NY Observer > Coalition for the Homeless http://www.observer.com/taxonomy/term/27575/feed Articles from Observer.com en Sometimes, Transparency Hurts http://www.observer.com/node/31679 Today's coverage of a critical report from the Coalition for the Homeless neatly highlighted the potential risks of the Bloomberg administration's unusual decision to offer regular data-based progress reports on its various policy goals and campaign promises.

As spokesman Stu Loeser hastened to point out yesterday, it was only the city's data that enabled advocates to create the report, which shows in black-and-white terms that the city has fallen short of the benchmarks the mayor set in reducing chronic homelessness.

"We told them," he said. "It's our numbers. We gave it to them."

You have to say one thing, assuming the administration's numbers are correct: they're certainly willing to take their lumps in the interests of data-based transparency.

Will the prospective candidates for 2009 pledge to do the same? UPDATE: Jonathan Rosen, a spokesman for the homeless advocacy group, doesn't think Bloomberg deserves that much credit for transparency. He emailed to say, "The Coalition for the Homeless has received daily census reports on homeless adults since 1981 and monthly reports on homeless families since the mid 1980's." -- Azi Paybarah]]> http://www.observer.com/node/31679#comments Politics Coalition for the Homeless Jonathan Rosen Stu Loeser Thu, 08 Mar 2007 05:00:00 -0500 Observer Staff 31679 at http://www.observer.com