UPDATE: On Thursday Rawlings-Blake spokesman Ryan O'Doherty issued this statement: "We are communicating with the Baltimore Sun and other media outlets to provide a detailed briefing in the near future on the CitiStat program and the kinds of datasets that are available and we hope it is helpful and illuminating to the Sun's readership. In the meantime, we always encourage the public to visit our OpenBaltimore website which includes much of the same data and more public information than most local governments provide. Thanks."
Two years ago, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake celebrated the 10th anniversary of CitiStat, the city office that uses data-tracking to hold agency heads accountable for the way they spend taxpayer money and carry out their public duties.
“One of Baltimore’s hottest tourist spots” is how she described CitiStat’s City Hall outpost in a Baltimore Sun op-ed article co-written with Gov. Martin O’Malley, who created the office as mayor in 2000.
“During the last 10 years,” they wrote, “a small government office there has attracted thousands of elected officials, foreign dignitaries and good government aficionados from all over the country and the world. To them, Baltimore is associated with one word: CitiStat.”
Yet when I tried to visit CitiStat’s office Monday to review its reports, I was barred from even entering City Hall.
The reason given by a police officer who provides security was that I had no appointment. The mayor’s spokesman said via email that I should have known better than to try to “barge into internal meeting spaces and offices." ... http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/sun-investigates/bal-sun-reporter-barred-from-city-hall-while-seeking-citistat-reports-20120821,0,4598268.story
“One of Baltimore’s hottest tourist spots” is how she described CitiStat’s City Hall outpost in a Baltimore Sun op-ed article co-written with Gov. Martin O’Malley, who created the office as mayor in 2000.
“During the last 10 years,” they wrote, “a small government office there has attracted thousands of elected officials, foreign dignitaries and good government aficionados from all over the country and the world. To them, Baltimore is associated with one word: CitiStat.”
Yet when I tried to visit CitiStat’s office Monday to review its reports, I was barred from even entering City Hall.
The reason given by a police officer who provides security was that I had no appointment. The mayor’s spokesman said via email that I should have known better than to try to “barge into internal meeting spaces and offices." ... http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/sun-investigates/bal-sun-reporter-barred-from-city-hall-while-seeking-citistat-reports-20120821,0,4598268.story
