Mayor Michael A. Nutter signed an executive order to establish the Office of Innovation and Technology (IT). This Office, which will replace the Division of Technology, will oversee the City’s technology infrastructure and services. The executive order also established the Technology Advisory Committee, an advisory committee chaired by the Managing Director [Rich Negrin], which will prioritize the implementation of proposed technology investments and service upgrades, identify best practices and provide counsel to IT. Last week, Mayor Nutter appointed Adel Ebeid as the Chief Innovation Officer (CIO).

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This is the Advisory Committee that former city CTO Allan Frank will lead from the private sector.

It’s not the first name change for the agency either. Under the Street administration, Dianah Neff was the Chief Information Officer in charge of the Mayor’s Office of Information Services.

Screenshots of the 311 app on BlackBerry, featuring the welcome and problem screens. Click to enlarge.

By the summer’s end, Philadelphia 311 will take another big step forward, City Managing Director Rich Negrin announced at the Philly Tech Week Signature Event.

“In the next three months, we’ll see the release of our first 311 [web] app” Negrin told 150 attendees at WHYY, many tweeting the news to a projected Twitterfall, in highlighting what’s new for the non-emergency call center.

The web application represents another, more passive front face to 311, supporting call intake volume — due to surpass three million calls received, Negrin added — and the walk-up service at City Hall.

“It’s not just your granddaddy’s app,” said Rosetta Lue, the director of the non-emergency call center. “You can enter requests, track complaints and have a community calendar with what’s happening. You don’t have to wait for our call center to be open.”

Screenshots of the 311 app on BlackBerry, featuring the login and location screens. Click to enlarge.

The pilot version, optimized to run on a BlackBerry Torch and completed by the city’s Division of Technology, is being released June 10 to City of Philadelphia staff working in Philly Rising communities [see sidebar story below], says Jennifer Brennan, the DOT project manager overseeing the build.

Rich Negrin addressing the Philly Tech Week Signature Event.

How Philadelphia Police will pilot the 311 app:

Before the long-awaited 311 app gets into your hands, the tool will be piloted by City of Philadelphia employees working in the PhillyRising neighborhoods, a city program to pool and focus city resources in troubled neighborhoods.

That includes police officers, says Managing Director Rich Negrin, an exciting development.

“I’m not aware of anyone else [in the country] doing it that way, [to use a mobile tool] to really integrate the police when the’yre not making arrests and doing their day job,” Negrin told Technically Philly. “They’re submitting tickets to 311 to do things like clean up graffiti and improve the quality of life in these neighborhoods. You can do things like track what police officers care about their communities.”

Though other city employees will be able to use the app, police will now more readily have information in their patrol cars to track the complaints and history of, say, an abandoned house, Negrin adds.

“I think it’s the answer to the ‘No Snitch’ culture,” Negrin said. “This is a community engagement program that is really a new way to deliver services in neighborhoods with problems.”

Future iterations, likely by summer’s end, will feature an iPhone version, with work from LiquidHub, Negrin said. [Updated: CTO Tommy Jones says that while LiquidHub is a partner on many DOT projects, the 311 app was not one of them.] If all this sounds familiar, it’s because it should. It was April 2010 when the iPhone version was first pledged by then Chief Technology Officer Allan Frank. Then that July, the deadlines were stripped away.

“Now, it’s really ready” said Negrin, who oversees DOT, 311 and other good government initiatives in his role as Mayor Nutter’s number two.

“Social media and mobile platforms and engagement and chat and text messages: those ways are where 311 centers across the country are seeing growth,” Lue said. “Service expectations don’t go down. You need to be able to respond.”

Smart phones are accessed in lower income communities, Lue said, suggesting this is another way to connect with underserved neighborhoods.

It’s an exciting endeavor, though following the release of OpenDataPhilly.org, a clutch of developers have made the resounding cry that government should release data, APIs and the like and let the technology community build and upkeep the tools that use them. Lue has made clear that she’s ready to embrace support from the community to continue to improve 311.

“We’re interested in timely and accurate information and data so departments can make changes with accurate information,” said Lue, the 311 director. “We have very motivation and interest in sharing that data with the public when possible. Any support to make that happen is welcome.”

The City of Philadelphia already publicly shares a considerable amount of data and information, but there has never been a reliable place to find what’s available, request more and learn what’s coming, says Robert Cheetham. That’s about to change.

As part of Philly Tech Week on April 25, Azavea, the GIS application development company Cheetham founded, will unveil OpenDataPhilly.org. The searchable site will aim to be the resource for all relevant, civic-orientated tools, applications, data and information in the region from both governmental and non-government groups. Technically Philly and WHYY are also partnering on the project, which has the support of the City of Philadelphia’s Division of Technology.

“Philadelphia has had many public data sources for more than 10 years, but there hasn’t been a place to bring it all together,” Cheetham says. “This is intended to do that, thereby making it easier for developers and other people to use that data in useful and inspiring ways.”

Dozens of initial data sets, APIs and data centric mobile and web-based applications will be initially included, with more to be added, Cheetham says.

One such example is GIS shape files of city property parcels that are generated and maintained when homes, buildings and land is sold, Cheetham says. These and other shape files have long been made available, through initiatives like the Pennsylvania Spatial Data Access clearinghouse, but never in one place. With property parcel shape files, developers could create tools that work with information from the city Board of Revision of Taxes and online zoning maps from the Planning Commission to track development opportunities, Cheetham says.

“This is a huge opportunity to show how many people are involved in making Philadelphia better with technology,” City of Philadelphia Division of Technology Chief of Staff Jeff Friedman recently told Technically Philly. In outlining his priorities, Friedman’s boss, City CTO Tommy Jones, has expressed concern that limited staff capacity would continue to slow data release projects.

“We are eager to work with others to get things done,” Friedman has said.

Azavea is leading the actual construction of the portal and its design pro bono, though the current OpenDataPhilly branding came from Indy Hall regular Johnny Bilotta and an existing @OpenDataPhilly Twitter account has been maintained by TEDx organizer Roz Duffy.

Technically Philly will help grow use of the data catalog, from hosting events (like this one), covering data usage and lobbying for new data. In addition to being the official headquarters for Philly Tech Week and hosting this unveiling, WHYY will partner in supporting and growing the catalog and its utility. Additionally, last summer, WHYY funded an Azavea survey of existing data in the region, a project aiding the OpenDataPhilly catalog launch.

On Saturday April 30 of Philly Tech Week, BarCamp NewsInnovation at Temple University will feature an Open Gov Hackathon presented by Tropo, relying prominently on the new data catalog. Register here for that FREE event.

Azavea is building the data catalog as a pro bono project, with the blessing — but no funding — from the City of Philadelphia and its Division of Technology. No previously unavailable city data will be included to start, though that may quickly change, Friedman has said. Future ownership and control of the data portal is still uncertain.

Despite heavy outside involvement, the OpenDataPhilly catalog may prove a major initiative of Open Access Philly, one of the three major components of the city’s Digital Philadelphia vision.

Cheetham says, OpenDataPhilly’s goals are to:

• Improve access to data about Philadelphia
• Increase government transparency and accountability
• Drive and encourage innovative uses of the data
• Inform citizens about our region’s trends

OpenDataPhilly is committed to seeing other public sector organizations release their data too, Cheetham says, but releasing data is only half the battle.

“Raw data often doesn’t tell anything until it has been presented in a meaningful way. We want to encourage citizens to transform rows of text, numbers and shapes into apps and visualizations that people find useful and meaningful,” Azavea said in a release.

The catalog will not be limited to city and other government data, but rather a clearinghouse for meaningful, relevant, actionable data and information. Cheetham says the following data categories will available to start:

• Arts and Culture
• Economy
• Education
• Elections and Politics
• Environment
• Food
• Human Services
• Parks and Recreation
• Public Safety
• Real Estate and Land Records
• Religion
• Transportation

“Over the last five years, there has been increasing attention to the availability of open and freely-accessible data sets about our communities,” Cheetham says. “Government is one of the most important sources, but nonprofits, universities and other organizations are increasingly also offering information that can help us to visualize phenomenon in our society and build tools to improve our lives.”

Copyright City of Philadelphia. Photograph by Mitchell Leff.

Since we launched a year-and-a-half ago, we’ve not only watched, but followed as closely as we could City of Philadelphia technology policy.

Even in our short tenure covering all that is involved — like municipal information technology, government transparency, citywide broadband network infrastructure, economic policy and much, much more — we’ve been witness to a city intent on finding new ways of utilizing technology and finding better ways of connecting with citizens.

Throughout, we’ve heard repeatedly from leaders that Mayor Michael Nutter understands the value of technology in city government and he is intent on involving Philadelphia’s technology community.

Though we write about these initiatives weekly, nothing was more of a reminder of the Mayor’s commitment to technology than when Nutter announced a $120 million capital investment in the Division of Technology during the pageantry of his budget address to City Council in March.

And with his support, DOT has been steered in a new direction, a Chief Technology Officer appointed to the mayoral cabinet, pilot programs created to attract technology businesses and broadband stimulus dollars and gigabit broadband chased.

So, we had to get the man on the phone to talk tech. Yesterday, we spoke with Mayor Nutter about government transparency, Philadelphia’s tax structure, and about his call to action to Philadelphia’s technology community. Our Q&A with Philadelphia’s Mayor after the jump.

Copyright City of Philadelphia. Photograph by Mitchell Leff.

All of our 15,000 readers are smart technologists and business leaders in Philadelphia who know intricately the world of technology. They’re here because they love the city. What can these folks—all these great software developers interested and active in open source and community—do to help you? What’s your call to action for Philadelphia’s technology community?

City government at an unprecedented level will be making upwards of $120 million in IT investment over the next few years. Some of that transformation has already started with the upcoming capital budget.

We were making investments, changes and upgrades almost from the time we arrived two-and-a-half years ago. We look at this from a historical perspective. The first real computer was created right here in Philadelphia—the ENIAC. Philadelphia has been a leader in technology and computing systems for a long period of time. We use that as an inspiration, a platform to take ourselves to the next level.

While making the investment, having an actively engaged IT community is very important. We start with premise that we don’t necessary know everything or have all the answers and we want to rely on this community for ideas.

Making the investment is good business. It can make Philadelphia government more productive and we think that Philadelphia technology is important to many of the challenges we will face.

You campaigned three years ago on being the transparent, good government candidate. There’s an increasing conversation about the Web being a tool for creating better government transparency. Where have the two come together during the course of your administration? Have you felt that your administration has achieved that transparency using technology or on the Web?

I believe we have. I’d like to mention to readers, even before I was elected mayor, when I was a member of City Council, I pushed through legislation that all professional service contracts be placed on the city’s website. Before that, there was no central place where all those contracts were. Now there is—all those contracts are now up. We provide a ton of information on the city’s website and various department websites. We want people to know what’s going on in city government. It helps ensure that openess and transparency, which are crucial to well-run government.

You changed the role of Chief Technology Officer to a cabinet level position. What is the biggest change to your administration’s agenda because of that organizational shift? Or more simply, what do you and city CTO Allan Frank talk about?

Having the Chief Technology Officer in the cabinet raises not only the level of importance of the Division of Technology but also allows us to hear about challenges, problems and successes much earlier on in the process. Allan [Frank] works directly with department heads — the managing director, deputy mayor, chief of staff — on a regular basis. They can identify challenges and get answers much quicker, raise these issues and have a dialogue that goes back and forth. We talk about his ideas and proposals and what his needs are, what his challenges are and if we’re not getting coordination. Day-to-day, he’s in charge of his shop and he has a responsibility and authority to run his shop. Making the shift to consolidate IT folks in one division was a big issue and I was actively involved to make that change.

What’s one technology initiative you’d most like to pursue in the remainder of your first term?

There are too many things to focus on and to do, and I’m reluctant to pick one because they are all very important. In this business, you can’t focus on one thing. An overall goal is to significantly upgrade the technology system. Virtually every agency needs some assistance to help them do their job and they all need significant support from DOT. In many instances this will help us deliver services better, quicker or cheaper. It helps us to save money.

One of the things I’m focused on is the public computer center project which has direct impact out in the community; 77 sites that will have enhanced or newly created services which will work with some of our high-risk populations. People need access to the ‘net. We need to make sure as a city government that we’re providing some of those opportunities. While we’re making sure that our own internal infrastructure works well, we want to enhance services that real Philadelphians can utilize and improve their lives as a result of the network we’ve created.

Philadelphia’s tax structure is constantly on the minds of entrepreneurs in our local creative economy. The process to rollback the city’s business privledge tax and wage tax was started, but was halted because of the economy. What are other initiatives that your administration has developed or hopes to develop to aide these small businesses?

In my budget address, I announced two pilot programs. One is market-based sourcing, doing a pilot related to firms engaged with computer systems design and related services. We’re changing some of the tax regulations based on location of the customer rather than the work that was performed. These companies can be anywhere, so we’re trying to level the playing field. Now, [taxes are] only related to work they do in Philadelphia, not for the work that’s done outside. The second is single sales factor apportionment. Related again to the allocation formula for taxes on organizations involved in research and development in physical engineering and life sciences. We base calculations only on Philadelphia sales as opposed to on sales, property and payroll, which puts them on the same page as firms that are located outside of the city. These allow us captailize on some of the other great assets that Philadelphia has that some other locations may not have.

We host meetups with small business owners in Philadelphia who are creating white collar jobs. At one of the events recently, we debated with a few asking whether or not it’s good enough to have a business in the region, or if there’s some cache to being in the city. All that said, in the beginning of your term, you were very boisterous about being pro-region. Is it true that having business in the region is enough, or as Mayor is there a goal to retain talent in the city?

My job as mayor is to increase business in Philadelphia first and foremost. I actively and aggressively promote business retention and retraction. But if for some reason a company can’t make the decision to be in Philadelphia, my second position is that at least they are in the region. A company that is based in Montgomery County is still benefiting the region and a Philadelphian still has a chance at getting that position. My primary focus is on increasing the total number of businesses in the borders of Philadelphia, but I do understand that we might not be able to get every firm.

It was reported there was a fake Mayor Nutter Twitter account. What would it take to make that real?

[Laughing] I did hear about fake account. The city has a Twitter account, but it’s certainly something I’m taking a look at.

Well, we can promise 15,000 followers if you jump on board tomorrow.

I’ll factor that into consideration.

Sure, IT consolidation efforts mandated by mayoral executive order — which have transformed the Division of Technology from an agency once one-fifth the size it is now — have been a priority for Frank, the city’s Chief Technology Officer.

But often, the cry from the city’s industrious technology community has been one caused by a national intrigue in government transparency that tech can facilitate.

Cities like New York — which opened an impressive amount of city datasets for public use, and sponsored a $20,000 contest to attract software developers to create interesting technology applications and web apps — are pressing ahead with new data initiatives.

But Philadelphia lags behind. The city’s first big data win came when SEPTA released raw data around station geolocation and schedules, well after developers took their own stab at collecting data — by scraping HTML pages. Since, we’ve seen little movement from either developers or the city.

When we first covered Frank in May last year, he spoke before a crowd of Refresh Philly attendees and gave them a charge to come up with data they wanted. The effort dwindled, due in part to a lack of movement in the community and too, on actionable steps from the city.

Now, as Frank enters his first fiscal year with a serious $120 million capital investment in city technology, we’re wondering what’s next.

Late last week, we met with the CTO to discuss problems plaguing the department around opening those datasets and followed-up with Frank about how things have been for the last year, his first in public office. After the jump, that conversation.

Our community wants to understand why Philadelphia is so far behind when it comes to the availability of transparent city data for use by third-party developers.

It’s pretty hard to give you access to data if I don’t have a platform to give you data on, if I don’t have the infrastructure. Of the [$120 million in IT capital], one big chunk of it is to completely rebuild Phila.gov, and on the inside, the city’s intranet Citynet. Really, at its core, build a whole new kind of web platform that both sides use. Underneath it, we’re plugging in architecturally how we’re going to provide access transparently to city data.

We have such a large amount of remedial work to do and I feel through large measure, we’re catching up over a 10-year period. We have so much legacy [infrastructure]. It doesn’t do me any good if data is in Access databases. It’s not shareable. I’m not converting every database in the city. It’s not uncommon — I won’t name specific departments — to have 500 or 1,000 Access database datasets. What do you do with that? My point about infrastructure, I really need to create an environment that’s leveragable.

Everybody is like ‘why cant we do it yet?’ Besides that there so many moving parts, now there is an interesting set of questions we are asking ourselves. How do we leverage the broader volunteer web and open-source community to give us the best ideas around Phila.gov and how we make it accessible to our citizens. Now that I have the capital and I’m building the back-end stuff, I can now work with an open-source group to say, ‘what standards? How do we want to do this?’

What’s the timeline for this?

Now that I’m in fiscal year 2011, we have a whole separate group which is rearchitecting the application and data infrastructure for the city. Right now, we’re writing RFPs and doing things we need to do around actually standing up and building components of the architecture. We’re settling on our technology architecture for the web—I plan on using Alfresco for content store. We have Sharepoint we’re leveraging for a .NET framework and we’re connecting the two. We’re building a data engine that can be used both fo the public web and intranet.

Of the city’s 52 agencies, who’s on board? Who has data that is already accessible?

What I want to do is target low-hanging fruit first and say ‘what are the data sets that we can make available now.’ We’re looking at building a generic engine we can use for data access, but that doesn’t mean we cant do a one-off pilot with a specific data set so we can start experimenting.

When will we see the first dataset available to the public?

My goal would be over the next six months. Only reason I say six months is because I’m focused on building an engine and focusing on the intranet side of the data. Over the next month, I’m going to be booting up the [web community] group, to help me define input from the outside. Inside, the internal data group, I think the goals are different.

Congratulations on landing $6.4 million in broadband stimulus funding for public computer centers. A year ago, you were applying for the first round, and ultimately lost. What made this round work?

[After the first round], we went to the state and we got their input. And this time, DOT supported the submission of three proposals again, but it was really just this one that the city was [helping author]. The public computer center piece was something that as I got input from the last round, I got a sense that we would have strength. Second, it really addresses the issue of digital divide.

It’s been a little more than a year since we started covering you. How are you gauging your success and failure?

I think about that constantly. I came into city government bright-eyed, let’s call it naïve. I had never been a part of city government, having been involved in the private sector. I’ve done consulting to government but there’s nothing like being in the middle. You have to say, that in many ways, it’s taking longer to accomplish certain things that I took for granted. When I talk about building those databases, I’m very frustrated with the progress of being able to roll out a core platform. Now I think I’ve got there.

But it’s also a great accomplishment that the mayor now has fully embraced a major technology investment in the city. He fully gets it.

I would have to say I’m dissapointed in not being able to create more magic sooner. My impacts aren’t as readily visibile as I’d like to see, to have to come in and take the little money we had during the budget crisis. Remember, we now are merged. Before, I was less than one-fifth of the total IT in the city, so my ability to get things done has increased. So the ability to get $120 million and to be able to reinvest my savings into IT and create a whole new governing structure, I give myself pretty good grades on that, an “A” or an “A-minus.”

How would you grade your progress on other fronts?

I would have to say that in being able to develop external applications and things like that, I would give myself, if I was allowed to curve it, I give myself a “B.” You just can’t move as quickly as a the city. But, our business services portal is moving and as we get through this calendar year, I expect to be able to do full online licences and permits. We’re building a whole new paradigm for how you do business.

How have your conversations with the mayoral cabinet changed over the last year?

Being at the table has proved the point. There’s a voice at the table that sees the world with technology glasses on. Whether we like it or not, [technology] has a tremendous societal impact.

Every Friday, Technically Philly brings you an interview with a leader or innovator in Philadelphia s technology community. See others here.

Last week, Google thanked the 1,100 applicants who entered its Google Fiber for Communities contest, an initiative to test high-speed, next generation broadband — known as ‘gigabit’ fiber — that is up to 100 times faster than current average household Internet connections. As we’ve written in this column before, Google plans to wire between 50,000 and a half-million households with gigabit, an experiment which could have broad implications for technological innovation and national broadband policy.

The thank-you was but a tease for Philly’s technology community, which, as part of the City’s application to the Google Fiber for Communities contest, created “Gigabit City,” a repository where folks brainstorm specific projects that may be possible with gigabit technology. Like everyone else, they’ll have to wait until Google announces the winners in the fall, but City of Philadelphia Chief Technology Officer Allan Frank isn’t sitting around. He’s turned the city’s application into an opportunity to engage Philadelphia around next-generation broadband policy.

In the process, he’s been able to push the city’s telecommunication heavies  — Comcast and Verizon — to consider Philadelphia’s future.

Read the full story over at Philly Mag’s Philly post.

In a conversation last week, city Chief Technology Officer Allan Frank responded to some of the specifics of the article, which posited alternatives to in-house development of the application and challenged the city to take advantage of free app technologies and to turn to Philadelphia’s talented and civic-focused developers for help.

Frank said that contrary to statements in the article, the application hasn’t cost taxpayers anything — it’s been a labor of love for several employees in the department — and that the city did research low-cost and free, third-party options but found that its solution was the strongest.

So, then, why is it two months late?

What started as a front-end application to serve citizens has been transformed into a cross-departmental project, Frank says, tieing the app’s complaints into 311′s queue system, so that the same moderation process involved with the department’s standard customer service is integrated across the platforms.

“I had the front-end done overnight,” he says. “The reason I don’t have it out today is because of the desire on [311's] end to have it entered into their work management system.”

And as for a release date? Frank was mum on a hard date. “I’ve asked them, I’ve given you enough time, I’m committed to the citizens, now I’m pushing it, I’ve given you a month or two, now let’s make it happen,” he said.

Frank also voiced some opposition to Councilman Bill Green‘s belief that the Division of Technology should spend more time focusing on citizens and less time concerned managing servers.

“I wish i could spend all my time focusing on citizens,” Frank said. “Unfortunately, in a city that has somewhere between 800 and 1000 servers, 52 agencies, 19 data rooms, 300 network locations, I have to manage servers. I have to build a protected stable environment to handle an online world.”

See our Q&A with Frank this Friday for more details and a full-length interview with the CTO, a conversation that covers the city’s plans to release data to thid-party developers, consolidation of city information technology, and how Frank grades his tenure in office with 10 months remaining until the mayoral primary.

Federal broadband stimulus dollars will bring 800 new public computers to Philadelphia, the same number currently available throughout the Free Library‘s 54 regional branches.

On Friday the Division of Technology announced that it will receive $6.4 million in federal dollars to fund public computer centers, new and old, throughout the city, according to a press release.

Twenty-five existing computer centers will be improved and 48 centers created at anchor institutions that include city recreation centers, homeless shelters, public housing and community-based organizations. Hours of access at the existing public centers will also be increased, providing for 14,000 more people per week.

The project—led by DOT—includes partnerships with the Department of Parks and Recreation and the Free Library of Philadelphia. Philadelphia FIGHT, the People’s Emergency Center, Philadlephia OIC and Media Mobilizing Project will also be involved.

The grant comes as part of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration‘s federal broadband stimulus funds—more than $4 billion for broadband-related projects—set aside by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

If ever there was an example of the impact 800 new computers will bring to the region, it’s that which was evidenced in our September piece about last year’s state budget crunch, which threatened the availability of the Free Library’s public access computers.

The library system—which now serves patrons on 800 existing computer terminals—accounts for 1.3 million annual computer reservations.

It’s in our libraries and at public computer centers that folks without computer and web access have the opportunity to take advantage of what many with access may take for granted. It’s estimated that about 50 percent of the region’s households are without broadband Internet access.

Last August, the City of Philadelphia applied for $35 million of the broadband stimulus pot through several grant applications, as we reported.

But contrary to the Governor’s office highest recommendation—a $2.3 million bid from the Philadelphia Housing Authority—it was the city’s application to improve public computer centers which appears to have most impressed the feds, though its originally proposed $14 million budget was more than halved.

Preparation for the city’s application began in May 2009, when Chief Technology Officer Allan Frank began assembling stakeholders throughout the city to discuss Philadelphia’s digital future, as we reported in our comprehensive coverage of the process.

As part of what Frank has called his “Digital Philadelphia” vision, those stakeholders began completing several federal broadband stimulus grant applications, including one to help improve network infrastructure throughout the city and several for computer implementation and education, like the one awarded Friday. Partners like the Free Library, Media Mobilizing Project and others were closely involved in drafting the application.

After it seemed unlikely that the city would receive funding for its middle mile network infrastructure improvements—the possibility of federal funding seemed more plausable for its computer centers—the Division of Technology applied for the opportunity to become a test candidate for Google’s ultra-high speed fiber broadband in May, as we reported.

Google’s candidates are expected to be announced this fall.

City Technology Chief Allan Frank is painting a bold picture for the application, which he tells the Inqy will let users “log requests for city services and track them from their phones.”

“Anything you can do with 311 when you call, you’ll be able to do on your iPhone, and then some. OK, you can take a picture of, say, the illegal dump with the iPhone, and you can geo-locate it for us with the iPhone. All that fancy stuff,” Frank said.

Frank says future edition will become more sophisticated, trumping other cities that have already released similar apps.

The legislation would require the CIO to report directly to the Mayor and to create an annual IT strategic plan that includes productivity enhancements to help the city utilize paperless services. It also gives the CIO more oversight over city department technology appropriations.

“When they wrote the Charter in 1952, no one imagined there could be a paperless system,” Green told Technically Philly during a telephone interview this morning. “[The legislation would] make investment in and continual upgrade of our technology a permanent part of city government.”

Last July, Mayor Nutter issued an executive order to reorganize the city’s Division of Technology, placing then CIO Allan Frank in charge of the city’s entire IT system, including 520 employees. The new role, Chief Technology Officer, placed Frank on the mayoral cabinent.

Though Green backs the work Frank has been doing as CTO, he says he’d like to see some changes. Department heads aren’t easily giving up the IT portion of their budgets, he says, a problem his legislation could solve. Green says that it is paramount that the city starts addressing tech issues like these immediately. “It’s been two years into the administration and we haven’t made any serious technology implementations,” he says.

If the bill�backed by Councilmembers Blondell Reynolds Brown, Curtis Jones, Jr., Jack Kelly, W. Wilson Goode, Jr. and Maria Qui�ones-S�nchez�passes Council and the ballot referundum is approved by voters on May 18, the legisilation would immediately go into effect.

Green expects that Nutter would appoint Frank to the CIO position should the legislation pass.