In the realm of governance, transparency is critical to maintaining the confidence of the public. However, transparency goes beyond mere availability of information; it necessitates accessibility without the need of a middleman.
Transparency is not only about uncovering wrongdoing but also provides valuable statistics that can benefit society. As someone fascinated by technology, I understand the substantial costs associated with maintaining websites. A simple, static page containing statistical data significantly reduces these expenses compared to multimedia-rich content. With that being said, I want to showcase my proposal for the following information to be readily accessible on the CBRM’s website, updated periodically:
- Accident Data:
- Weekly or monthly updates of accident data reported by the CBRP, presented on an interactive map. This data would include accident location, vehicle count, causes, weather conditions, vehicle types, time of occurrence, and other relevant information to aid council and planners in road design.
- Infrastructure Reports
- Creating an online portal that contains road quality data, water main repairs and degradation, and building conditions creates a new sense of transparency for residents. The data can be critical for predicting the future and creating a priority list of key infrastructure needing repair.
- Bus Tracking:
- Implementation of GPS systems on buses to predict stop arrivals/departures, facilitating real-time updates for commuters and mitigating potential delays.
- Heritage Properties:
- As Vice-Chair of the heritage advisory committee, I am currently pushing for an online listing of all heritage properties within the CBRM, including municipal, provincial, or federal designations. This listing would be in the form of an interactive map containing information a brief summary of the property, heritage registration dates, property photos, and registration levels. This map would serve as a marker of history and a glossary of our historical properties. An example of what I wish to achieve is similar to the Halifax Regional Municipality’s Heritage Map.
- Enhanced File Sharing:
- Centralized access to official documents such as by-laws, policies, and meeting minutes. The current system in place is currently broken and not user-friendly. These documents are important for the sake of transparency and should be a priority to maintain their access.
- Detailed Expenses:
- Currently, the Mayor and Councillors’ expenses are publicly available, but the data is vague and hard to decipher. We need detailed, transparent expense reports that clearly show where every dollar is being spent, not just generic figures.
- Facility Time Allocation:
- An easy-to-use system for displaying and booking facility reservation times at municipal properties needs to be developed. This system should facilitate seamless online booking and simplified event scheduling processes. Facilities like ice rinks, soccer fields, tennis courts, and other facilities that can be booked should be displayed on this page. Public parks that contain outdoor facilities should maintain free access. Outdoor facilities should only be booked for registered outdoor leagues (baseball, soccer, football, etc).
- Fire Department:
- Creation of a social media page or online API for real-time alerts on fire department dispatches, with subsequent updates on crew departure times and monthly recording of fire incident data for analysis. Real-time alerts are a very low priority, but having fire incident data can be crucial for fire safety awareness. With relation to fire safety, fire ban locations, as it pertains to the Fire By-Law, should be displayed outside of the by-law documents.
- Development of an interactive map displaying fire hydrant locations, pressure levels, last maintenance dates, and other pertinent details for emergency response planning. This map could connect with other informative maps such as the accident data map and potentially the fire data map.
By embracing digitalization and transparency, the CBRM can foster greater civic engagement and empower citizens with valuable insights into various aspects of municipal operations. These ideas in the grand scheme of the government remain low, but their implementation could be significant to learning more about the municipality from an outside perspective. Most of this data is available but is often hidden or requires citizens to contact their councillor or municipal clerk.
These ideas may seem low on the priority scale but they can have large impacts. The cost for these services varies depending on complexity. Bus tracking for instance is already being done by the municipality, but that data is not being used to benefit riders. On the other hand, simple mapping of hydrants or accident data can be done easily (and free) using existing platforms. These ideas are about transparency, which we can never have enough of.