by Russell Craig
I'm a former New Zealand public servant with a long background in e-government and public management. I've also spent time working in the NZ health system and at the OECD. Now that I'm with the ... More about Russell Craig
US citizens monitor stimulus plans
In what has to be one of the most pertinent and interesting examples of 'government 2.0' to date, folk in the USA have set up a site called Stimulus Watch. Visitors to the site can find proposed stimulus projects and describe, comment and vote on them. It is important to note that the projects in question "are not part of the stimulus bill. They are candidates for funding by federal grant programs once the bill passes."
The creators of the site are clearly engaged in supporting the commitments of the new administration to increase the transparency and accountability of government. As they say, "StimulusWatch.org was built to to help the new administration keep its pledge to invest stimulus money smartly, and to hold public officials to account for the taxpayer money they spend."
Seems like this is a very good idea, as some of the proposals make interesting reading and stretch the bounds of credulity a little e.g. the proposal to spend $100,000 on doorbells in Laurel Mississippi!
I wonder 1) if officials and legislators are yet aware of this site and 2) if something similar has been set up in relation to the stimulus bill itself?
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Comments
Thanks, Russell. Its fascinating to see the US really leading the way in this debate ever since they got their new leader. As you might expect, President Obama has announced that there will be an official site with all details of stimulus package spending - it is called http://www.recovery.gov/ but is just a shell at the moment. Its probably quite good that there is also a non-official site!
posted about 1 year ago