By Sam Williford, Associate Consultant Starting last week, and into the forseeable future, every level of government was called upon to work together to prepare for and clean up after Hurricane Sandy, which struck the area this past week. The recent disagreements between New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and Atlantic City Mayor Lorenzo Langford highlightRead… Read more »
Welcome to GovLoop InsightsIssue of the Week with Chris Dorobek where each week, our goal is to find an issue — a person — an idea — then helped define the past 7-days and we work to find an issue that will also will have an impact on the days, weeks and months ahead. And,Read… Read more »
Recently we collaborated with the Smart Cities institute to conduct a worldwide telepresence seminar at the Cisco offices, discussing ‘Gigabit Cities’ – Open Government, Big Data and Innovation. Our partners Sandel and Associates have been working with Kansas City to develop economic development strategies, and one key initiative for the city has been a dealRead… Read more »
The City Council in Buffalo and the Erie County Legislature spend a great deal of time on constituent concerns and proclamations honoring various individuals and community groups. As such very little time if any is spent on setting goals and measuring the performance of government departments. In an effort to encourage big picture thinking, IRead… Read more »
Broken windows, caved-in roofs, and abandoned buildings have a negative effect on the way residents think and feel about their city. These — and other symptoms of blight — are more than just eyesores. Blight becomes everyone’s problem when it leads to increased crime and lower property values throughout neighborhoods. In New Orleans, blight hasRead… Read more »
Former Buffalo Councilmember Brian Davis was recently sentenced to one year in prison for stealing taxpayer dollars that he controlled through discretionary funding that is provided to all Councilmembers. The Buffalo City Charter states one of the responsibilities of the City Comptroller as: “The comptroller shall engage an independent consultant to conduct an audit ofRead… Read more »
The Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority located in Buffalo, NY has developed a bus shelter with a living roof. The shelter roof contains short, hardy succulent plants called sedum in shades of green, yellow, blue-green, brick red and burgundy. In addition to the plants, the roof also contains a solar panel, that illuminates an ad onRead… Read more »
Have you ever seen a civic app and thought to yourself, “I want that app in my city!” I have. Snow covering fire hydrants isn’t an issue in Norfolk, Va. but storm water drains get clogged all the time and that’s a problem. As we debate and consider light rail in Virginia Beach I haveRead… Read more »
I’ve blogged previously on the subject of the future of local government but some posts were very scattered and half-baked, like most of the posts I write however I have written two previous posts which I’d like to associate this one with: Part 1 – Future of Local Government Part 2 – Future of LocalRead… Read more »
This month, our elections team in Monmouthshire Council asked me along to Chepstow Comprehensive to talk to students about how people can get involved in community life using social media. This is a post about what this group of young people told me about how they use social media. A day of democracy in theRead… Read more »