There’s a new app available for you IPhone users (who aren’t participating in Operation Chokehold in an hour) that lets you figure out when buses are arriving on certain MBTA routes. I’m not sure if its the first app out or not, but MassDOT has been doing some fascinating work reaching out to the developer community and providing them with data feeds. I was recently reading MassDOT’s 90-day implementation report (yep, I’m cool.) and was struck by a passage on data. As part of a discussion about outsourcing the 511 service, it notes their efforts to move “toward a vision of government as a wholesaler of information rather than a retailer.” That’s a mouthful coming from a public sector entity. […]

The Herald took a shot at the Patrick Administration yesterday, claiming they have added 1,300 people to the state payroll over the last year. We’ve written a bunch on this issue. In particular to question why the safety net agencies are taking such a dramatic hit relative to others.) Also, to note how difficult is has been to get this administration to play straight with disclosing the numbers. In response to the Herald piece, Secretary of A&F Jay Gonzalez shot back that the Governor has eliminated 1,930 positions. Semantics matter here. The state’s human resource system is littered with ‘open positions’ that may never be filled. Taking one of these positions off the rolls might possibly prevent spending in the […]

Today’s Globe story on the state’s huge legal expenditures on behalf of former Speaker DiMasi and his staff buries a nugget deep within. The data comes from a spreadsheet that Rep. Brownsberger had requested from the Comptroller, then posted on his website. It’s a truly impressive posting — Brownsberger displays a very impressive grasp of the minutiae of state budgeting and his analysis in the later worksheets is fascinating. It’s this type of thoughtful inquiry, made with a desire for hard data rather than political calculation, that we need more of. If you’d like to see more information along the lines of what Rep. Brownsberger has presented, check out our website, www.massopenbooks.org. If you go to the disbursements section, you […]

Yesterday’s Globe highlighted a troubling aspect of the state Legislature’s current process: cramming really detailed pieces of legislation into a few short days. What does this do? It concentrates power in the hands of lobbyists (who provide drafts of amendments) and staffers (who create the actual product). It drains power from elected representatives, who have no hope of actually reading, analyzing and pondering the consequences of all the paper that flies through the chamber. And it also cuts the press and the public out of the process almost altogether. The Globe piece examined an amendment offered by Senator Sonia Chang-Diaz that severely limited the number of districts where the charter cap might be raised. From my read of the amendments, […]