. It reminded me of the White House's "We The People Platform" (wikipedia article). This type of voting or petitioning could also be used to decide which PIA requests get submitted and which get litigated if they haven’t been properly responded to. Perhaps there is a way to avoid the voting process for reporters, veteran users, and automated community-driven PIA requests such as Board of Estimates approvals.
I’ve suggested this in the features section and this concept might already be in place but I'll throw it out there nonetheless. What if we flip the current political money model around a little bit. What if we build a mashup of the grass roots components of Change.org, crowd funding of KickStarter.com, petitioning components of the White House’s “We The People Platform” and awareness ad campaigns? In situations where our leadership refuses to act, we follow up with volunteer or crowd funded litigation. In Maryland, the citizen or organization that wins a PIA lawsuit gets paid their legal fees and the government entity is required to pay fines so there is an incentive for lawyers to take these cases.
Next steps:
With the support of volunteer lawyers, technologists from the community, and private funds where needed, I hope we can work together to accelerate Baltimore’s growth. Will you join us? What are your opinions on the best way to move forward? Can you think of any unintended consequences we should be aware of? Please give us your thoughts as a comment to this blog, as a private e-mail to me, or on Twitter @wraydo. Listed below are the next steps:- Incorporate public feedback from this blog post.
- Let's have a meeting to go over ideas/feedback/next steps.Update: We've picked a time and location. Our next meeting on this topic will be held Friday, March 8th at 6pm. 1111 Light Street, 4th Floor, Baltimore, MD 21230. Free bike parking on 4th floor. Car parking info. If you can’t make it, I’d be more than happy to talk or meet you another time.
- If a tool to automate Public Information Act requests is a good next step, split features into version goals or a draft roadmap.
- Finish defining features.
- Finish documenting it in Pivotal Tracker.
- Engage volunteers to help work on the UI.
- Engage volunteers to help work on the database.
- Perform a legal review of the process.
- Launch the beta and test a few PIA requests.
I'm not set on strategy, features, and functionality. If you would like to add or remove features, have input on the strategy, or help build pieces of it, I'd encourage your participation.
If you would like to do further reading Chris Delaporte has been one of Baltimore’s Pioneers on moving this issue forward. You can read his articles, op eds and other news over at the Baltimore Brew.
2/26 UPDATE: I thought I'd share some comments from facebook, clarifications.
Ed Gibney Really interesting topic, Rob. Voting doesn't seem to get the results you want (and the performance you cited is disgustingly terrible!), so why not use the PIA as another tool you have as a citizen for accountability. I think you need one more link in the chain though to say what info you want to go after and what you would do with it. Accounting databases you can comb through for corruption? Budgets of specific agencies you can run performance metric comparisons on? Project management reports you can use to highlight foot dragging? If you don't have the answers to that, the crowd sourced voting on PIAs may get you there. But a focus on results (we'll do it / we'll embarrass you / we'll arrest you) should get people more fired up about this great idea. I see the vision. I see the tool. I don't quite see exactly how that tool achieves your vision.
Tuesday at 6:16pm via mobile ·
--------------------------------Rob Wray reply:
Thanks for taking the time to read my post and for your comments. Let me clarify some potential long term goals and how I hope this tool gets us there.
• Goal: A shift in leadership philosophy to data driven decision making in all levels of city government.
How this tool may help: Currently we have little or no data which can be used to make decisions. We can't change leadership philosophy and the approach to problem solving without data. After we get the data it is then up to leaders or voters to make their decisions with this data.
• Goal: Increased accountability on all levels.
How this tool may help: Nobody is watching where our public funds go. This should provide another set of eyeballs on our money. It also may create a sense that someone might dig deeper into the finances of any project in the future. Would people be more likely to have ethical behavior knowing their actions might be inspected in the future? Sayings like "absolute power corrupts absolutely" and "locks are only to keep out the honest people" come to mind. I believe we have mostly honest people but right now we have no locks and nobody watching.
• Goal: Increased citizen involvement.
How this tool may help: Whether a concerned citizen or a data hacker looking to make a mash up, without details of what's happening it's hard to get involved. Increasingly I think our citizenry is feeling powerless and disengaged. Hopefully raw data leads to engagement.
• Goal: Rethink and replace non-transparent systems. Build and implement future computer and data systems with transparency as a feature.
How this tool may help: City compliance costs will be high due to the fact that existing systems haven't been built with transparency in mind. Hopefully it will no longer be cost effective to have systems that don't quickly generate data for leadership or citizens.
For leaders that embrace transparency, data should be a way to explain complex issues and the thought process about how difficult decisions are made.
Thanks again Ed.
--------
Ed Gibney All awesome big huge gnarly and worthwhile goals. I see all of this as possible in the long run. I guess what I was focusing on was "what comes first?" In big change management initiatives, one of the ways to get things really moving is something called a "breakthrough project". These are specific projects with goals that:
1. are urgent and compelling, real attention getters
2. are a first step goal achievable in a short period of time - in weeks rather than months
3. are a bottom line result, discrete and measurable
4. the responsible participants feel ready, willing, and able to accomplish right now
5. can be achieved with available resources and authority.
When you say you will get "the data", I would want to know which exact slice and what exactly you'll do with it, keeping in mind that it would be awesome if that first choice or so could meet these kinds of breakthrough criteria.
Super admirable task Rob. Happy to share my thoughts on it any time. This is a higher mountain to climb than Cotopaxi!
1. are urgent and compelling, real attention getters
2. are a first step goal achievable in a short period of time - in weeks rather than months
3. are a bottom line result, discrete and measurable
4. the responsible participants feel ready, willing, and able to accomplish right now
5. can be achieved with available resources and authority.
When you say you will get "the data", I would want to know which exact slice and what exactly you'll do with it, keeping in mind that it would be awesome if that first choice or so could meet these kinds of breakthrough criteria.
Super admirable task Rob. Happy to share my thoughts on it any time. This is a higher mountain to climb than Cotopaxi!
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