I just received notice the Asheville City Council agenda was posted three minutes ago. David Forbes had access last night. David?
In a blurb for the Mountain Xpress, Forbes directed me to word of this esoteric-sounding mystery cult in which the city is expressing interest. It is called Code for America. It sounds like the city is exploring contracting with an outfit that provides skilled consultants with only a year of experience to cure what ails ya. Nuff said?
Jonathan Feldman, the city’s IT director, is claiming responsibility for the staff report. He is the one who, years ago, introduced me to the concept of online bull excrement detectors, so he’s not an idiot. In fact, he’s quite pragmatic and will always be honored in my memory for properly framing a particular political situation, which must remain hidden in the realm of unspoken human history because the story behind getting into the predicament that required a miracle is way too embarrassing to tell. Anyhoo, I wonder if he was running his detector in reverse for kicks while drafting the report. I have placed a request for an English translation.
I digress. According to Forbes, the city is interested in the partnership with Code for America “specifically for a project related to economic growth and development.” The group has also supposedly “worked extensively on some open data efforts” in Asheville.
Putting the two together, here’s an idea: Why don’t leaders show how committed they are to their promises for open and transparent government by bringing all their negotiations over economic development incentives to open session for public scrutiny if not a vote? As an illustration of the wrong way to do things, consider the story from south of the border in which Henderson County and Hendersonville leadership are about to announce the details of “Project Touchdown.”
