The scratchy image above is the page 35 of British MP Jim Murphy's Additional Costs Allowance from 2007/2008. Item 5 on the list is a shave mirror for £17. Whether that is a legitimate expense to pass along to ...Read More
An estimated 1200 municipalities and institutions around the world use a participatory budget process, yet none in the United States. The 49th Ward in Chicago plans to be the first. An initiative led by a Brown Sociology Professor Gianpaolo Baiocchi is ...Read More
Beginning days after President Obama took office, calls for government transparency are everywhere (I realize Mr. Obama did not invent transparency and that there were watchdog groups and transparency advocates before, but things surely have intensified in the last ...Read More
In Chicago, intersections that have been equipped with red-light cameras have seen traffic accident occurrences decrease by 20%. In addition, they have generated revenue for the city to the tune of $122 million, valuable at a time when city budgets ...Read More
As the economy continues to suffer, and as city and state budget deficits continue to grow, the whole system of government revenue can be called into question. With the system we have operating today, municipal governments act as an accelerator ...Read More
Yesterday President Obama announced he would send legislation to Congress to restore the 'pay as you go' law, or PAYGO, which came into effect in 1990. The President summarized it by saying, "Congress can only spend a dollar if ...Read More