Evaluation of New York City’s Adherence to Good Government Principles

Citizens Union is one of New York City’s oldest civic watchdog organizations. Since 1897, it has worked to ensure fair and open elections, honest and efficient government, and a civically-engaged public. In 2014, Citizens Union released a blueprint for New York City’s elected officials with principles to guide their decision-making towards making democracy work for all New Yorkers. These principles included creating a culture of transparency, holding open and accessible elections, effectively and efficiently administering services, and maintaining a merit-based city workforce. Citizens Union engaged a Capstone team to create an evaluation framework to measure whether city officials are adhering to these principles. The team conducted industry research, analyzed available data sources, and created evaluation metrics. The final report outlined recommended metrics to track the City’s adherence to the good governance principles and recommended missing data that Citizens Union could lobby the City to include as a part of the annual Mayor’s Management Report.