| June 23, 2008 | Posted by breen under Civic Engagement, Government |
There’s a guy in Youngstown, Ohio, named Phil Kidd who leads a community organizing movement called Defend Youngstown but he also works for city government there and what’s remarkable is that he runs another blog to make his work activites public: 44503 LIVE. This guy actually submits his time sheet to the world. Now, that’s accountability and transparency. If only…
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ATTORNEY GENERAL FORUM SET FOR EAST END
A forum for Democratic attorney general candidates will be held on Sunday, January 29, 2012 from 1:00 to 3:00 PM in the Wightman School Community Building, 5604 Solway Street, in Squirrel Hill.
The event is co-hosted by the 14th Ward Independent Democratic Club and the 14th and 7th Ward Democratic Committees.
Democratic attorney general candidates Kathleen Kane and Patrick Murphy will be attending and candidate Dan McCaffrey has been invited to participate. Come join us. It’s free and we’ll have good food. Audience members will pose questions, and the candidates will have an equal opportunity to inform voters of their views. The panel discussion will begin at 2:00.
This will be the first Pittsburgh-area forum for candidates vying for the Democratic Party’s nomination for attorney general. The primary election will be held on April 24.
With more than 18,000 registered Democrats, the 14th Ward is the largest ward in the City of Pittsburgh and second largest in the state. More people voted in the 2010 general election in the 14th Ward than in 22 Pennsylvania counties. The ward includes all or part of Squirrel Hill, Point Breeze, North Point Breeze, Regent Square, Park Place, and Swisshelm Park. The 7th Ward covers Shadyside.
The 14th Ward club is not affiliated with the Democratic Committee of Allegheny County. It formed in 1964 and is the longest standing independent Democratic club in the country.
She is one busy lady. The A+ Schools board has also added some politically connected names to their board.
Here is the press release from A+ Schools:
New Officers, Members Elected to A+ Schools Board of Directors
PITTSBURGH, PA – Jan. 17, 2012 – The Board of Directors of A+ Schools, Pittsburgh’s community alliance for public education, has elected Judy Johnston as its new chair. Johnston, an educational leadership consultant, replaces Sala Udin, president of the Coro Center for Civic Leadership, who will serve on the Board’s Executive Committee as immediate past president.
The Board also elected Tracey Reed Armant, a consultant and parent, to succeed Johnston as the new vice chair. Chelsa Wagner, Allegheny County controller, was elected as secretary and Jim Turner, training division director of OnHand Schools, Inc., was re-elected treasurer. Susan Brownlee, executive director of the Fine Foundation, was elected to serve as an at-large executive committee member.
Six new directors were elected to two-year terms ending Dec. 31, 2013: Jackie Dandridge, a college and career advisor with NEED and retired Pittsburgh teacher; Amanda Godley, a professor in the School of Education at the University of Pittsburgh; Allyson Lowe, chair of the political science department at Carlow University; Sabrina Saunders, director of education and youth development at the Urban League of Greater Pittsburgh; State Rep. Jake Wheatley, D-Hill District; and Roslynne Wilson, director of grant funded programs at Community College of Allegheny County.
Directors rotating off the Board due to term limits are Esther Bush, Joe Costa, Robert Germany, Saleem Ghubril, Janay Hall, Nancy Israel and Fred Thieman.
A+ Schools is an independent community advocate for improvement in public education. Its vision is a community mobilized to improve public education to produce successive generations of young people who thrive and who build their families and futures in Pittsburgh. Its purpose is to be a community force advancing the highest educational achievement and character development for every public school student in Pittsburgh. For more information, contact A+ Schools at412-697-1298 or visit www.aplusschools.org.
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Phil’s originally from the Pittsburgh area. He’s doing a remarkable job in Y’town proving that leadership, integrity and transparency are indeed possible in public service. Check out his website and city blog and email him if you like. I’m sure he’d appreciate hearing some positive feedback from back home.
[...] H/T: Progress Pittsburgh [...]
http://www.examiner.com/a-1470721~Make_transparency_city_s_policy.html
Editorial
Make transparency city’s policy
The Baltimore Examiner Newspaper
2008-07-03
BALTIMORE -
Trying to find a city contract in Baltimore City is like trying to find one in a black hole. You need the contract number or some other specific information, like the date it was approved. Forget about asking how much money, for example, a particular city contractor has received in the last 10 years from taxpayers. And since no records are digital, you must show up in person to ask.
Want to listen to a City Council hearing? Go to Goodwill and try to find a Walkman, because the only way to do so is via cassette tape. We’re not kidding. It is 1980-something in Baltimore City.
So City Councilwoman Belinda Conaway’s (D-7) proposal to make available all city disbursements online in an easily searchable database is something revolutionary only in Baltimore. Other jurisdictions are way ahead. The state just passed legislation with overwhelming bipartisan support to put all state spending above $25,000 online on a searchable Web site starting in January, and other counties are following suit, including Howard, whose version will come online in 2010. The federal government makes its spending available online at http://www.usaspending.gov, thanks to legislation co-sponsored by Sens. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) and Tom Coburn (R-Okla.).
Some people have asked Conaway if the legislation is aimed at hurting Mayor Sheila Dixon, under investigation for allegedly taking bribes from an ex-lover who received tax breaks while she was City Council president. It’s not. It’s about ensuring that “taxpayers know they are being represented well by their elected officials,” as Conaway said.
Conaway should ask Del. Warren Miller (R-Howard), who sponsored the state legislation, and Howard County Councilman Greg Fox (R-5), who sponsored Howard County’s legislation, for help in drafting the bill and outlining how to pay for it and to set up the technology to make it happen.
Ensuring taxpayers have easy access to city spending will make it easier for residents to understand and participate in local government, deter fraud and help our elected officials to save money. As Del. Miller noted in an opinion piece earlier this year, “After Texas passed a transparency law in 2007, state Comptroller Susan Combs estimated a savings of $2.3 million in her office alone. Much of the savings came from combining multiple contracts for the same services and from eliminating contracts for products the office no longer needed but was unaware it was purchasing. The vast size of state government often means the right hand doesn’t know what the left hand is doing. The greater oversight created by transparency laws effectively eliminates this problem.” The same is true of city government.
City Council members should wholeheartedly endorse her legislation at the July 22 meeting and pass it at the earliest possible date.
Examiner