Pittsburgh Open Government

Despite what it may seem like from the outside, The Bureaucracy is not a massive labyrinth of twisted cubicles populated by dark hooded figures, trolls, and accountants. There is no great Big Book of Bureaucratic Rules that only 12th level Bureaucrats have access to (but only if you have a +3 Staff of the Auditors). The daily activities do not include eating puppies and worshiping the dark lord, as I have been accused of on several occasions.

That last one is not a joke; I have, in fact, been accused of being an agent of Satan. This may explain that when I get yelled at anonymously, I tend to get offended. I don't think people actually know what we do, so I get frustrated when I get lectured as to what I should do. That's probably one of my major complaints about this job, and the nub of Rule #11.

But I'm not here to bitch and moan about my problems... well, not more than usual, anyway.

So, I was poking around and finally decided to take a look at Pittsburgher's for Open Government, which, I must say, I'm not completely offended at.

OK, I am offended at the use of the word "proactive," which, as regular readers of this blog may remember, immediately disqualifies you from any serious political discussion. That word makes me so MAD!

I'll set my rage aside and move on... for now.

I'll also set aside the suggestion that we need more people to speak in front of council. For every person that gets up to speak cogently and coherently about pressing issues facing the City, there are five that believe that the Thetans are killing off their rose bushes. [Everyone knows that the Greys kill off rose bushes, duh.] I can't see giving Thetan bashers more opportunities to rant as a good thing.

I'm more interested in the access to public meetings and the records management aspects as it would make the blogging of City government so much easier. I can't count the number of times I've craved a copy of the PWSA Board Meeting minutes or to watch the SEA in action. It would be so hot to see City Planning Commission in steamy, sweaty, man-on-property action. If I could have easy access to those things, that would be friggin' sweet.

And VOILA! Instant, but informed, blog rants as we slice and dice our way through every nuance of every public meeting! No government official will be spared my smarmy, snarky vengeance! They will cower at my heel! All will be laid to waste!

BWHAHAHAHAHA!

Ahem! Sorry.

The drawback, of course, is that I'm already streaming C-SPAN, C-SPAN2, C-SPAN3, and PCN... I only have 3 TVs, so it's getting a bit crowded. I eat up bandwidth right now like Delta Burke eats up pudding.

Such is the Wired Man's Burden.