What Works Cities? . . . A Tweet From The City Manager about An Open Data Portal?

Off to a not-so-good beginning with government excellence. 
Let's start with transparency - an announcement dated November 3, 2015 and tweeted/re-tweeted by Chris Brady and John Giles . . . not too many people or citizens who are supposed to benefit from initiatives like this are liking this or for that matter being able to read it
https://twitter.com/MesaCityManager/status/662292642756071424
Contrast this low-impact Twitter posting announcing that the City of Mesa will be creating an open data portal that will display data, [will]engage and [will] inform citizens on city initiatives and [will] increase transparency with the major fanfare in the August 05, 2015 press release from the City of Mesa Newsroom.
More than three months later it's just a promise
In the initial announcement by Bloomberg Philanthropies, it stated that
1. Mesa will implement open data practices for the first time
2. Mesa will strengthen existing performance management programs
3.Mesa will engage the public

The Center for Government Excellence at John Hopkins University clearly stated in a presentation on October 22, 2015 GovEx Hosts First WhatWorksCities "Office House" [that Mesa participated in] that open portals are not enough http://whatworkscities.bloomberg.org/news/

GovEx clearly states on its website: Johns Hopkins University’s new Center for Government Excellence helps governments build capacity for decision-making that is rooted in evidence, transparent accountability, and citizen engagement. It is part of  the university’s 21st Century City Initiative, a cross-disciplinary research initiative for urban study and change.
http://centerforgov.org/

From a report in AZTechBeat on August 5,2015
What we got from the Bloomberg grant is experts in their fields to give us personalized assistance on site, remotely, through documentation, and just helping us along in this process,” City of Mesa Chief Innovation Officer Alex Deshuk said. “This will take us to the next level and make us a ‘What Works City’.”

All the persons appointed by City Manager Chris Brady are City Hall insiders