Working with Open Austin and other Austinites, I sponsored the Council
resolution that created the City’s Open Government Framework (Resolution
20111208-074) and led to our Open Government policy.

Measuring the success of the policy should take a multi-pronged approach. It
must, of course, evaluate progress with metrics for disclosure of data sets as
called for in the original resolution. However, the open government discipline has matured significantly since our early adoption of our framework, and much work
has been done in the field of metrics to measure open government for example in
academia and in our previous federal administration. We must bring
sophistication to our metrics, with an Austin focus, and partner to create an
independent and robust program for measuring success.

In addition, policy makers must always keep a keen focus on open government
needs. For example, as a Council Member I sponsored several items that moved
the city forward in this realm (see Topic “Open Government” in the linked
spreadsheet).

As mayor, I will continue a focus on open government needs with a particular eye
to improve ease of access to information and transparency. For example,
responses to Public Information Requests should be available through the City’s
data portal. I am not sure if PIR responses are currently available, but if they are,
they need to be easier to find.