Government is in everyone’s backyard, and government performance affects all of our lives for better and for worse. Coal mine collapses, oil spills, and foreclosure epidemics make it ever more clear that when the federal government doesn’t act in time, or doesn’t carry out the laws and regulations it is charged with maintaining, bad things happen. But federal agencies can also bring help, development, and improvements to America’s communities. We’re building GIMBY to help citizens engage more effectively with the federal government and see what government is doing right where they live. We’ve received support from the Ethics and Excellence in Journalism foundation, the Rockefeller Family and Associates, the Kovler Fund, and hundreds of individual donors to build GIMBY into a robust web platform that will look at executive branch performance far beyond the Beltway. Be a part of building GIMBY here.
Below, drawn from our Beltway Outsider and Free Agency blogs, are examples of the kind of blogging GIMBY will do in different parts of the country.





The EPA’s new regional administrator, Jared Blumenfeld, joined California officials deep inside an otherworldly realm of deadly caustic waste deemed the most toxic place on earth, reports
You might have missed this one over the summer, but it’s worth a look: The Nation‘s Christian Parenti looks at one way government can quickly and easily move the economy greenward. He calls it 

Obama administration lawyers have asked the US Supreme Court to dismiss a lawsuit filed by eight states including California, New York City and three land trusts six years ago, seeking tougher restrictions on carbon dioxide releases by utilities than those set by the federal government, according to the
understandinggov.org