Glossary
Thesaurus
Many of the entities Metro deals with can be called multiple things. Here is a cheatsheet to reference:
Board of Directors, Committee
- Body (Legistar API)
- Meeting body (Legistar UI)
- Organization (Open Civic Data universe, Councilmatic models)
- Committee (Legistar UI, Councilmatic UI)
Board member
- Member (Legistar UI)
- Person/s (Legistar API, Open Civic Data universe, Councilmatic models)
- Board member (Councilmatic UI)
Membership
- Office record (Legistar API)
- Membership (Open Civic Data models, Councilmatic models)
- Term (pupa)
Bill
- Matter (Legistar API)
- Bill (Open Civic Data universe)
- Board report (Legistar UI, Councilmatic universe)
Event
- Event (Legistar API, Open Civic Data universe, Councilmatic models)
- Meeting (Legistar UI, Councilmatic UI)
Dictionary
Here are some concepts in Metro that benefit from some more context:
Division
- Political geography
- “Jurisdictions exist within a division, while Posts can represent a division”
- Divisions relevant to LA Metro:
- Further reading: https://open-civic-data.readthedocs.io/en/latest/proposals/0002.html
Jurisdiction
- Logical unit of governance
- Example: LA Metro
- Further reading: https://open-civic-data.readthedocs.io/en/latest/proposals/0003.html
Post
- Position in organization
- Posts define the core positions within an organization, and can optionally be associated with a Division, i.e., the political geography they represent
- Examples:
- Post associated with a division: Appointee of the Mayor of the City of Los Angeles on the Board of Directors representing the City of Los Angeles
- Post not associated with a division: Chair of the Board of Directors
- Further reading: https://open-civic-data.readthedocs.io/en/latest/proposals/0005.html
Membership
- “A relationship between a Person and an Organization, possibly including a Post”
- Committee Memberships are not associated with a Post because committees do not have a defined membership structure
- Further reading: https://open-civic-data.readthedocs.io/en/latest/proposals/0005.html