• Investing in Outcomes
• BY: Jonathan Walters   |   May 31, 2009
• While pondering how to help people recovering from a mental illness, Elise Sanford, a photographer and mental health advocate in Athens, Ohio, had a hunch:...
• 2 Comments

• O Citizen, Where Art Thou?
• BY: Jonathan Walters   |   March 31, 2009
• Bev Stein remembers with dismay the public budget hearing that marked her debut as the chief elected executive in Multnomah County, Oregon. Although it happened...
• 1 Comments

• Novices with the Numbers
• BY: Jonathan Walters   |   November 30, 2008
• In his first job out of graduate school, Will Barnow practices performance measurement every day. Barnow works in the Maricopa County Office of Justice Systems...

• Stat Governor
• BY: Jonathan Walters   |   September 30, 2008
• Martin O'Malley, the governor of Maryland, thought his question was reasonably straightforward. He was meeting with state parole and probation managers, and O'Malley wanted to...

• Focusing on Accountability
• BY: Jonathan Walters   |   May 31, 2008
• By the time Atlanta Mayor Bill Campbell left office in 2000 -- riding a bribery and tax-evasion scandal out the door and into federal prison --...

• Benchmarking Livability
• BY: Jonathan Walters   |   March 31, 2008
• When Oregon launched its statewide performance measurement initiative called "Oregon Benchmarks" back in 1989, the whole effort took a considerable amount of explaining. At the time,...

• Getting the Public's Attention
• BY: Jonathan Walters   |   September 30, 2007
• When it comes to public-sector performance measures, collecting and verifying data are hard enough. Then comes the challenge of trying to actually get the attention...

• Data on the Beat
• BY: Jonathan Walters   |   July 31, 2007
• You get lied to a lot out there," says Brian Joseph Tierney, a burly beat cop with the Chicago Police Department. Tierney is referring to...

• Dollars and Results
• BY: Jonathan Walters   |   May 31, 2007
• In the late 1990s, as an alderman in Somerville, Massachusetts, Joseph Curtatone was perpetually frustrated by the budgets his local legislature was supposed to be...

• Citizen Surveys
• BY: Jonathan Walters   |   March 31, 2007
• With the city of Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, facing a quarter of a million dollar revenue shortfall, as well as a continuing and contentious political dispute...
• 3 Comments

• Auditing Performance
• BY: Jonathan Walters   |   September 30, 2006
• In the ongoing debate over which came first, government opacity or citizen apathy, there are two basic schools of thought: One side argues that citizens...

• Reporting Results
• BY: Jonathan Walters   |   July 31, 2006
• In Rich Siegel's view, there isn't a more over-rated document in state and local government than the comprehensive annual financial report -- "CAFR" in public...

• Benchmarking
• BY: Jonathan Walters   |   May 31, 2006
• In the late 1990s, Hickory, North Carolina, was flunking Pothole Patching 101. "Pothole patching is a big deal to citizens," says Karen Hurley, a city budget...

• Neighborhood Eyes and Ears
• BY: Jonathan Walters   |   March 31, 2006
• If the physical condition of a neighborhood is a significant indicator of its overall health, then few cities in the country are taking the measure...