The city of Arlington, Texas, is a leader in how it maximizes the use of funds and workforce for its parks and recreation programs. Its success is built on five key strategies that leverage data.
The city of Arlington Parks and Recreation Department hosts more than 3,000 fee-based programs per year, manages 99 parks and maintains an extensive special events calendar, all while being about as decorated of a department as they come. The department has won the National Recreation and Park Association’s 2018 Gold Medal Award in the Class II category and has been a three-time gold medal finalist. The department has also won Cartegraph’s Flag Forward Award — the list of accolades goes on and on.
So, one might be surprised to learn that the department operates with one of the leanest parks staffing models in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. With only 4.6 full-time employees per 10,000 citizens (according to NRPA the national average in 2018 was 8.3 full-time employees per 10,000 citizens), it’s imperative that the department consistently seek process efficiencies, strengthen partnership and sponsorship programs, and wisely spend marketing dollars to maximize reach. By doing so, it is able to maintain one of the highest cost recovery percentages in the industry (81 percent cost recovery in Parks Performance fund, about three times the national average), while increasing social equity.
Read full story at GovTech…
first published week of: 06/17/2019
Open-data cities make life better for everyone by sharing information that can lead to action.
After Henry “Hank” Garie joined Philadelphia’s Office of Innovation and Technology as geographic information officer, the city soon gave him a second hat to wear as chief data officer. Programmatic data rooted in “spatial awareness” provides a lot of power through open-data government to citizens who can view information as it relates to them and act upon it, Garie tells StateTech.“One of the most valuable assets that government has is the data that we collect. The notion of open data just sheds light on it, so that citizens can see the value of collecting that data. They're seeing some real value when that data becomes open and transparent,” Garie says.Citizens like to know what’s happening around them, and Philadelphia’s open-data program provides the means by which residents can view data by their address. Anyone with a computer in an open-data city can find information on isolated incidents and also chronic issues that impact the community. In her three years with the program, Kistine Carolan, Philadelphia’s open-data program manager, has seen open-data government incorporated in academic research, business activity and civic engagement. Nonprofits have conducted open-data program evaluations, and journalists cite it in their reporting, she adds.
Read full story at StateTech…
first published week of: 09/09/2019
The city of Oneonta [NY] is one of four recipients of a $200,000 grant announced by state Attorney General Letitia James to solve the problem of so-called "zombie properties" — vacant or abandoned homes that are not maintained during a prolonged foreclosure proceeding.
The awardees are collaborating with the Greater Mohawk Valley Land Bank to achieve the goals of the grant, dubbed the "Zombies 2.0 program," across Montgomery, Herkimer, Otsego and Schoharie counties, according to a media release by Greater Mohawk Valley Land Bank. The Zombies 2.0 program is a result of the office of the attorney general's $500 million settlement with the Royal Bank of Scotland in 2018 over its involvement with the 2008-2009 foreclosure crisis.
Oneonta as a whole has at least 100 vacant and abandoned properties as determined by the office of the attorney general, which qualifies it for the Zombies 2.0 grant, said Tolga Morawski, executive director of Greater Mohawk Valley Land Bank in an email to The Daily Star. The city of Oneonta has approximately 10 properties that can be considered zombie properties, Oneonta Mayor Gary Herzig said.
Read full story at Daily Star…
first published week of: 08/12/2019
Chief Information Officer Michael Lane left his post May 17 after almost six years of working in Clark County IT as both the CIO and deputy CIO.
Clark County, Nev., Chief Information Officer Michael Lane has stepped down from his position. His last day on the job was May 17.
Lane served as the leader of the county’s information technology department since the Board of Commissioners ratified his permanent appointment in December 2016. Prior to his appointment, Lane had been deputy CIO since August 2013.
Before Lane worked for the county, he was a high school math teacher, managed IT for a travel website and worked in casino and gaming tech.
Erik Pappa, spokesman for the county, said there will be a nationwide search to find his replacement. Pappa said no timetable has been set to when the recruitment, interview process, background check and Board of Commissioners approval will be finished.
Read full story at GovTech…
first published week of: 05/20/2019
This photo showcases a cluster map of Indiana's workforce and education data.
( The Indiana Data Partnership )
An network of datapoints was crafted in Indiana through a partnership between the state’s Management Performance Hub (MPH) and Indiana University (IU). The visualization is meant to give nonprofits, government agencies and private-sector companies a glimpse at how they are connected and the degrees of separation between organizations.
This web, officially known as the Indiana Data Partnership (IDP), launched late last month. The system was developed in house by MPH and three IU centers: The Public Policy Institute, the Indiana Business Research Center (IBRC) and The Polis Center. Indianapolis-based Lilly Endowment, a private philanthropic foundation, awarded the hub and university a $2.5 million grant in 2018 to stand up the IDP.
Read full story at GovTech…
first published week of: 08/19/2019
By recruiting specialized teams and rotating assignments, the government could get more out of its cyber workforce, according to lawmakers.
President Trump on Friday signed a spending package to fund the government through the remainder of fiscal 2019, averting yet another shutdown.
And now that the government’s open for the fiscal year, lawmakers can start to figure out what they want it to do.
Trading Places
Sens. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., and John Thune, R-S.D., last week introduced legislation that would create an exchange program between federal agencies and private companies intended to boost the government’s cyber chops. Under the Cyber Security Exchange Act, cyber experts from academia and industry would serve two-year stints in government while federal employees head to the private sector to brush up on the latest cyber practices.
Read full story at Next Gov…
first published week of: 02/18/2019
At the Coral Gable’s Community Intelligence Center, information from visualization and data analysis from multiple smart-city technologies is aggregated.
( Chris Cowen)
IEEE senior member helps the Florida municipality serve its citizens with a mobile app
Coral Gables, located just outside Miami, calls itself The City Beautiful. And it’s no wonder. The city boasts tropical tree–lined streets, sparkling beaches, and Mediterranean architecture. But it’s also becoming known for something else: a smart-city success story.
One of the first planned communities in the country, Coral Gables recently unveiled its Smart City Hub. The open-data platform—which uses a combination of analytics, apps, sensors, and other technologies—provides citizens with a wealth of information and services. They can access public police records, renew a parking permit, find electric-vehicle charging stations, and report a pothole using their mobile device.
Internet of Things sensors and smart lights located along the city’s popular Miracle Mile and other streets report real-time pedestrian counts, vehicle traffic, and environmental data. The city this year plans to add more smart lights, closed-circuit TV cameras, and sensors in neighborhoods and parks and along waterways.
Read full story at IEEE Spectrum…
first published week of: 04/08/2019
City IT lost data for audit because it was all kept on staff workstations
In a report to a committee of the Baltimore City Council last week, City Auditor Josh Pasch said that the city's Information Technology department could not provide any documentation of its work toward meeting agency performance goals because the only copies of that data were kept on local hard drives and never backed up to a server or the cloud.
As the Baltimore Sun's Luke Broadwater reports, Pasch told the council:
"Performance measures data were saved electronically in responsible personnel's hard drives. One of the responsible personnel's hard drive was confiscated, and the other responsible personnel's selected files were removed due to the May 2019 ransomware incident...One of the things I’ve learned in my short time here is a great number of Baltimore City employees store entity information on their local computers. And that’s it."
The lost data, Pasch said, resulted in a "loss of confidence" in whether the IT department was accomplishing anything on its to-do list.
City Councilman Eric T. Costello interrupted the testimony to interject, "That can't be right? That's real?... Wow. That's mind-boggling to me."
Read full story at arsTechnica…
first published week of: 10/28/2019
The virtual guarantee of foreign meddling in the 2020 election poses a challenge to state and local officials, IT staff included, to protect American democracy. Experts say the keys to success will be cybersecurity, paper trails, risk-limiting audits and inter-agency communication.
When asked at a congressional hearing if Russia would attack U.S. election systems again in 2020, Special Counsel Robert Mueller was unequivocal: “It wasn’t a single attempt,” he said. “They’re doing it as we sit here, and they expect to do it during the next campaign.”
Presidential campaigns are now underway, and election systems are still vulnerable. From voter registration databases to result-reporting websites to the voting machines themselves, researchers have identified soft spots across the system for hackers to exploit, meaning cybersecurity is now a front line of defense for American democracy.
There are many parties working on this problem — secretaries of state, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), EI-ISAC (Elections Infrastructure Information Sharing and Analysis Center), various nonprofits and private companies — and a few common refrains between them. They’re all pushing for paper ballots, vulnerability screenings, staff training, contingency plans, audits and, above all, more consistent funding. And they all have the same basic message for state and local officials: The security of our elections is riding on you.
Read full story at GovTech…
first published week of: 11/04/2019
Dan Coldiron
( City of Loveland )
Dan Coldiron has been selected as chief information officer for the city of Loveland.
Coldiron, who has directed all information technology services for the city of Fort Collins for nine years, will join the Loveland staff July 22, according to a news release. He will be paid $148,500 annually.
A job description posted by the city said the chief information officer plans, organizes, directs and implements a citywide information technology strategy, business plan and policy that includes information systems (hardware and software), communication technology and IT services to address Loveland’s immediate and longer-term needs.
Read full story at Reporter-Herald…
first published week of: 07/22/2019