If artificial intelligence tools struggle to find official guidance, too often the answers they generate are wrong. Governments need to make their information readable by machines as well as humans.
They can't completely replace in-person meetings, but conducting more public business online reduces costs, gives more people a voice and cuts down on disruption. It also can lead to better policy.
Too little progress has been made to ensure that high-speed Internet is available to all. As the pandemic has demonstrated, far too many still don't have what they need to function in a virtual world.
There was a time when state and local governments could work out deals with Washington. But as the pandemic struggle illustrates, the glory days of big intergovernmental initiatives have ebbed away.
With the COVID-19 pandemic raging across much of America, a return to full-scale classroom instruction poses too grave a risk to students, teachers, school staff, parents and their communities.
Private investors want to build bullet trains across America, but in too many cases they're having trouble finding right-of-way. There's a lot that state and local governments could do to help them along.
In fighting for the downtrodden and the forgotten, not only on the national stage but also in local government, he led a life that ought to provide a moral imperative for today's public officials.
Over a long career, Eugene Jones Jr. has led several big-city public-housing agencies. In an interview, he discusses the federal landscape, affordable housing and political accountability.
Smartphone-wielding citizens and the ease of video conferencing have largely taken the place of the public-access television of earlier decades. They raise new questions for public officials.
It's transforming the worlds of real estate and development. Cities and counties can experiment with it for themselves, but their most important role is in sharing the data that drives it.
They must feel for themselves — and act on — the suppressed anger and heartache that the deaths of Black Americans at the hands of police have brought to the surface.
They need to protect their citizens and businesses, but it's time for them to begin addressing the systemic racism underlying the protests that have roiled cities across America.
Despite their very different attitudes toward the role of government, California and Texas have both found success. But the Lone Star State's small-government/low-tax model gives it an edge.
The pandemic is challenging colleges' enrollments and finances as never before. Some may not survive, and those that do will have to consider major changes in their structures and the way they teach.
We shouldn't be casually equating the health of the economy with the health of the desperate, helpless people who labor on the front lines.
The coronavirus has shown that they can't count on their states or Washington for everything they need. But higher levels of government could provide funding for cities and counties to do the basics.
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