WHAT DO – OR DON’T – THE FEDS DO?
Over the course of time, we’ve written repeatedly about the confusion many Americans have about which level of government provides which...
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B&G REPORT.
The B&G Report features newsy items relating to a wide variety of state and local government management topics, including state and local performance audit, state and local performance management, government budgeting, state and local human resource issues, and a variety of other public sector issues.
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greenebarrett
4 min read
FORT WORTH: THE TRAIN IS ON THE TRACKS
A little over a year ago, we wrote a column for Route Fifty about the remarkably ambitious host of efforts that Fort Worth, Texas was...
greenebarrett
3 min read
EIGHT WAYS TO WRITE FOR IMPACT
Back in March, in collaboration with Donald F. Kettl professor emeritus and former dean of the University of Maryland School of Public...
greenebarrett
3 min read
GENERATION Z: ONE SIZE DOES NOT FIT ALL
In conversations that we’ve had lately with people in human resources and elsewhere in government, we’ve found ourselves repeatedly...
greenebarrett
3 min read
AN OPEN LETTER TO ELECTED OFFICIALS
Good day, Last week we were talking to an inquisitive person who is rising in the local public sector world. The conversation turned to...
greenebarrett
3 min read
DO YOU LOVE CITIES TOO?
We love cities. Though we moved out of Manhattan a few years ago for the little town of Bethel, Connecticut, we’ll live the rest of our...
greenebarrett
4 min read
WHEN CORRUPTION HITS SMALL CITIES
Walter Winchell, one of America’s most popular syndicated gossip columnists and radio commentators from the 1920s through the early 1960s...
greenebarrett
3 min read
WHY DO PEOPLE LAUGH WHEN WE TELL THEM WHAT WE DO?
When we attend social gatherings like weddings and are seated with people who don’t know us, one of the obligatory first questions...
greenebarrett
3 min read
POTHOLES ON THE AI ROAD
We’re not scared of AI. It doesn’t take much historical memory to know that pretty much any new technology brings out fear and...
greenebarrett
3 min read
OF FIREWORKS AND CIVIC EDUCATION
With the Fourth of July right around the corner, many Americans are looking forward to a day off from work, cookouts and fireworks. Yet...
greenebarrett
2 min read
GOVERNMENT INTERNET FRUSTRATIONS
We get a great deal of information from the Internet for our work, and there’s little question that the easy access to tons of reports,...
greenebarrett
3 min read
NINE TIPS FOR IMPROVING MEETINGS
Over more than 30 years of covering state and local government, we can’t recall ever talking to a public sector manager who loved going...
greenebarrett
3 min read
THE GRAVEYARD OF GOOD IDEAS
A couple of weeks ago, we wrote a B&G report titled “Is Speedy Government Good Government?” in which we made the case that the pressure...
greenebarrett
2 min read
IS SPEEDY GOVERNMENT GOOD GOVERNMENT?
Not to be overly blunt, but we’ve grown sick and tired of hearing people complaining about how long it takes state and local governments...
greenebarrett
2 min read
EMPLOYEE SURVEYS' TWO-EDGED SWORD
Employee surveys can provide extremely valuable information for supervisors, managers and HR officials in cities, counties, and states...
greenebarrett
2 min read
REBRANDING LOCAL GOVERNMENT
Over the years, we’ve chatted with high school and college students about the potential of careers working for state and local...
greenebarrett
4 min read
THE ACADEMIC-GOVERNMENT COMMUNICATIONS GAP
We spend a lot of time talking with government practitioners and a lot of time talking with academic researchers. We’ve often wondered...
greenebarrett
3 min read
OUR RESPONSE TO RESPONSE TIMES
When it comes to many vital public services, including police, fire and EMS, one of the primary – and sometimes the only – performance...
greenebarrett
4 min read
THE PERILS AND PRICE OF SPEEDY COMMUNICATIONS
We remember the exciting day when we bought our first IBM PC and a printer for $7,500 back in 1981. (Yes. You read that number right.) ...
greenebarrett
3 min read
WANT TO WRITE SO THAT OTHERS CAN USE WHAT YOU’VE WRITTEN? HERE’s YOUR CHANCE!
In 1799 when Napoleon was bearing down on Egypt a stone slab was discovered that came to be called the Rosetta Stone. It bore text in...
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