Better Boston by the numbers

THE MENINO administration is poised to give Bostonians an unprecedented view of government operations - blemishes and all - through frequent public reporting of performance data. If the mid-February launch is successful, Boston would jump ahead of New York, Baltimore, and other cities celebrated for transparency.

An effective city government opens conversations with residents about what it wants to accomplish, says Shelley Metzenbaum, director of the Edward J. Collins Center for Public Management at UMass-Boston. And hosting that conversation through a series of quarterly reports is new territory for local government. The Menino administration deserves credit for its plan to launch the online "Mayor's Performance Report" and inviting vigorous discussion of its budgetary priorities and performance.

A preview of the data shows, for example, that the city's public works and transportation departments fell short of their target for solid waste removal and towing of abandoned vehicles during the first quarter of the fiscal year. But public works managed to address 90 percent of streetlight outages within 7 to 10 business days, well above their 77 percent average in recent years. The library system had almost 250,000 fewer visits to its website than managers had planned. But teen use of library cards jumped considerably, a good sign.

It is the administrative data, however, that point to how well city government is run. At the libraries, for example, 5 percent of total worker hours were lost due to sick leave and tardiness during the first quarter of fiscal year 2009. That's higher than the annual averages for the three previous years and could indicate a morale problem that new library president Amy Ryan must address quickly. The absentee rate is even higher (5.85 percent) at public works, another agency in need of reform.

Metzenbaum cautions that the data should not be used punitively by the public or city managers. While the data encourages accountability, comparing agencies or sections within agencies before managers have a chance to improve them could lead to problems, including attempts to cook the numbers to make them look better.

One oversight that needs immediate attention, however, is the exclusion of data on the school system. School officials argue that they already undergo annual state-mandated measurements. But the public should have a chance to see easy-to-read, quarterly figures for attendance, suspensions, teacher turnover, and other key indicators of how the system is faring.

Boston's budget is tight, and residents face service cuts. But now they can see if they are on the same page with their city's leaders.