EDITORIAL: Transparency on warming shelter data benefits all
Oct. 17—Last Sunday, we ran a story laying out the details of the lack of data sharing and transparency we've received from city homeless program coordinator Michelle Evans.
In the week since, we've seen a disappointing response.
As reporter Christian Tabak discussed in his story last week, we are asking, very straightforwardly, for month-by-month occupancy reports for Norman's warming shelter. In the months Tabak and reporter Mindy Ragan Wood have worked with Evans to get these reports, they've received not only a lack of answers, but contradictory data.
We began asking for these reports months ago with the understanding that Norman's $100,000 study on homelessness solutions, contracted out to San Francisco-based nonprofit Homebase, would wrap up at the end of this year. We wanted to understand the current need for and use of Norman's existing overnight shelter.
This week, the road toward getting that public information has continued to be obstructed.
On Tuesday, the ad hoc committee on homelessness' meeting was canceled without reason. Evans' regular Friday meeting with Tabak was also canceled.
City Manager Darrel Pyle, who told Tabak on Friday, Oct. 8, that he would share the data with Tabak himself by the afternoon of Monday, Oct. 11, did not share any new numbers by that deadline. Instead, we received an email after 5 p.m. Friday, Oct. 15 — hours after the revised final deadline Tabak communicated with the city — telling us that someone else would be sending us the data.
Tabak finally received numbers — not full reports on occupancy, but numbers by month — with no further context on Saturday afternoon. Receiving the numbers on the weekend means the questions we still have about the correct context and framing for this data will have to be answered later this week.
We were hoping, with Pyle and the city's assistance, to finally be able to lay out the correct data for readers — so far, we haven't shared any of the actual numbers we've received because they show a contradictory and convoluted narrative. The story will now continue to be drawn out as we work to piece together what is factual.
A lack of transparency is only compounded by further decisions to keep details from the public. At the end of the day, transparency, even if it reveals inconvenient facts, keeps everyone informed.
The Transcript is not the city's enemy. Like all Norman residents, we want our city to develop a plan to help our homeless neighbors that is actually helpful, humanizing and meets the right issues with the correct solutions. We also want to understand what is currently working in our city, and what's not.
Keeping key data from us to obstruct our understanding of resident use of the warming shelter helps no one. We feel, at this point, that residents deserve to understand the lengthy and less-than-productive back and forth that it has taken to receive the bare minimum of information from public officials.
If public servants are unwilling to share public information with the public, who are they doing their jobs for?
The Norman Transcript Editorial Board includes Publisher Mark Millsap, Editor Emma Keith and News Editor Max Bryan. For comments or questions, email editor@normantranscript.com.
