I've been sitting on writing this post for nearly a week but I wanted to be sure to post this since the future of the City of Austin's website has been a topic of discussion here before. The following is from a memo from Mayor Leffingwell regarding the first stages of the website overhaul.
As the first phase of our website redesign project finally gets underway, I wanted to briefly reiterate some of my personal priorities for the City's new website, which I've expressed on numerous occasions over the past several years.
PAYMENT CENTER: Austin citizens should be able to pay City and utility bills online via a single payment center. Payments that are not currently web-enabled - for example, various development-related fees and fines - should be brought online as soon as possible on a prioritized basis, with the ultimate goal of web-enabling all payments.
FINANCIAL TRANSPARENCY: I've previously referred to this as "putting the City's checkbook online." Austin citizens should be able to easily track all City revenues and spending on a basis that is as close to real-time as we can reasonably get. A good model for spending transparency on City contracts is Houston's "E-Catalog" product.
SOCIAL MEDIA & WEB TOOLS: While I'm pleased with the City's recent utilization of Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, our relaunched website should make these social media tools even more central to our communications strategy. I would also like to see the new website make use of web-based tools like Google Maps and Google Earth.
DATA PORTAL: Washington DC, New York City, Boston, Vancouver and other cities have recently launched initiatives to make a broad range of raw data generated by City departments available to the public online, and to encourage citizens to make creative use of the data. I know our staff has taken some initial steps in this direction; I hope we can get a data portal project launched before, or in conjunction with, our new website.
CONTACTS DIRECTORY: Austin citizens with questions or concerns should be able to more easily locate the appropriate City department and staff person to assist them. The current pull-down "services" menu on our home page and the current FAQ page are both serviceable, but not sufficiently comprehensive, in my view.
LANGUAGES: Finally, our website should offer more content in other languages. Currently our site only offers Spanish-language content, but the Census Bureau estimates that over 100 languages are spoken in Austin. Over time, our goal should be to provide content in Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese, German, French, Korean, Hindi, and Arabic, at a minimum.
Thanks for the hard work that's already been done to improve our current site and to move the redesign forward, and thanks in advance for the work that remains to be done to bring these efforts to fruition. Don't hesitate to contact me with questions or concerns.
There's a lot of good stuff in there. There's not excuse for not being able to pay more city bills online and efficiently in this day and age. And just being able to put more data out there is a huge step forward. If you want to talk about some good government websites, check out Utah.gov. Or maybe the city could offer a phone application to report road and neighborhood problems directly to city departments like they do in Boston.
After all, our City of Austin website is such an eyesore. Now that we have Austin based developers working on it, I look forward to moving forward for the last time. What would you like to see improved or added to the city website offerings? Post it in the comments and I'll make sure that I circulate this post to staff!
SXSW is doing some pretty meaningful things to reduce its greenhouse gas pollution. Some highlights:
Carbon Offsets. SXSW began offsetting it's own carbon emissions (presumably just from their offices?) in 2006. Since then, the three festivals (interactive, film, and music) remain committed to maintaining carbon neutrality and increasing efforts to lower footprints.
Clean Power. "For SXSW, sustainability begins ... on the roof." SXSW installed a solar array atop their own Austin offices a couple of years ago, which has since generated 7,143 kilowatt hours of clean electricity, and is making a significant dent in their electricity bill. The installation also lessens the company's use of Austin's coal-, nuke-, and natural gas- fired electricity resources.
Greener Transportation. (More fun than driving...) The festival recommends walking, biking, pedicabbing and shuttling whenever possible. SXSW has an ongoing arrangement with Bicycle Sport Shop to offer a wide range of rentals. If you must drive, SXSW has arranged with Enterprise-Rent-A-Car to offer a carbon offsets option; SXSW additionally recommends renting hybrid.
Greener Sleeping. SXSW's Web site provides a "green friendly" filter option when booking hotels. Hotels listed provide a link to their list of green practices. If you're coming in from out of town, SX recommends letting your concierge know you want to support environmental actions when you check-in. And of course, be kind -- "turn off your lights and water when you leave your room; set your air conditioning a few degrees higher while you're out; recycle..." (Such practices also reduce greenhouse gas impacts.)
Paperless Planning began in 2003. In 2008 SX's Registration Department saved 12,000 sheets of paper. Most recently the Interactive and Film Departments have made the switch to paperless, further reducing one of the embodied energy impacts related to the festivals.
As some of you may know, I am one of about 40 members of the Citizens Advisory Task Force to Austin's Comprehensive Plan, known as Imagine Austin. As co-chair of the Communications Committee on that task force, I have the opportunity to work with some really great people from across the city in developing some of the message, materials, and outreach to encourage participation. With the help of the Engagement Committee led by former city council candidate Perla Cavazos, city staff, and the consultants to the project, thousands have already taken part of the initial survey that's helping us develop our vision statement and draft goals that will be fleshed out and refined over the next year.
In addition to this, there are physical surveys in brochures now finding their way around Austin. And there are plenty of other ways to spread the word to your community posted online here, from host it your own meetings in a box, to flyers, and more.
One of the products that the Citizens Advisory Task Force has helped develop at no cost to taxpayers is the following PSA for the Imagine Austin plan, featuring members of the Task Force, including an intro by yours truly. Feel free to share any any all of this information, and take the survey at www.ImagineAustin.net!
Austin Supports MTR. Mountain Top Removal (MTR) is the least expensive and most environmentally destructive way to extract coal in the United States. America currently derives 10% of its coal from MTR, aka "blowing up mountains in Appalachia." See Steven Colbert's description:http://www.colbertnation.com/t...
Austin & MTR. Today, Austin's coal comes from strip mines in Wyoming. Interestingly though, Austin's strip-mined-coal is provided by companies who also operate mountaintop removal mines in Kentucky, Virginia and West Virginia. According to iLoveMountains.org, Austin's coal plant is one of only six in Texas with connections to MTR. See a Google Earth depiction of Austin's MTR connection:http://ilovemountains.org/myco...
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For more info on the +'s and -'s of Austin's coal use, check out the Fb group: Austin Has a Dirty Secret http://tinyurl.com/austin-face...
Thank you so much for your amazing support over the past 9 months. Because of your hard work and dedication, we did it. I am now officially the Democratic Nominee for the TX-21 Congressional Seat. In November 2010, I will face the 22-year Republican incumbent, Lamar Smith. Our challenge is really only just beginning. The results of the primary show that he is a skilled career politician who understands the business of re-election. His opponent was able to get about 20% of the Republican vote, denting his base, but not nearly enough to split the support. I think he put himself in a difficult position though trying to run on the right of Lamar Smith, there wasn't much wiggle room there. Smith also lost support that he had from the 2006 primary, so he came away with about 16,000 votes less than he could have had.
With the close of early voting, we say the traditional bump on the final days with over 4000 cast on Friday in the Democratic primary. A total of 15,826 votes were cast early (with a slight bump in that eventually to come as some mail ballots are received before the deadline).
As such, here's what the total Travis county Democratic primary turnout will look like depending on the percentage of the total vote comes from early vote compared to election days. Here is what total turnout looks like in a couple different scenarios. The bolded one is what our BOR models had been based on though I've provided a number of different scenarios.
If 45% of the vote is cast early... Dem Primary turnout is: 35,169
If 48% of the vote is cast early... Dem Primary turnout is: 32,971
If 52% of the vote is cast early... Dem Primary turnout is: 31,652
If 55% of the vote is cast early... Dem Primary turnout is: 28,775
If 60% of the vote is cast early... Dem Primary turnout is: 26,377
This is the final chart of how those models turned out. The final day's vote of over 4,000 was a little higher than expected. For history's sake...
2/27/10 -- Austin Energy's general manager, the much revered and very inspiring Roger Duncan, retired yesterday after more than 30 years of public service. During his Austin centric-career Roger achieved world renown in green utility implementation, co-founding one of the world's most progressive energy efficiency programs (dubbed "Energy Star" in the 80's, a name the federal government would later use), co-creating the WORLD'S FIRST green building program (no kidding), and achieving too many other things to list.
In many ways Roger is responsible for motivating people like me to believe we can do more.
And he encourages it. Big thanks to Roger: a great leader and civil servant.
Here's wishing Mr. Duncan and his family a very happy and fulfilling retirement.
Our campaign is proud to announce the endorsement of the Austin American-Statesman. The Statesman joins over a dozen Democratic, public safety, and community organizations in supporting Margaret Gómez.
The Statesman says voters should ask themselves: Will my choice make things better or just different?
They describe Margaret Gómez as champion of social services who, after beginning her career as a commissioner's secretary, has become a recognized expert in county government.
The Statesman also praises Gómez as "a cross over hit" who has "developed strong ties with non-Latino political groups, including labor and environmentalists."
The Editorial Board writes that Raul Alvarez "lacks focus and displays little practical working knowledge of county government" and that "Alvarez is a favorite of the ultra-hip but a disappointment to people who expect results."
The people of Precinct 4 do expect results.
They expect a leader who will be a champion for them, not a voice for the City Hall insiders and outside interests.
The Big Tent Event: Democratic Primary Election Night Watch Party (A multi-candidate, multi-club event)
Supporters, Volunteers, Friends and Family
You are invited to celebrate with ~ Lainey Melnick ~ Candidate for US Congress and Our Co-Hosts:
Capital Area Democratic Women ~ Burnt Orange Report ~ Capital Area Progressive Democrats ~ Capital City Young Democrats ~ Circle C Democrats
Plus These 2010 Democratic Primary Candidates and Their Supporters:
~ Bill White for Governor ~ Farouk Shami for Governor ~ Rebecca Bell-Metereau for District 5, Member State Board of Education ~ Judy Jennings for District 10, Member State Board of Education ~ Valinda Bolton for District 47, State Representative ~ Donna Howard for District 48, State Representative ~ Kurt Kuhn for Place 4, Justice, 3rd Court of Appeals ~ Lora Livingston for District Judge, 261st Judicial District ~ David Crain for District Judge, 331st Judicial District ~ Tim Sulak for District Judge, 353rd Judicial District ~ Eric Shepperd for County Court at Law 2, Judge ~ Olga Seelig for County Court at Law 3, Judge ~ Brandy Mueller for County Court at Law 6, Judge ~ Elisabeth Earle for County Court at Law 7, Judge ~ Sarah Eckhardt for Precinct 2, County Commissioner ~ Daniel Bradford for Precinct 1, Justice of the Peace ~ Yvonne Williams for Precinct 1, Justice of the Peace ~ Karin Crump for Precinct 2, Justice of the Peace ~ Susan Steeg for Precinct 3, Justice of the Peace ~Raul Gonzalez for Precinct 4, Justice of the Peace ~ Herb Evans for Precinct 5, Justice of the Peace ~
On Thursday 2/25/10, Jake Stewart, former manager of the City of Austin's Climate Protection Program, presented a successful petition drive to City Council, urging leaders to renew their commitment to making Austin "the leading the city in the nation" in climate protection. (1) Austin first adopted its climate protection plan in March 2007, under a previous mayor and city council.
The Petition's Objective is to let Austin's leaders know there are plenty of folks who appreciate and support the City's hard work in this regard, and who believe in working-together to achieve as much as possible.
Jake was complimentary, thanking the original council signatories for their initiative some 3 years ago, and challenging today's Council members to recognize that climate leadership can be leveraged to create economic stimulus.
Petition signatories include: #518, Reverend Louis Snead
#433, Alejandro Escovedo
#400, Reverend Ann Pittman
#398, Reverend Stephen Kinney
#284, Terry Allen
#265, Turk Pipkin
#171, Craig Hella Johnson
#125, Sharon Stanberry Rosshirt
#121, Brigid Shea
