Sample: Letter About Cities and Towns

To the Editor:

Every single day, our local government makes decisions on where my tax money is being spent, how the roads are being repaired, how our sewers are being cared for and if our police and fire departments are getting the resources they need to keep us safe. Thousands of pages of data on how those decisions are made, and the results of those decisions are released all the time. However, we rarely get to see them because we rarely know when they are released, and where they are kept once they are made public. That is just unacceptable.

We now live in a world where, with the Internet, I can read reviews on a nice restaurant, make reservations there, check real-time traffic along the route that I’d use to get to the restaurant and the weather at the final destination. Why can’t I get that same experience with government data? It’s time that our local government catches up with the rest of the world and starts releasing its data online so that it can be truly public.

I have made a pledge to hold government accountable by demanding transparency thought my sustained engagement with government and political action. This November when I go to the ballot box, I will be thinking about government transparency and voting only for elected officials who share my vision for a more transparent, accountable city government.

Sincerely,