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| Community Policing |
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The Baltimore Police Department has begun to live-stream a daily newscast to online viewers discussing criminal activity, significant arrests, and descriptions of suspects. Believed to be the first program of its kind, BPD-TV is filmed in a dedicated television studio and is anchored by police officers working from scripts. The initiative is designed to provide another avenue for police to interact with the community, helping to foster trust between them.
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| Public Safety |
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Connecticut has held its second Exotic Animal Amnesty Day to encourage non-traditional pet owners to hand over undomesticated pets that have grown into dangerous animals. Inspired by the 2009 Connecticut chimpanzee attack, the Amnesty Day at the Beardsley Zoo, created in partnership with the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, allows owners to anonymously relinquish their pets. Organizers intend to schedule an amnesty day only once every several years so as not to encourage persons to own illegal pets temporarily.
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| Civic Engagement |
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Constituents in four New York City council districts are taking charge of $1 million of each districts’ discretionary budget to improve their community while learning about the realities of public budgeting. The participatory budgeting experiment gives citizens direct authority over the money, and they can choose to spend it on citizen-pitched projects such as increasing green space in one neighborhood and adding bathroom stall doors for a public school in another. The budgeting method, originally developed in Brazil, must involve projects that last at least five years with minimal maintenance and cost at least $35,000.
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| Courts and Legal Services |
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New York State's courts are giving judges more control over the loan modification process by requiring banks to send officials with authority to modify the loans to court conferences. Mortgage settlement conferences are often stymied by lenders that do not provide either enough information regarding what it will take for a borrower to qualify for a loan modification or a representative with discretion to make decisions on a borrower’s loan. Under the plan, judges will take over management of the collection of required documents and shorten the time that the foreclosure cases linger on the dockets. The plan will begin in Queens and then expand to the rest of the city and nearby suburbs.
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| Social Services for Specific Populations |
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La Mesa, California, has received an award from the League of California Cities for its innovative multi-pronged approach to providing flexible transportation options for seniors and disabled residents. Rides4Neighbors recruits, screens, and trains volunteer drivers who use their own vehicles to provide transportation for medical, dental, essential shopping, and personal care appointments. Volunteers receive mileage reimbursement and are covered under secondary liability insurance. The program was launched in 2007 with federal and local transportation grants.
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| Corrections, Probation, and Parole |
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Some inmates at Nevada's Southern Desert Correctional Center don't make license plates, but they do restore the vintage cars that might be attached to them. Workers for Silver State Industries, a subsidiary of the state's Department of Corrections, learn valuable trade skills bringing old cars to life. They also generate revenue for the state, bringing in $130,000 for fiscal year 2010. Some of the monies earned by the prisoners also goes toward victim restitution. The unit works under the mantra “We Have the Time to Do It Right.” In recent years, states have diversified their correctional businesses, and inmates do everything from fixing diesel tractors to making denim clothing.
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| Finding the Money for Infrastructure |
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As local-government revenue has decreased in each of the last several years, many cities and counties have responded by slashing infrastructure investment. A new report points the way to reduce operating budgets and use the savings to make the infrastructure investments that are needed to spur economic development.
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| Sidetracking Competition in Commuter Rail |
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Transit agencies are looking for good deals for operating their commuter-rail systems. When it comes to commuter rail, the market is speaking. Struggling transit agencies want the benefits of fair and open competition that allow them to shift financial risk to commuter-rail operators.
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| Letting Schools Run Themselves |
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Crisis often breeds opportunity. Detroit is about to devolve the management of some of its high schools to the school-building level. It's an approach to school reform that has a good track record.
Newsletter produced by: Jessica Engelman, editor; Brendan St. Amant, researcher and writer.
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About the Ash Center
The Roy and Lila Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation advances excellence in governance and strengthens democratic institutions worldwide. Through its research, education, international programs, and government innovations awards, the Center fosters creative and effective problem solving and serves as a catalyst for addressing many of the most pressing needs of the world's citizens. The Ford Foundation is a founding donor of the Center. Additional information about the Ash Center is available at http://ash.harvard.edu.
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