Message from Tom Champion (verbatim)

[redcolumbine.livejournal.com]

From the beginning, my informal communication via LiveJournal has been problematic for a variety of reasons:

* When am I speaking for myself, and when for the city?

* Am I setting myself up as some alternate channel that competes with legitimate lines of inquiry and process, such as 311? Am I just ego-tripping?

* My "tone" has been questioned on several occasions and I certainly don't want anybody to judge the city by one snarky employee -- especially since I have the responsibility to speak officially for the city as well.

* Twice in as many weeks I have, in a rush to be timely, mis-communicated on important issues, and had to apologize for it.

* My first responsibility at all times is to my friends and colleagues in city government. They're my team and I must never create even the appearance of second-guessing them -- because I'm not. It's simply inappropriate for me to pretend that I can "unofficially" take part in any online community -- even as decent and thoughtful a community as DSLJ.

This was, therefore, a mistake. The InterWebs are tricky places, and we learn as we go.

In future, I think the best way for people to communicate with City Hall is to call or email 311 -- and the best way for City Hall to communicate with DSLJ members is by official announcement only, so I will explore setting up an account for that purpose.

Comments

the term you're looking for is Ombudsman

[enochs-fable.livejournal.com]

I do think something like that would be really helpful. I'm very sorry to see him go!