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Kraków Legislative Observatory

Public scrutiny Completed
małopolskie
Kraków
eState Foundation, Warszawa, Poland
2014-03-01 - 2015-11-30
367 007,87 PLN
322 757,87 PLN
local government, public institutions, accessing public data
Project description
The project was implemented in response to difficult and delayed access of inhabitants of Kraków to information on the activities of city authorities. Comprehensive information on committee meetings are lacking, meetings are too often closed, documentation is incomplete, checking the voting history of councillors is time-consuming, access to basic documents, such as city budget, is impeded because they are published in pdf format which sometimes cannot be searched. The practice of block voting is not conducive to good legislation.
The aim of the project was to enhance access to and supply information on legislative processes and matters important for inhabitants.
As a result of the project, changes were brought about or enhanced in the Kraków City Council and City Hall. Sessions are now video recorded and published in the Public Information Bulletin, the formerly lacking documentation from committees is completed, the budget and Multiannual Financial Forecast were published in editable formats, secret voting in cases of awarding honorary citizenship was abolished, the practice of closed meetings of the Council committees was questioned. Also a declaration from the City Hall was obtained that from January 2016 video recordings from committee meetings will be published and that contract registers for municipal units will be published. For over 5 months block voting was abandoned.
Under the project, the portal przejrzystykrakow.pl was built, using data on legislative processes and its participants, city hall, districts, city finances, financial and investment plans. On average, the portal has 16 519 pageviews a month. When developing the portal, applications based on administrative procedure and applications for access to public information were sent, as well as a petition concerning abolishing the practice of block voting, signed by 400 persons. 201 committee meetings were recorded and published on the Internet, as well as 18 City Council sessions and 39 interviews with councillors and candidates for councillors on the openness of legislative processes and block voting.
9 meetings were organised with inhabitants to promote practical knowledge in the field of civil control, and informing on project activities. The project benefited inhabitants of the city and city councillors and the President. The project partner was the Foundation ePaństwo, responsible for developing the portal Przejrzysty Kraków and supporting the creation of the Internet page idea.