Next American City columnist Christian Madera looks at new efforts to get local government to make municipal data available and accessible, and some of the ways reluctant cities can be convinced to open up.
"Convincing local government leaders to jump on the open data bandwagon can be a challenge. While cities that publish their data online stand to accrue a number of benefits, most officials tend to focus on what they perceive to be the potential drawbacks of such plans. To combat these attitudes, the National Neighborhood Indicators Partnership, a project of the Urban Institute in Washington, D.C., has published a list of the five most commonly given reasons public data providers resist open data efforts, along with suggestions for overcoming them."
Madera looks at ways cities can ease into making their data available.
FULL STORY: Getting to Yes on Open Data

Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.

Chicago’s Ghost Rails
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Ohio Forces Data Centers to Prepay for Power
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MARTA CEO Steps Down Amid Citizenship Concerns
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Silicon Valley ‘Bike Superhighway’ Awarded $14M State Grant
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