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| Civic Engagement |
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Philadelphia is launching a pilot project that allows residents to voice their opinions on zoning and other issues related to the city’s comprehensive plan via their cell phones. Through “Textizen,” citizens can register their opinions on topics such as transportation and quality of life through text messages in response to questions posted in key physical locations and on social media. When a citizen replies, the system sends follow-up questions to better understand the individual’s response. Planning Commission employees will then incorporate those responses into the city’s public planning efforts.
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| Transportation |
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To make street parking more efficient, Santa Monica is adopting a system that resets the time on each parking meter to zero as soon as a car pulls out of its space. A monitor embedded in the pavement can detect when a car is present; when the car pulls out, the meter communicates with the central parking system to reset the meter to zero. In an effort to promote higher turnover of parking spaces, the meters also don’t allow refills by the same driver when the time limit for a space has been reached. The city expects the system to bring in an additional $1.7 million in revenue that will be used to pay for the meters and credit card fees over the next three years.
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| Public Infrastructure |
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To encourage biking as a transit option, cities across the U.S. are using curbs, plants, posts, and parked cars to create protected “green lanes” for bikers that are separated from four-wheeled traffic. Using federal and municipal funds, cities have found ways to finance these lanes to encourage stress-free bicycling and active lifestyles. For example, Austin has improved 20 to 30 miles of bike lanes, with plans to upgrade 50 more miles. Further, Memphis finished 25 miles of on-street bike trails and plans to complete more than 30 miles next year.
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| Courts and Legal Services |
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Dallas County, Texas, is enforcing civic duties by requiring no-show jurors to appear before a judge where they are publicly criticized. They are then given the chance to reschedule their jury duty. If they miss the rescheduled date, they can be fined $1,000 or arrested. The pilot is based on a similar program in El Paso County, which resulted in $300,000 in fines since some citizens prefer to pay the $1,000 fine to avoid jury duty. Overall, though, the El Paso program has yielded fewer juror no-shows.
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| Water Resources |
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In New York State, a partnership between the Buffalo Sewer Authority and Buffalo Niagara Riverkeeper will save water and prevent polluting sewer overflow by channeling rainfall and snowmelts to green yard areas or 60-gallon barrels. Around 150 volunteer homes are participating in the pilot, and they are each expected to save about $34 per year on their water bill. A 60-percent citywide participation rate would result in the diversion of about 59 million gallons of water from the sewer system annually.
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| Public Pensions and the Verdict of the Voters |
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Recent votes in San Diego and San Jose regarding the fate of public pensions are likely to reverberate across the country. And it isn\'t all bad news for the public workforce. What these votes show is that a strong public leader can galvanize a public that in the past has been outmaneuvered by those with a direct stake in the subject.
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| Incorporating Innovation into Local Government |
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Neil Kleiman examines Bloomberg Philanthropies' Innovation Delivery Team initiative — one of the largest foundation-backed efforts ever to test a structural approach to increasing innovation capacity in government.
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| Our Efficiency-Killing Tangle of Laws |
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Governments produce tens of thousands of new laws every year, confusing citizens and driving business away. Until we get government focused on citizen outcomes and begin to clean things up, we will continue to push business elsewhere, driving away the opportunity to revive our economy and create jobs.
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| More Than One Way to Fix a Bridge |
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As the nation struggles to emerge from the Great Recession, we often find ourselves saddled by infrastructure that isn't up to the task of supporting economic growth. Colorado and Massachusetts are moving quickly to repair and rebuild their deteriorating bridges. But there are lessons in the different ways they're paying for the work.
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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