PhillyStat: Is it more bureaucratic number crunching or could it really make local govt more accountable?

Date: 6/20/2008

by Brad Linder

Mayor Michael Nutter swept into office with promises of increased government transparency and accountability. In a city that's been shaken by high profile corruption trials over the last few years, those promises sounded pretty good. But when you have 20,000 employees to manage, it can be a bit tricky keeping track of everything happening in each department and each city neighborhood. So earlier this year the Nutter administration introduced PhillyStat, a system designed to help hold government accountable.

So what exactly is PhillyStat?

Once a month the heads of each city department hold meetings with key figures in the Nutter administration. Of course, it's not like the officials in charge of the police, streets, public health, fire, and other departments aren't constantly in touch with their superiors. But at these meetings, generally held on Mondays and Wednesdays, department heads present hard data on their performance.

PhillyStat is based on Baltimore's CitiStat program, which has been up and running for 7 years. The Inquirer reports that CitiStat meetings in Baltimore have allowed city officials to grill department heads about items as specific as "seat-belt compliance" rates or the number of missed garbage pickups in pinpointed areas of the city.

All PhillyStat meetings are open to the public in the Philadelphia Planning Commission Meeting room at 1515 Arch St. But earlier this year there was a little hiccup in that plan. Reporters and the public were barred from attending meetings while the administration tried to work out the kinks in the system.

The goal is to tie PhillyStat into the city's 311 phone system. Citizens can call 311 when they have non-emergency questions or complaints. If the house next to yours is on fire, call 911. If you have questions about recycling, you can call 311.

If you've ever tried calling one of the 500 phone numbers for city government, you know how hard it can be to get a real person on the line who can give you a real answer to your question. The 311 system is designed to make that process easier. But it's also designed to make it easier for Philadelphia government to collect and process data about complaints.

In other words, if a large number of people are calling the city to ask about swimming pool hours, the administration might decide it needs to do a better job of providing information about pools and recreation areas. If there are more calls about missed trash pickups in one part of the city than another, administration officials might have some pointed questions for the Department of Sanitation at that month's PhillyStat meeting.

The 311 and PhillyStat systems are still being rolled out. But if you want to see how the process works and don't have time to attend a middle-of-the-day meeting, you can check out videos of previous meetings at the PhillyStat homepage. Keep in mind, these meetings are kind of burecratic and can seem dreadfully boring at times. But sometimes important decisions get made. In the future we'll be taking a closer look at some of these PhillyStat meetings and we'll do our best to bring you just the highlights.