Arlington’s award-winning information effort can counter attacks on local control

Empowering citizens with abundant information about the operations and support systems of government does more to ensure that political power resides where it belongs — in the hands of we the people.

Nowhere in the structure of the world’s most successful society does that outcome have a chance to prevail better than at the local level.

Neither the state nor the federal governments have as much impact on what we need to support our daily lives than do the elected and management officials of our hometowns.

So when news came a few days ago that the Arlington had achieved the gold level of the national What Works Cities Certification, it confirmed the city’s resolve to aggressively inform residents and businesses.

Launched in 2015 by the Bloomberg Philanthropies, the certification evaluates how effectively cities are managed. It measures the extent to which city leaders incorporate data and evidence in their decision making against a national standard of excellence.

Arlington is one of only eight cities to have ever achieved the gold-level certification and the only city in Texas to have been recognized at any level.

City Manager Trey Yelverton summed up the city’s continued commitment. “We are thrilled to be leveling up to the gold certification this year, and we remain committed to continue investing in technology, processes and policies that create a stronger, smarter local government,” he said.

While there is an abundance of data across the city’s entire website and social media outlets, a visit to the Your City at Work performance dashboard is a starting place to check out the depth of information you will find there.

Among the many reasons this is of vital importance to the community, a couple of realities come to mind.

First, as preparations continue for the opening of the Texas Legislature’s session in January, we have been reminded of plans by some of our lawmakers to again take power away from citizens to manage their local governments.

The agenda of the statist organization of Empower Texans that funds these House and Senate members has not diminished just because their motives have been exposed to the extent that even Gov. Greg Abbott has spoken out about the risk they pose.

Every candidate seeking your vote should be pressed about his or her plans to diminish your voice through the continued erosion of local governments. More knowledge of how your community works won’t be of much use if hometown decisions are taken from city hall and transferred to the state capital.

A second reason to access and embrace the city’s information has been illustrated by some social media comments that arose with the announcement that the Texas Rangers plan to open their new ballpark by the end of the month.

That news resulted in some of the persistent naysayers using the occasion to share their opposition to public funding for major sports facilities. One writer said none of them should have been built without a majority of voters approving them.

Well, all four of the stadiums built with some public funding over the city’s history, all the way back to 1964, were voter-authorized by landslide margins that resulted in the city’s largest economy.

Another said he didn’t like paying the half-cent sales tax used to finance the city’s portion of the costs, so he did his shopping in Grand Prairie — where the sales tax is higher and is used to support the facilities and services there instead of Arlington, where he lives.

Knowledge is power and it’s at your fingertips.