New efforts to bridge government-community divide
Submissions to NYC BigApps are currently being accepted for software applications that make the City’s data sets accessible and usefully legible to the public, with the goals of fostering greater accountability and transparency of government operations as well as providing better tools for public policy advocacy and grassroots action. Mayor Bloomberg announced the contest in June, about six months after the Obama administration put out a Transparency and Open Government memorandum. Inhabitat runs down a few existing crowd-sourced local planning projects: dotNeighborhoods, The Open Planning Project and OasisNYC.
Another recent initiative to give local actors more agency is the creation of the Livable Communities Task Force, a congressional group that will focus on partnering with community actors and planners on quality of life initiatives. Among items the agenda for the task force is an Act that would provide federal assistance grants to local efforts supporting urban parks, recreation facilities and social service programs.
(via Inhabitat and City Parks Blog)
