Tom Durning sends along a Fast Company article on how technology is transforming citizen engagement with City Hall. For instance:
In Boston, which built its own SeeClickFix-like platform, people can send concerns straight from their mobile phones to the dashboard computers of public-works trucks, meaning a click in the morning can lead to a repair by the afternoon.
Advocates of this kind of public-spirited innovation, typically known as “e-government,” “we-government,” or “gov 2.0,” say they’re employing social media and mobile technology to build not only a more responsive, collaborative, and effective government but also a more engaged citizenry and a richer civic life.
But as the article itself notes:
… it’s hard to pin down how an app that encourages people to register more complaints with city hall will save a mayor serious cash.
Particularly since the Right has done such a great job in discrediting government at all levels. American (and now, apparently, Toronto) politicians sell the same incredulous line: we can cut taxes (or at a minimum not increase them) while maintaining services.
Last week Gobal news had two stories almost consecutively: (1) an interview with a representative of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation on excessive taxation (i.e. cash grab) ; (2) lack of action by City Hall to, well, you name it – whatever the police blotter takes them to. Or maybe it was another “No Fun City” story – the fact that there were no city-funded events on New Year’s Eve. (That’s always a lose-lose for council: Spend money on ‘frivolous’ events, and be criticized by CTF. Don’t do so, and expect another critical NFC poll and story- like this one.)
[BTW, I see there’s another spokesperson for the CTF – someone more bland than Ayn Rand’s lost granddaughter, everyone’s favourite scold, Maureen Bader.]
And they’re shameless: always the assumption that what we spend on government services in general is secondary and less valuable than private consumption. Until the service is deemed to be inadequate in the face of public demand.
I doubt there’s an app for that.
there’s no app for it either!
Yes, I will shamelessly assert once again – People spend their own money on themselves much more carefully than they spend other peoples’ money on yet someone else.
Government will never spend tax dollars as carefully than someone spending their own money.
Author
Maureen
Agreed. What an individual cannot do is purchase collective goods, that may well provide more tangible (and intangible) benefits than personal acquisitions.
Gord
… and thank you for the compliment, but I think I’m more like Ayn Rand’s lost step-granddaughter ….!
Author
And so it shall be written.
– Price Tags
My quality of life improves far more when I have access to collective services such as good, clean water, affordable transit, health care and public parks than it ever would by purchasing an Xbox. I can’t personally buy a park, though I will gladly chip in my share of taxes to get one nearby.
Not sure I’m convinced that many people can spend their money wisely… based on the observation that what they buy is soon destined for the landfill… and the amount of debt they have, often for the purpose of buying toys.
Just like people, governments can spend money foolishly but they can also spend money wisely and provide services we all benefit from. Wise public spending is an investment in civilized society. I feel that I get some value for that.
While its not my business to meddle in the spending habits of a wasteful individual, we all need to speak up with our governments are wasteful. This does *not* have to mean cutting taxes.
So how does the crisis of record consumer debt in both Canada and the US show people will spend their money more carefully that Government? People buy new cars that depreciate quickly that they cannot afford, they take on mortgages they can’t afford, they gamble, they buy time shares, the list goes on and on. Yes, Government does waste money to some degree but so does the average person as well. To say that people spend money more carefully themselves than Government does not quite add up. The “rational person” in Economics theory does not exist.
What’s more, the CTF likes to rag on Municipal Government however Municipalities tend to be more careful and more accountable with their money that senior levels of Government. The Feds take the lion’s share of revenue and yet the way they spend money is never put under very intense scrutiny. The CTF blindly ignores the costs and responsibilities downloaded to Municipal Governments by Senior Governments over the last 20 years along with the reality that additional funds to handle those responsibilities have not been handed down along with them.
The biggest problem however with the CTF and other advocacy groups is the endless “black and white” rhetoric. Private sector is always good, Government is always bad. There is very little in life that is truly black and white. The private sector is just as capable of wasting money and making bad decisions as the public sector. The world is many shades of grey and not a black and white hard line policy book.
It is the high-jacking of public discourse by people who espouse narrow minded black and white rhetoric that is doing real damage in both Canada and the US right now. All too often shots of rhetoric are traded and meaningful talk about real issues is ignored. Debate about public matters is viewed as a win/lose proposition as opposed to an opportunity to learn. We will never be able to tackle the big issues of the day (regardless of whatever issue one considers a big issue) if the goal is to push your agenda at all costs and not listen to what anyone else has to say. That just gets everyone constantly stuck in the mud and leaves us trailing behind as the rest of the world moves on.