Silicon Valley ‘civic-tech’ companies driving transparency in local government

Cities from San Francisco to Palo Alto and Dublin — even down to the financially troubled city of Bell in Southern California — are using Silicon Valley startup technology to open a window into government spending at an unprecedented level of detail.

From how much a community spends on police equipment to the amount of a check written to a contractor building the new fire station, more details of a city’s budget are moving from paper or clunky software to sophisticated Web applications — marking an information revolution that could lead to better government.

By Heather Somerville

Full Story: http://www.mercurynews.com/business/ci_28428614/silicon-valley-civic-tech-companies-driving-transparency-local