Good Government

As outlined in “Our Next Economy: THE Creative City,” government must finally adopt a consumer oriented approach to service delivery and abandon the old method of requiring residents to jump through hoops and deal with bureaucracy in order to qualify for and gain access to benefits that they deserve. One such way would be to screen residents for benefits through routine filings such as their annual tax return. In our new consumer oriented government, taxpayers would receive pre-filled-out applications for benefits such as food stamps, heating assistance, or rent increase exemptions with their tax refunds. While demonstrating leadership on a local level, we should also support Congressman Charlie Rangel’s proposal to do the same on a Federal level.

Even with recent improvements by the Independent Budget Office, the New York City budget process still remains opaque as journalists and residents try to understand differences between the Mayor's budget, the City Council budget and the final budget. Details are often presented through press releases that discuss reductions, restorations and other often indecipherable budget lingo. A “User Friendly” budget would list last year’s allocation alongside the allocations by the proposed budgets from the Mayor, City Council and the final budget indicating the number of residents affected and, say, the specific programs to be cut. The next budget should not be released to the public as a PDF, but in compliance with “Open Data,” outlined above, as an Excel or a comma-separated-value (CSV) file so that the information can be easily analyzed. New York City should also follow the example of the Missouri Accountability Portal and put its State’s budget online. The Office of the Mayor’s Budget and the Independent Budget Office should work together with COPIC to make the Budget searchable by keyword, agency, service, borough, community board, zip code, address and even geocode for an iPhone or Blackberry user. This way the information can be understood and is relevant to an average New Yorker along with the elected officials who are responsible for negotiating it.

Member items are supposed to be a way for local elected officials to provide funding to the neediest of their constituents for essential services in their neighborhoods that would otherwise go unfunded. With the recent member item the scandal involving New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn's staff and resignation of Council Member Miguel Martinez we've learned that these necessary funds have been misused. In fact, a recent Daily News article shows that member items have become a system of quid pro quo where local non-profits are extorted to provide political donations in exchange for funding. Not only is this bad government practice but it is unfair to the needier non -profits which don't serve constituencies capable of making the necessary political contributions. The New York City Campaign Finance Board currently limits contributions from people doing business with the City of New York. Unlike businesses this money supplements certain essential social services like feeding the elderly, clothing the homeless and providing school supplies to children. We must ban contributions from the boards of directors and employees of non-profits that receive member item funding and put an end to this despicable practice of quid pro quo.