Open Data on Any Budget

Editor's Notes

• #18: There are some lessons to take away from the existing policies and open data journeys: customize! one lesson is to not copy and paste from other city's policies: another policy might look good, but it might not be the best fit for your community. PLAN FOR THE LONG TERM, beyond just a data portal with a few data sets, to see how you can engage with the public to bring them information that is meaningful to them and can really serve your community's unique needs Create actionable guidance … guidance needs to outline meaningful steps for departments and agencies to take so they understand their role in the policy implementation Include the public … they know what kind of information is most useful to them in their daily lives, they can provide feedback on how they want to use it … especially bring in community groups, researchers, and entrepreneurs to talk about what data they want access to and learn about how they’ll use it
• #21: After 10 years of coalition-building and politicking: * Progressive Council* Progressive Mayor
• #22: Laura was hired Worked from Sunlight Foundation Open Data Policy Guidelines
• #23: Executive Order: a rule or order issued by the president to an executive branch of the government and having the force of law. Resolution: Execute some kind of action (an agreement, a budget change, etc) Ordinances: Actually changes city code so will live on forever, not be buried in a legislative session in the past. Actually adds a new part of the code. We chose to make this an ordinance so that it would have the full force of law and become a part of our city code and live on beyond this council and this mayor. Made a whole new part of the code: Chapter 162: OPEN DATA SETS (§ 162.01 DEFINITIONS.)https://library.municode.com/index.aspx?clientID=13525&stateID=38&statename=PennsylvaniaKey is: sustainability
• #24: Submitted legislation the second week I was in office (didn’t waste any time!) Wanted people to be talking about it, there to be a buzz, I’m an active twitterer, posted a lot Posted legislation online – ironically city wouldn’t allow comment on city license of Google doc products, so my chief of staff had to do it from her personal account! Solicited comments on the legislation
• #25: PNCIS – based out of University of Pittsburgh The PNCIS provides timely and valuable property and neighborhood information to individuals and organizations working to improve communities in the City of Pittsburgh and Allegheny County. The Pittsburgh Neighborhood and Community Information System (PNCIS) is focused on the collection, storage and analysis of information vital to local community development efforts. PNCIS is also a partner of the National Neighborhood Indicators Partnership (NNIP), a collaborative effort by the Urban Institute and 35 local partners across the nation.* Bob Gradeck at PNCIS connected us with a lot of national, interested in their parties who shared with their networks* Radio, Television play, including rush hour radio, was like, “I’m looking at over 100 people looking and add comments to the legislation now.”
• #26: Got over 100 comments from people all over the country
• #27: * I called for a public hearing and post agenda – informational hearing* Mobilized and energized local open data brigade* National experts including the sunlight foundation and mark headd who was chief data officer of Philly at the time
• #29: Went through comments one by one made respective changes
• #30: Example: Went through comments one by one made respective changes, e.g. licensing and procurement
• #31: Talk about how this process made the legislative side of things so much easier, too. The briefings, expert testimony, and public comments made it very clear why each amendment was proposed. The process answered members' questions, so by the time it came around for a final vote, everyone was comfortable. That's not always the case. Sunlight literally makes legislators' jobs easier!