Open Government Philadelphia: an initiative and policy paper from Councilman Bill Green

Councilman Bill Green publicly unveils his Open Government Initiative, during the Philly Tech Week One Great Idea event from the Philadelphia Media Network on Wednesday, April 27. He is flanked by RoseAnn Rosenthal and Greg Osberg. Photo by Yusuf Muhammad/Phrequency.com

After a failed bid for a paperless government initiative last year, Councilman Bill Green has redoubled the proposal into a broader 10-point Open Government policy paper, largely calling on technology and the community here.

Green’s announcement of the proposal came during the Philly Tech Week One Great Idea event from the Philadelphia Media Network, though he has continued hitting the talking point recently, a week before the City Council Democratic primary.

“We could become the first paperless and most open city government in the country,” Green said at the event. “We have the opportunity to leapfrog everyone else in five years if we start now.”

In the 17-page document, Green makes 10 recommendations, most of which he proposes to move forward himself with related legislation, though the local technology community is heavily sourced and credited. Download the full paper here [PDF].

Green says between $150-$200 million can be saved in the paperless government move alone, something Sacramento was most recently trumpeting.

Below, find his 10 recommendations and what they could mean for the future of Philadelphia governance, in addition to a related presentation his office shared.

Read more

Lessons on making a paperless City Council work: Sacramento

Government Technology magazine on lessons learned from Sacramento’s push for a paperless City Council, an initiative that Councilman Bill Green has tried here:

Sacramento, Calif., has joined the growing number of cities whose council agenda materials are completely electronic. How did the city do it? Officials shared a litany of useful tips on how to make the conversion, during a seminar Monday, April 4.

Philadelphia CTO Allan Frank to focus on city wifi, paperless government [Video]

City CTO Allan Frank addresses a GovLoop meetup group Nov. 2, 2010.

Updating citywide IT infrastructure has had to be a major focus for his first year, but City of Philadelphia Chief Technology Officer Allan Frank again outlined an ambitious five-year plan to “bring city government into the 21st century.”

Since coming on, Frank said he first worked on consolidating citywide IT services, which he finalized in July 2009. The CTO then focused on building out “one hell of a network” for the city’s IT operating environment. Only now, he said, can he move to focus more on “enabling high performance government.”

“Number three is what I actually thought I came in to do… but I had to get one and two done first,” Frank told two dozen people attending the meetup put on by GovLoop, a Washington D.C.-based social network for government employees that is finishing up a 12-city tour.

After the jump, see the video of Frank’s entire speech.

Read more

Guest Post: A Councilman on paperless government savings

This is a guest post by Bill Green, City of Philadelphia Councilman-at-Large, as part of our Guest Contributor Week. Want to have an op-ed or feature you’ve written to appear on TP, now or in the future? Drop us a line.

Like many cities, Philadelphia has faced staggering fiscal challenges in recent years. As fixed expenses continue to increase while tax revenues stagnate, the City has been forced to find ways to close record budget deficits without further burdening taxpayers or slashing core public services. Balancing the City budget, however, is not simply a choice between cutting services or increasing taxes. Improved management of scarce resources and a focus on improving productivity through technology must also be essential parts of our budget-balancing strategy going forward.

For example, a serious commitment to “paperless government” could save the City hundreds of millions of dollars per year, freeing up additional resources to support key, citizen-level services.

At the most simple level, “paperless government” involves minimizing the use of paper in City government. Because every dollar spent on paper can be linked to $13-31 in secondary costs (storage, printing, postage, etc.), the savings from reducing paper use are amplified many times over.

More broadly, “paperless government” lets City employees shift their focus from pushing paperwork to more substantive work serving citizens, resulting in better use of City resources, fewer mistakes, and faster services. This effort is underway in some departments: the Pension Board has halved its application processing time, increased counseling session efficiency, and significantly reduced its staffing needs by using imaging technology. Replicating this type of initiative across City government will enable us to reduce costs, increase efficiency, and improve service quality.

I envision a “Paperless Government” that:

Read more

Code for America chooses Philly for web development team

It seems as though the City of Philadelphia will get a helping hand in its quest to move forward with the growing list of possibility in Web transparency and government openness.

As expected, Philadelphia was chosen as one of five cities to receive the work of a team of Web developers and technologists as part of the inaugural Code for America class.

Starting in January 2011, the organization, which founder Jen Pahlka called something of a Teach for America for online government application development, will give each city a top tech team of developers, designers, and product managers for an entire year to build out their dream application that drives transparency and participation within the city and its government.

Mashable reports that Philadelphia’s project will be an ‘Open311-type project.’ No word yet on how that relates to the 311 application that City technology honcho Allan Frank had pledged could be completed this month.

Winning is not entirely free, as WHYY reported in a follow up on our interview with Pahlka. The city would put out $225,000 for expenses, though CFA organizers say the talent they receive will exceed $1 million.

The other winning cities are Boston, Washington D.C., Seattle and Boulder, Colo.

Code for America founder Jennifer Pahlka on bringing open government help to Philadelphia

If you talk to someone involved in government budget negotiations — from small towns to the federal government and everywhere in between — you might find a lot of eternal, undying truths.

One that comes to mind is what gets funded in the lean times: fundamental core services and the projects near and dear to the hearts of those most powerful and connected. It’s some variation of the old ‘bread and circuses.’

It’s why funding for government IT projects — particularly at the financially-tighter municipal level — are so hard to come by. They aren’t core services — their impact is often harder to grasp — and many in power haven’t much come to know the trans-formative potential for a more efficient, transparent and responsive government that can come from technology implementation. There are those who might more cynically say that those in power wouldn’t want any sweeping changes in government efficiency, transparency and responsiveness anyway.

Whatever the cause, it leaves us with a quandary.

Read more

Division of Technology’s $120 million budget laid out to City Council

In an informal partnership with Philadelphia magazine‘s new Philly Post daily news blog, Technically Philly will be offering our insight on Philadelphia technology to a broader audience of tech-interested individuals every Tuesday. As is true of so much of our effort, this is yet another opportunity to voice the triumphs and concerns of the community to a broader audience in the city and beyond.

Last Tuesday, city chief technology officer Allan Frank laid out the Division of Technology’s unprecedented six-year, $120 million budget in a hearing before City Council.

The sizable investment is a commitment to an executive order announced last July when Frank’s staff was more than tripled to 520 employees and plans were put in place to consolidate resources, improve technology infrastructure and streamline city services.

It is, in our opinion, absolutely necessary. As Frank told Council, according to the Daily News: “The world changed, but the city never changed.”

Read more at Philly Mag’s Philly Post.

Nutter proposes “unprecedented” $120 million IT budget, moves toward paperless

Mayor Nutter has announced plans to significantly invest in city information technology and pursue paperless government efficiencies in an attempt to improve tech infrastructure, cut costs and streamline city services.

“We may not be completely paperless, but we will use less paper,” Nutter said in his budget address to City Council this morning before a packed crowed that filled the historic Council chamber’s floor and balcony seating.

If City Council approves the budget, Nutter says that an “unprecedented” investment in city technology will provide $120 million to improve IT over the next five years, including $25 million in FY11.

Read more

Friday Q&A: Councilman Bill Green talks technology and Philly Charter

Early this week, Councilman Bill Green and five members of City Council introduced legislation that would change Philadelphia’s Charter to include a permanent Chief Information Officer.

As we reported, the bill would continue consolidation of the city’s Information Technology resources and it would require that the CIO develop annually a 5-year technology strategy, among other changes.

We spoke with Green on Monday to put into perspective the reason for the legislation and whether or not the bill represents concern for current Chief Technology Officer Allan Frank’s leadership. Green’s answers, after the jump.

Read more