Yesterday, Wisconsin, Maryland and the District of Columbia held primary elections. Yes, presidential primaries, but what some people might not realize is that there were many congressional and local positions up for grabs as well. I had a really cool opportunity to play helper bee yesterday at the DC Board of Elections and Ethics, thanksRead… Read more »
I recently discovered The Atlantic Cities website, which provides news on a lot of interesting research and innovative ideas taking place in the world’s cities. Check it out: http://www.theatlanticcities.com/ Please share other local government focused news sites that inspire you.
From Rich Millington, in his post “The Tragic Story Of Hyperlocal Communities“: If we want to build hyperlocal communities, we have to change the way we think about them. This isn’t a technology problem to solve (Facebook-style). Enabling everyone to start a hyperlocal community wont make it happen. This isn’t a content problem to solveRead… Read more »
Kudos to four New York City Councilmembers who are letting residents of their districts have a say in how some discretionary funds are being spent. Joe Moore an Alderman from Chicago has also utilized Participatory Budgeting, which I discussed in a previous blog post. An article in the New York Times highlights how Participatory BudgetingRead… Read more »
On GovLoop I’ve read plenty of anecdotes about cities getting involved in social media, from a local Department of Transportation that responds to inquiries on Twitter to a local power authority dealing with its namesake being used on social. But what cities are best at social media? A study by the University of Chicago recentlyRead… Read more »
The League of Women Voters of Buffalo Niagara sponsored a forum titled Who Needs County Government and Why? The four speakers were: Dr. Joseph Stefko, Director of Public Finance, Center for Government Research, Rochester, NY James Magavern, Esq. Brenda McDuffie, Executive Director, Buffalo Urban League Kenneth Vetter, Executive Director, Erie County Fiscal Stability Authority ARead… Read more »
One of my favorite quotes is: “ Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” Margaret Mead The first edition of Britannica Encyclopedias appeared in Scotland in 1768. In 11 years a group of Internet volunteers has ended the 244Read… Read more »
Chicago parents have a new tool for understanding the public school selection process: Chicago Public School Tiers, an app launched last week by Open City. The application is a perfect example of how independent civic developers can use open data to improve complicated yet important public processes; an approach that Code for America supports byRead… Read more »
When most of us think about technology we think about huge projects and big sweeping changes. Maybe it’s the fact that over the last 20 years we’ve seen technology move at what seems like light speed and revolutionize most of our day to day lives but make no mistake about it technology development is aRead… Read more »
Recently I met another civil engineer who works for a county in the State of Washington. He contacted me through the virtual world of Second Life where he is known as Jered Spitteler. Jered works for a county in the state of Washington and has been building a model in Second Life of one ofRead… Read more »