Apologies to Dylan, but while pondering recent taxation maneuvers around the globe in renewable energy, the lyrics to his song Catch the Wind were blowing through my head. Investment Tax Credits (ITC) appear to be holding up in most countries, to the benefit of wind and solar power industry players; even as governments map outRead… Read more »
by Sophicity Is technology a part of your city’s long term vision? If not, it should be. While most cities have long term plans for economic development or infrastructure improvement, the prevailing thinking is that IT planning only covers short-term immediate needs that don’t go beyond the next budget cycle. However, such planning is reactionaryRead… Read more »
Cross-posted from the Intellitics blog (includes screenshot gallery): Los Angeles Budget Challenge: When Surveys Won’t Take No For An Answer Via Twitter today, I came across a new online consultation by the City of Los Angeles: Los Angeles Budget Challenge How will you balance the City’s budget? The Mayor of the City of Los AngelesRead… Read more »
by Sophicity Every new budget cycle brings a bevy of projects and ideas before city council for approval. While projects like sidewalk improvement or traffic decongestion are easy to explain in terms of benefits and return on investment, IT projects can be a thorny subject, especially if the council is largely made up of non-technicalRead… Read more »
I think GovLoop could fill a niche right in-between the facebook level of government, and the City website. Let’s take the City of Saint Paul as an example, since I live there: Here is the City of Saint Paul website. Right on the home page, you see that the City of Saint Paul has aRead… Read more »
This is a crosspost of http://dotgov.com Dear Santa, I hope you were able to enforce Web Accessibility on State & Local Government levels. My second wish is as challenging as the first one. Santa Art by Sophie (7 years) Each time I need a government service, I need to wade through numerous of websites toRead… Read more »
by Sophicity Phishing is a form of fraud that masquerades as an official email or website which attempts to steal a victim’s username, password, and other information. Typically, a scammer will send an email that appears to be from a well-known bank, asking the user to log in to their account. When the victim clicksRead… Read more »
It’s raining outside the window and we’re expecting snow, so I know winter is offically on the way. However, just because it’s dreary outside, doesn’t mean our prospects in Kansas City aren’t sunny. It’s been a typical Monday around the office. This involves the excruciatingly long (but necessary) Monday morning staff meeting. Today we talkedRead… Read more »
Today I have lost a dear friend and ally, David Evans. David was the Economic Developer in Plainview and served with me on the High Ground of Texas board of directors. Over the last several years David had become more than a colleague, he was a dear friend. We traveled many of the same roadsRead… Read more »
by Sophicity At the end of April 2009, a computer hacker managed to steal over 8.2 million personal records from the State of Virginia’s Prescription Monitoring Program, containing information such as social security and driver’s license numbers. Along with the stolen data, the hacker reportedly erased all of the State’s database backups, leaving no wayRead… Read more »