Chicago mayoral hopeful calls for more transparency

With long-time Chicago Mayor Richard Daley announcing his last term, aspiring mayors are already trying to set themselves apart from other potential candidates.

Gery Chico has decided to focus on transparency. Chico unveiled a transparency initiative today that aims to make government information and data more available and accessible to Chicagoans. The idea is called”Sunshine Chicago,” and it would use the city’s existing data site as a foundation to establish a central clearinghouse that pulls data from all City of Chicago departments to make it easily accessible. Currently, the City’s existing site only provides data from FOIA requests and does not include responses.

“For far too long, government has not effectively kept people informed about how the city spends its money and the way we make important decisions,” Chico said. He noted that Chicago leased its parking meters for more than $1 billion two years ago, and of that only $76 million is left. “Many Chicagoans want to know – where did all that money go? With this initiative, citizens won’t have to ask.”

By opening up more data to the public, Chico’s initiative would make it easier for web developers, entrepreneurs and citizens to create innovative tools that improve transparency and access at no additional cost to the city.

· Improving access to an unprecedented amount of data;
· Empowering citizens to create innovative applications;
· Providing a responsive outlet for citizen ideas and feedback.

Sunshine Review gives the city of Chicago a B- on website transparency, a decent score. But there is much more to transparency than our checklist, that is merely the start. Hopefully, Chico’s bringing of transparency to the spotlight will get other candidates talking about how to make Chicago more open.