Long Beach Needs to Show Its Checkbook

Sunlight Foundation (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

A couple of years ago I brought an item to the Council agenda asking that we "sunshine" our city website and post a number of things, including our "checkbook" -- listing what we pay out and to whom. The Sunlight Foundation evaluates government websites for being open and transparent.

Management gave a resounding "no" to the checkbook idea and so once again, the City of Los Angeles has beaten us to the punch.

This past week the new City Controller, Ron Galperin, launched Control Panel LA https://controllerdata.lacity.org/ which posts a variety of data so taxpayers can see where their money is going.

But wait, not only is Long Beach behind Los Angeles, but also New York, Chicago, Philadelphia and other cities that have embraced the “open data” movement to make government more transparent.

So let's try it again. Taxpayers have the right to know not only what city government budgets, but what it really spends.

Related articles

• Oakland City Council Approves Open Data Policy (Community Voices) (oaklandlocal.com)
• Sunlight Foundation: New Louisville Open Data Policy Insists Open By Default is the Future (sunlightfoundation.com)
• City Does Right by Public: Los Angeles Opens Financial Books to Public Via Web Site (capoliticalnews.com)