Standing before City Council. Kicking off Open Government Amendment

I spoke today at the public comment period at the start of the Pittsburgh City Council meeting. Here are my words:

My name is Mark Rauterkus. My family and I reside at 108 South 12th Street on teh South Side. I have a home on the internet at Rauterkus.com. Presently I'm a board member with the Allegheny County Libertarian Party. Recently I was a candidate for PA Senate in the special election. Since election day our family had the opportunity to travel abroad for work and education. In time I'll share plenty of insights on the election and our trip. Today, it is my pleasure to stand with fellow citizens to promote the Open Government Amendment.

Before I get into my remarks, I'd like to make one other sidebar mention. I'd like to welcome Dan Deasy to City Council. I hope you have a successful career and are fully appreciated by the people of the city for all your hard work in the years to come. Best of luck in your tenure.

I'll work to get the signatures and put the Open Government Amendemtn on the ballot. I also pledge to work to establish and sustain the discussions about these various issues within this effort.

Let's look at the internet access elements. If we streamed the meeting content and made them available to others, say at the workplace or at home with children, we'd be much further along. Others could tune in. Not only people from within the city would be more aware, but people from other cities and even other countries would have access and offer solutions, ideas and pointers to other best practices.

I've often talked about how all the king's horses and all the king's men won't be able to put Pittsburgh together again. This Humpty Dumpty lesson can have a different outcome as soon as all the people get into the action. We need everyone's help.

The depth and scope of the internet's impact is only outmatched by its economy. It will not cost a lot to get the content on the net in effective ways.

I think this measure will do a lot to crack the "done deal mentality" around here.

Now, let's do the hard work of getting this question put onto the ballot and before the voters in November, 2005.