Friday, March 03, 2006
Signatures Certified for Austin's Open Government Online Charter Amendment
Great news! Austin's city clerk this afternoon announced that the petition signatures necessary to put the Open Government Online charter amendment on the May ballot have officially been validated. Now the public will get to vote on the measure. The amendment would put most city business online and make information public about proposed tax giveaways, secret meetings with lobbyists, and police misconduct that's currently concealed from the public. See prior Grits coverage of the amendment here and here.
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4 comments:
I know you don't want to hear this, but even the Chronicle gave the amendments a big razzy award for a silly way to create government rules. Even the endorsing organizations didn't read the details and were surprised with what was inside. Has anyone actually read these monstrosities? They are horrible amendments aimed at stunting all Austin growth. I have read the City's cost estimates and time estimates, and my friend who works for a software shop says they aren't that far off. Software and hardware is expensive folks. And Big Brother City government is just plain silly.
I've read the OGO amendment, and so did the groups that endorsed it. The Chron quoted one person from an endorsing group who said he was surprised at one line of the open government amendment - that it would require city council members to record meetings with lobbyists even if they had them at lunch or over cocktails. On the other hand, don't you WANT to know when lobbyists are getting your elected officials liquored up to convince them to vote their way?
Plus, how will making information public stunt growth? Only if you think growth come from tax breaks to big companies is that true, and if the arguments for that are so strong, why not have them in public instead of behind closed doors?
Companies everywhere are shifting to web based paperless systems to SAVE money, so it's a little silly to think the City of Ausitn is the only place in the world where paper is cheaper. I'm confident that if this amendment passes, ten years from now we'll look back and wonder how city government ever got along without it.
"I'm confident that if this amendment passes, ten years from now we'll look back and wonder how city government ever got along without it."
None of us will be able to afford to live here ten years from now if this thing passes. I fear these good intentions are paving a road to somewhere ....
- 2nd anon.
If no one can afford to live here in ten years it will be precisely because of back room deals with special interests, subsidies to sprawling development and tax giveaways that leave the average taxpayer paying in full while big corporations pay nothing. As I mentioned in the part of the response you ignored, "Companies everywhere are shifting to web based paperless systems to SAVE money, so it's a little silly to think the City of Ausitn is the only place in the world where paper is cheaper."
This proposal will save money in the out years, probably sooner than later.
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