Have you heard about “smart cities”? The idea that cities can make innovative use of data, algorithms and automation to improve services has been around for a while, but it seems to be gaining traction. Earlier this year, City Journal magazine described the “glowing futuristic predictions” in the steadily increasing number of news articles about the smart-cities […]
Read More… from Editorial: Cities must be open about data collection, data itself
From the Governor's letter, via ICOG's website:
While I understand the intent behind the bill to offset the considerable time and expense often devoted to fulfilling public records requests, I view this proposed legislation as contrary to my commitment to providing great government service at a great value for Hoosier taxpayers.
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Read More… from From Indiana Coalition for Open Government: Governor Holcomb Vetoes HEA1523
Three graduate students found nearly half of the Indiana county agencies surveyed failed to obey the Indiana Access to Public Records Act.
Graduate students Craig Lyons, Samim Arif and DeJuan Foster conducted a reporting project to review the status of digital access within Indiana government agencies. Continue>>>
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Read More… from Indiana: Student reporting project finds faults in public records access
When the Carmel City Council voted to fire the director of its redevelopment commission last year, he simply kept on working. Why the longtime consultant, Les Olds, felt he had the authority to do so is unclear. Whatever the reason, months later he submitted a bill for $34,000 — and under the council’s direction, the city clerk-treasurer refused to pay.
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Read More… from Open government? Carmel (IN) group blurs the line
From WIBC Indianapolis: The current open records law, the Access to Public Records Act (APRA), has been in place for "at least the last couple decades" according to Julia Vaughn, policy director for the open government advocacy group Common Cause Indiana. "Those of us who have always participated with it in place tend to forget that there was a time when people were not allowed into hearings, and when people were not allowed access to government documents," said Vaughn.
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From Kansas City Star: More and more, the internal workings of Indiana government are being shown and the political pageantry stripped away in a reminder that the trappings of power are rarely trumpeted in news conferences, aired in campaign ads or otherwise pushed out to the public.
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Read More… from Inner workings of Indiana government rarely disclosed
From Republic.com: By one stroke this year, Indiana lawmakers and the new governor vastly improved the public's ability to find out how the show is run here at the Statehouse, while in another, top managers at the Indiana Department of Transportation quietly clamped down on what's available.
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Read More… from INDOT memo strips public info, but new IEDC rules open doors
A few state FOIA and local open government news items selected from many of interest that we might or might not have drawn attention to earlier in the week:
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Read More… from NFOIC’s State FOIA Friday for November 2, 2012
