[OpenSpending] Recent coverage of Open Budget

Fri Jun 14 20:35:05 UTC 2013

Hi all,

Some recent coverage of our work here in Oakland. Many thanks to the
OpenSpending community for the inspiration and support!

Adam

*KQED: In Vallejo, Citizens Directly Choosing Projects to Fund
*... Adam Stiles of Open Budget Oakland <http://openbudgetoakland.org/>,
which creates online resources to help people make sense of city spending,
said the group's new visualization tools, also known as "civic hacking,"
help translate between city officials and the community.

“What we are trying to do is create a platform where people can easily
understand the budget," Stiles said. “Then, based on what they see, have a
more informed discussion about it and then find out how to get more
involved and participate in the budget process.”

Most cities actually have a public process right now, such as Oakland’s
town hall meetings. At one of those sessions, Oakland resident Mary Forte
echoed the sentiments of many residents who showed up that day.

“There just seem like they’re always questions,” said Forte. “It’s a lot of
numbers that are really complex for people to understand.”

Groups like CDP and Open Budget Oakland can make things clearer for voters
like Forte and could involve more people in budget decisions. But UC
Berkeley's Rosenthal said that the more participatory the process, the more
unwieldy it can become ...
http://blogs.kqed.org/newsfix/2013/05/28/bay-area-participatory-budgeting/

*Code for America: Ten Ways Civic Hacking is Good for Cities
*Technologies built by civic hackers such as Open Budget Oakland or Look at
Cook provide deeper insight into government decision making. Open Budget
Oakland is an app that allows citizens to easily dive into different
allocations and departments to see how money is budgeted.
http://codeforamerica.org/2013/05/14/10-ways-civic-hacking-is-good-for-cities/
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