Posts By Pam Broviak

Stimulus Money won’t Stimulate?

I am disappointed to have to write this blog post but wanted to make sure others were aware of what is happening due to the language of the Recovery Bill with respect to road construction. So far, from what I have been told by DOT employees, the only roads that will be eligible to receiveRead… Read more »

Economic Stimulus Package Updates

If your community is like ours, you have received very little information about the much publicized economic stimulus package currently under consideration by our legislators and President-elect Obama. For a small town, this is frustrating because if this does happen, the opportunity will be a once-in-a-lifetime deal. So we sit on the edge of ourRead… Read more »

The Municipal Bond Market – A Fascinating Read – Really!

The other day someone I follow on Twitter, @ConstructionPM, posted a link to an article written about the state of the current Municipal Bond Market. Normally, I suppose this would make for a dry read. But this article resonated with me. Bonding is important to me as an engineer, because I can’t build anything ifRead… Read more »

Who’s Leading the Charge to Web 2.0?

Today I read a recently released white paper, Government 2.0: Building Communities with Web 2.0 and Social Networking. Overall, I thought the paper did a good job summarizing much of the ongoing, online discussions and research on this topic. However, I sensed an underlying attitude that concerned me as a government employee. This unspoken, read-between-the-linesRead… Read more »

Low-hanging Fruit for Your Stimulus Basket

Ever since our city first became aware of the possibility of a federal stimulus package focusing on public works, we have been busy as bees finding “shovel-ready” projects to submit for funding. Because I realize efforts like ours are now going on all over the U.S., I thought it might be helpful to post someRead… Read more »

The Personal Rapid Transit Revolution

As the world searches for an answer to reducing the use of fossil fuels, cities are starting to look to the personal rapid transit (PRT) system as a potential solution. Lately, MISTER, a Polish-based company, has gained increasing notice for their innovative PRT system. MISTER is an acronym for Metropolitan Individual System of Transportation onRead… Read more »

JISC Releases Serious Virtual Worlds

Virtual worlds are still fairly new to most, and many still view them as games. But there is a growing realization that virtual worlds can offer real value to businesses, government agencies, and educational institutions. A report recently released by JISC presents a comprehensive study of how virtual worlds are being used to enhance learningRead… Read more »