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| Participation |
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A timely Web game allows taxpayers to try their hand at managing the federal budget. Budget Hero 2.0, a free game developed by American Public Media and the nonpartisan Woodrow Wilson Center, lets users decide the right balance of government spending, taxes, and debt policy to meet their preselected policy objectives while ensuring that the economy does not falter in the process. The game is designed to provide insights into the difficult choices that government officials must make. The first players to give it a spin were Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama—the top Republican on the Senate Budget Committee—and Democratic Sen. Mark Udall of Colorado.
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| Environmental Education |
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Through the First Time Camper Program, Pennsylvania is encouraging those who have never camped to enjoy the great outdoors. Potential campers hesitant to invest in camping gear can visit certain select parks, have their campsite fee waived, and rent $7,000 worth of equipment for only $20. The program allows the state to reach those persons who might otherwise forgo the experience, instilling in them a greater appreciation of nature and the state's stewardship of its natural resources. The program is inspired by similar programs in other states.
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| Traffic Control |
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New York City has unveiled a new traffic management system that incorporates an array of real-time information inputs to provide city engineers with the ability to alleviate midtown Manhattan traffic congestion. Dubbed "Midtown in Motion," the system will use 100 motion sensors that track traffic, 32 traffic video cameras, and almost two dozen E-Z pass readers that anonymously monitor the movement of cars. With this information, engineers can change traffic signals or take other measures to improve road conditions. The $1.6 million pilot program will be assessed next year.
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| Education |
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"Innovation schools" are proliferating in Massachusetts under the state's 2010 education reform act and are offering parents another education option for their children. These schools resemble charter schools as they are empowered with more flexibility and autonomy in scheduling, curriculum, and budgeting. Yet, unlike charter schools, which require state approval, innovation schools need only local approval from the district superintendent, the teachers union, and the school committee.
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| Public Safety |
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To increase pedestrian safety in La Crosse, Wisconsin, the city has placed bins with red flags at the corners of select intersections. When a walker is at the curb, they can pick up the red flag and hold it aloft, signaling to oncoming cars that the walker wants to cross the street. As bins are on both sides of the intersections, walkers may then deposit the flag in the bin at the other side. The project is funded by a $500 federal grant, and the Bike and Pedestrian Safety Coordinator hopes to expand the program to other intersections in the area.
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| Natural Resources |
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Michigan has enacted legislation that will allow volunteers to help the state's Department of Natural Resources with more activities, such as improving wildlife habitats and maintaining trails. Volunteers may now work on projects outside the state park system, use department equipment and machinery, and be protected from lawsuits. Officials hope that the volunteers can help with tasks that may have been neglected due to budget and staff constraints.
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| Policing and Crime Prevention |
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In Cape Coral, Florida, the police department is employing a sophisticated shoe-print database that helps investigators quickly identify what type of shoe a suspect was wearing. While shoeprints are often important in identifying a perpetrator, the traditional process of manually casting a shoeprint and searching the Internet and catalogs for the matching type of shoe can be time-consuming when expedience is of the essence. By contrast, the software houses over 24,000 shoe types and allows information like side-shots of the shoes, their manufacturer, and their color schemes to be immediately forwarded to detectives. If investigators have a suspect's shoe, they can also compare a digital image of its sole with a shoeprint from other crime scenes and look for a match. Cape Coral police have already used the technology to arrest one offender.
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| Traffic Control |
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In Las Vegas, public employees now have the option of borrowing electric bicycles to get around town. The E-bike program, funded by a federal grant from the Federal Highway Administration, will allow workers to avoid having to use their car and negotiate traffic to conduct city business that is only a short distance away. The fleet of 25 E-bikes are stored and recharged in lockers at various locations around downtown Las Vegas. Fewer cars on the road will also generally ease traffic congestion and improve air quality, and officials expect to save $100,000 on fuel and automotive costs.
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| Supercharging Structural Innovation |
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Can dedicated teams deliver new solutions? A new grant program will test the concept in five cities. Each city receiving a grant will have its own set of priorities and its own approach, but each will drive change through the innovation-team model.
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| Growing Network: Fresh Food Financing Initiative |
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In many ways the Fresh Food Financing Initiative is a network, growing around a common purpose, bringing together people whose work would otherwise not intersect. The Pennsylvania program is an exemplar of how diverse groups can collaborate to tackle the often disparate challenges of health, job creation, regional food systems, and community transformation.
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| Needed: Better Benchmarks for Convention Investments |
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Realistic convention-center performance measures would help public officials see the market more clearly as they make decisions about expansion proposals. But it's even more important that the ones that go forward do so with objective performance goals.
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| A Path to Hometown Environmental Sustainability |
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Environmental sustainability may be "the issue of our age," but most local governments are just beginning to address it. Some local governments are moving boldly ahead with sustainability initiatives that link to broader community goals.
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| The Pension-Reform Imperative |
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For decades, the temptation to borrow from the future proved irresistible. The bill has come due. Overhauling public-sector retirement funds to make them sustainable may be a political nightmare, but failing to act now would be catastrophic.
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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