Philadelphia Parking Authority launches social media campaign to bolster responsiveness, transparency and customer relations

Following quiet structural changes at the Philadelphia Parking Authority, the oft-criticized state-run agency announced today a transparency-driven social media campaign.

After news this month of staff sensitivity training and staff restructuring around customer service, the PPA will launch outreach efforts through Facebook, Twitter, QR codes and other tools.

Find the PPA on Twitter @PhilaParking and on Facebook here.

Tossing out an estimated 1.7 million tickets a year and forking over $99.6 million to the city and school district, according to a press release, hasn’t always earned the love of residents and visitors alike. The agency is famously the subject of the A&E reality show ‘Parking Wars,’ suggesting a divide between parkers and enforcers.

“While solving problems and addressing customer issues will be a major thrust, we will also use Facebook and Twitter to keep the public informed about parking emergencies during inclement weather – special holiday parking
discounts – parking at the airport during holiday rushes, as well as residential parking issues in our neighborhoods,” PPA Executive Director Vince Fenerty said in a press release. “Facebook and Twitter will help us better educate the public about parking regulations in the city, as well as our signage.”

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John Perzel: former state Speaker of the House pleads guilty to software-driven corruption

Perzel entering Dauphin County courthouse Wednesday afternoon. (Via the Harrisburg Patriot-News)

John Perzel, the embattled, former powerful state Speaker of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, plead guilty to eight of 82 counts of corruption, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette first reported. The plea bargain comes ahead of a planned trial this fall.

The corruption charges largely stemmed from accusations that Perzel masterminded the spending of $10 million in taxpayer dollars to deploy a software system to evaluate voter trends meant to keep GOP lawmakers in power. Others in Perzel’s Northeast Philadelphia district office plead guilty last month. The minimum sentence for Perzel is 18 months and the maximum is 24 years, the Tribune Review reported.

From 2007 to 2010, Perzel, a 30-year veteran, lost his speaker role, was indicted and then lost the 172nd legislative district seat to young Democrat Kevin Boyle, who had never won an election before.

Read more in a comprehensive package by Northeast Philadelphia hyperlocal site NEast Philly covering John Perzel.

[Full Disclosure: This reporter also worked on that NEast Philly report.]

Daily News: “The openness of Open Records just became a concern”

As It’s Our Money from the Daily News shares:

For half a century, Pennsylvania had an embarrassingly bad open-records policy. The 1957 law held that all government records were closed to the public unless a citizen met the legal burden of explaining why they should be available. A 2009 law, championed by Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi, turned this idiocy upside down: It made government records open unless the government could show they were covered by one of a number of exceptions. And it created an Office of Open Records (OOR) for citizens to appeal to when agencies denied their requests. That office has thus far been a staunch advocate for open government, taking a generous view of what records should be made public and helping citizens get them. But a new court decision, reported in the Inquirer on Monday, threatens to shut the door on open records, at least part way. It forces citizens to jump through hoops in order to get the help of the OOR…

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Steve Ballmer, Tom Corbett open Microsoft Technology Center in Malvern (no, not Philly)

Tom Corbett and Steve Ballmer look at computers in Malvern.

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett led the ribbon cutting opening the Microsoft Technology Center in Malvern.

[Ballmer joined Corbett] to officially open the Philadelphia Microsoft Technology Center, a state-of-the-art facility designed to help companies throughout the mid-Atlantic region improve their use of technology to grow their businesses, add jobs, and strengthen their local communities… The 17,500 square foot facility, located in Malvern, Pa., just outside of Philadelphia, is provides access to Microsoft technologies and support staff who will work with companies in the region to envision, architect and demonstrate secure, customized solutions based on Microsoft and partner technologies, anything from cloud computing to business productivity infrastructure optimization.

We love the region, we love Malvern, but can’t we agree that investing in the future is investing in cities, like, Philadelphia and not, uhm, Malvern? As Peter Key from the Philadelphia Business Journal points out, nearby financial services giant Vanguard is happy, with some 22,000 Microsoft workstations. Maybe they’ll take the El there.

Two real, actionable steps toward greater transparency from State Treasurer Rob McCord

Asking for an infinite supply of anything is expensive, says Pennsylvania State Treasurer Rob McCord.

Rob McCord, PA State Treasurer

That might especially be said of transitions toward governmental transparency through technology.

“When I came into office, I was pounding on the table saying ‘Why don’t we have every contract over $5,000 shared online?’ McCord, who took the treasurer’s seat in 2009 told Technically Philly during an interview in Bryn Mawr last month. “Well, it’s because that’s impossible. We don’t have the capacity, and it would cost too much to get there right away.”

Outgoing Philadelphia CTO Allan Frank, too, said “moving the mountain” of updating outdated systems while simultaneously releasing data and moving forward transparency is a bigger project than many realize. Frank’s interim successor Tommy Jones says his priority is focusing on infrastructure because of capacity concerns.

So governments need to find the low cost, actionable start, he says, not the blue-sky ideal that won’t happen.

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Rob McCord, Pennsylvania state treasurer: Philly is one of country’s two best low-cost entrepreneurship spots

Rob McCord, your Pennsylvania state treasurer, wants you to have empathy for him.

Just about the highest ranking Democrat in state politics has an easy laugh and a friendly manner. But, he says, if you’re going to describe him, you ought to start first with his entrepreneurship, and entrepreneurs ought to stick together.

Since 1994, McCord, 51, served as a senior executive at Safeguard Scientifics and founded the Eastern Technology Fund. He co-founded Pennsylvania Early Stage Partners and, from 1996 to 2007, he led the Eastern Technology Council [Official bio here].

He’s a venture capitalist in background, a Harvard kid and a Wharton grad by education and now he’s in his first term safeguarding $120 billion in public funds. In that role, McCord is offering the office up to his base –  whom he describes as “job-creating, technology-orientated entrepreneurs”– for advising, investing and as a potential client.

If nothing else, he thinks the Philadelphia technology community ought to know who he is. If only because he grew up on the Main Line, invested in tech businesses here and, well, because when it comes to statewide representation, Philadelphia could use a friend.

Fortunately, McCord is swearing by the position for now, despite prognostications to the contrary that suggest he is a sure bet to run for governor.

“I love being treasurer. People who watch me will know, it looks a lot more fun to be treasurer than in Congress, which was another option,” McCord told Technically Philly. “I plan to run for reelection [in 2012], and I do not take it for granted. So I’m obsessively focused on the treasurer’s office.”

In between calls on his Blackberry, McCord met with Technically Philly in a crowded Cosi in Bryn Mawr to talk his background, how he could have a big impact if only he had a billion dollars and illiquid assets.

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State launches interactive broadband map

After nearly a year of research and development, the Commonwealth has launched an interactive map to detail broadband access across the state in an effort to support broadand stimulus projects.

Mapping was part of $7.3 million federal broadband stimulus grant to show wireline, cable and wireless networks and to identify anchor institutions like schools, hospitals and government buildings, as we reported in January.

The information will be used to help business owners and residents identify places to locate their operations or families, according to a press release. It will also be used in a national map to be launched in February, which will additionally serve to inform broadband accessibility projects funded by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration.

The maps compliment unreleased prelimary documentation efforts performed by the City of Philadelphia when it applied for several broadband grants last year, a process we detailed in our Digital Philadelphia series.

The City applied for more than $35 million in federal opportunities, as we reported last September.

In July, the City was awarded a $6.4 million grant to fund public computer centers in the city, which will bring 800 new computers to 48 centers at city rec centers, homeless shelters, public housing and community-based organizations.

In coming months, Technically Philly will be investigating the economic impact of broadband accessibility in three distinct Philadelphia neighborhoods, as a winner of a grant provided by J-Lab’s Enterprise Reporting Fund, a William Penn Foundation-funded endeavor.

Pennsylvania has submitted 1,000 stimulus reports to feds

Since October, Pennsylvania has submitted 1,000 stimulus reports to the federal government and has been a leader among state governments in reporting data about its $12 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds, Government Technology reports.

An interview with state Secretary of Administration Naomi Wyatt reveals that software for procurement, financials and budget, provided by SAP since 2002, has helped the state submit reports. The software provider’s BusinessObjects suite also has aided in more substantial and detailed reporting, which delves deep into the state’s 19 agencies and 3,500 vendors, grantees and subgrantees.

Be sure to read the entire interview with Wyatt over at GovTech.

Researcher Paul J. Mathison explains governor’s proposal to tax computer professionals

We couldn’t quite believe it when Paul J. Mathison, founder of research firm pjmathison, told us that the Governor was planning to begin taxing computer service professionals for their work.

We understood the reasoning; the budget shortfall statewide, like here in Philadelphia, has called for drastic measures. But what surprised us most was that we hadn’t heard a thing about it.

Included in the Governor’s fiscal year 2011 budget is a proposal to drop the state sales tax from 6 to 4 percent while broadening the tax base to include other professionals currently exempt. Like computer service professionals.

And while we’ve seen coverage of the issue, after the fact, in Pittsburgh, and according to Mathison, a growing interest from technology stakeholders across the state, little has been done here in Philadelphia.

After the jump, we ask Mathison for the details on the proposed tax hike and what technology groups can do to fight it.

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Pa. Attorney General Tom Corbett subpoenas Twitter to unveil critics

Tom Corbett for election coverage 2008. Christine Baker, The Patriot-News

Pennsylvania Attorney General Tom Corbett, who won Tuesday’s primary to become the Commonwealth’s Republican candidate for governor, has subpoenaed Twitter for a Grand Jury, in which the company will be compelled to “testify and give evidence regarding alleged violations of the laws of Pennsylvania, ” reports Tech Crunch.

The subpoena calls for Twitter to release “any and all subscriber information” of those managing two accounts – @bfbarbie and @CasaBlancaPA – who Tech Crunch reports “have been anonymously criticizing the man on the popular micro-sharing service.

Wired reports that the @CasaBlancaPA user, who writes under the pen name Signor Ferrari, will challenge the subpoena under First Amendment rights. The @bfbarbie seems to have declared the same.

Examples of the critical tweets can be seen here and here.

Corbett’s call comes three months after two Philadelphia City Councilmen intimated their intentions to sue Twitter and Facebook over their alleged role in a chaotic Market East flash mob. Neither Frank DiCicco nor James Kenney followed through on the threat.