Salt Lake applauded for transparency

Ezedin Alarcon Prado watched the election night returns for Salt Lake City's Proposition 1 with some disbelief.

By a 2-to-1 margin, voters approved a tax increase to pay for a $125 million public safety complex. It's something Alarcon Prado said would be "impossible" in La Paz, Bolivia, where he works for the municipal government.

Alarcon Prado credits Mayor Ralph Becker's transparency efforts for the victory. It's the reason he has spent the past two months observing the city's practices.

"We have lots of troubles in Bolivia — corruption," Alarcon Prado said. "We are trying to improve ideas. We are trying to show the people what we are doing."

Alarcon Prado was one of three La Paz employees awarded grants from the U.S. State Department to study different elements of municipal governments.

While his colleagues selected New York and Washington, D.C., Alarcon Prado said he was drawn to Salt Lake City because of its latest transparency efforts.

In Utah, Alarcon Prado has spent the past two months attending meetings with the mayor and his staff and working on the city's Open Government Initiative.

"We've learned as much from him as he has from us," said Lisa Harrison Smith, the mayor's spokeswoman. "He's helped us remember the importance of continuing our efforts."

In La Paz, Alarcon Prado said the city government is leading Bolivia's open government efforts but must still overcome a tainted past.

Three former mayors and six council members are currently serving sentences for corruption charges, he said, most recently for accepting bribes to sign off on illegal building permits.

"We have many people who were taking all the money of the city for themselves because they don't share the information," Alarcon Prado said. "We are trying to make better the process."

While political decisions are made during open meetings, Bolivian governments still struggle to make information available and understandable, he said.

Alarcon Prado said he will return home with ideas for improving La Paz's online presence and opening lines of communication between residents and city officials.

"We are trying to show the people what they want to see," he said. "All the people want to see what the authorities are doing inside the building."

e-mail: afalk@desnews.com