CITIZEN JOURNALISTA

Jane Q Public: Bainbridge Island

Archive for Q: Questions

Citizen Journalista goes half dark

October 4, 2009 at 6:34 AM · Filed under About CJ, Arts, Family Focus, Green efforts, How to be a CJ, Neighborhoods, News, Op-Ed: What I think, Parks, Parks and Schools, Q: Questions, Technology, Uncategorized and tagged: , , , ,

Dear Reader,

Jane Q from Citizen Journalista here. Thanks so much for reading this blog!

While I’m developing this blog in ways that can’t be explored live on the web, I won’t be adding new blog content for a while. New paid writing gigs and a boatload of clients (both good things!) mean I have to draw some lines in the sand regarding my time management, and something has to go.

However, you can still consider my Twitter feed in the left center column as an ongoing live news feed as I parse through local/regional news to find things of interest to Islanders. So stay tuned for that, and if you like, follow me at CitizenJBI to receive my tweets directly in your own Twitter client feed.

And please, send me your info if you find something of interest to Bainbridge Islanders that I could tweet about: cjbi@myway.com. It could be general news, calendar information, city hall oversight, or special interest features you think our community would be interested in. I can’t guarantee I’ll tweet about everything that comes my way, but I’ll certainly do the best that I can!

Thanks for your support. I will be back (eventually) in full uniform as Citizen Journalista; I appreciate your patience while I’m away.

Jane Q Bainbridge Island for Citizen Journalista

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Q: How do Bainbridge Islanders define transparent government? One observation about the change to city manager

May 20, 2009 at 11:44 AM · Filed under News, Q: Questions and tagged: , , , , , ,

• from the Kitsap Sun, April 28, 2009:
“[Islander and City Manager supporter Bob] Fortner said eliminating the mayor position will spread power among the seven-member council, making government more accountable and transparent.”

That was then. This is now:

• from The Bainbridge Review, May 20, 2009:
“Beginning tomorrow, the Vote Council-Manager ‘09 campaign committee will meet privately with members of the city council and the administration to express what they have learned from their interactions with the community.” [emphasis added]

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From the White House:

“Government should be transparent.  Transparency promotes accountability and provides information for citizens about what their Government is doing.  …
“Government should be participatory. Public engagement enhances the Government’s effectiveness and improves the quality of its decisions. Knowledge is widely dispersed in society, and public officials benefit from having access to that dispersed knowledge. Executive departments and agencies should offer Americans increased opportunities to participate in policymaking and to provide their Government with the benefits of their collective expertise and information. Executive departments and agencies should also solicit public input on how we can increase and improve opportunities for public participation in Government. …
“Government should be collaborative.  Collaboration actively engages Americans in the work of their Government. Executive departments and agencies should use innovative tools, methods, and systems to cooperate among themselves, across all levels of Government, and with nonprofit organizations, businesses, and individuals in the private sector.  Executive departments and agencies should solicit public feedback to assess and improve their level of collaboration and to identify new opportunities for cooperation.” …

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