About the Blog

I shall post videos, graphs, news stories, and other material. We shall use some of this material in class, and you may review the rest at your convenience. I encourage you to use the blog in these ways:

--To post questions or comments about the readings before we discuss them in class;
--To follow up on class discussions with additional comments or questions.
--To post relevant news items or videos.

There are only two major limitations: no coarse language, and no derogatory comments about people at the Claremont Colleges. This blog is on the open Internet, so post nothing that you would not want a potential employer to see.

Sunday, September 29, 2013

Measuring Outcomes

The Los Angeles Times reports on Mayor Eric Garcetti's push for performance measures:
Garcetti's goal is to develop a finely tuned data system that will track key measures of performance for every city agency — how many miles of streets get repaired, how long it takes to pick up bulky items of trash. Starting around Oct. 8, the 100th day of his administration, aides say, results will be posted on the Web. What measures Garcetti will roll out remains to be seen, but the concept would be to allow residents to check such things as whether 911 response times in their neighborhoods are improving or how long it takes to clean up graffiti.
The objective, Garcetti says, is a higher quality of life for the city's 3.8 million residents. Managers who embrace the new ethos of efficiency and accountability will stay, he says. The others will go.
"It's much more than just interviewing winners and losers," Garcetti said. "This is about changing the relationship between mayors and his cabinet, and finding people who share my sense of urgency, working with them to develop a better sense of accountability and metrics, and rewarding their innovation."

But watch out for reactivity:

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