Mar

9

Online Networks and Government

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What role should social networking tools play with regard to government?  One obvious use is as a tool to organize individuals to lobby elected officials, e.g. Facebook Cause pages.  Another is to organize individuals into communities to take action  — as parks advocates did with the Seattle Parks For All levy.  But there is the opportunity for online networks to deliver something potentially more meaningful  –  real and rich  conversations between government employees and citizens.

With the launch of the my.greatcity.org community website, we have our own little experiment going on regarding citizen interaction with government.  Specifically, the city’s online invitation to Seattle residents to participate in shaping Seattle’s Summer Streets events, which closes streets to automobiles and opens them up to alternative uses.  Not earth-shattering, but definitely an evolution from the typical government website which pushes information out, but does not encourage dialogue.   Another example is the request for volunteers for the first Summer Streets event in Greenwood. I posted some information from a recent Pedestrian Master Plan Advisory Group meeting that I thought might spur discussion.  And our green infrastructure campaign has pulled in observers from city government.

These are, at best, toes dipped into the water of online interaction between government and residents.  We have created a place where government employees and residents can talk, if they choose.  But the promise appears so much greater.  Can government jump into the Web 2.0 pool and use it to deliver better government services?  We have some pretty powerful examples in Wikipedia, Linux, and YouTube creating an encyclopedia, a computer operating system and a massive media catalog by harnessing the power of the crowd.

It turns out that thousands of government employees from around the nation are asking themselves the same question on the social networking site GovLoop.com.  How can government go Web 2.0?

Seems to me that tech-friendly Seattle could lead the way.  The barrier, of course, is not technology.  It is about taking a risk and engaging new ways of communicating.

Mar

9

Seattle Updates Recycling Program

Filed Under Conservation, Environment, Sustainability, Syndicated Blogs | Leave a Comment

photo: Chris Jordan

photo: Chris Jordan

The City of Seattle has announced a revamping of its recycling program starting March 30th. The goal is to make the process simpler and increase the number of individuals who recycle, reducing the amount of garbage to be processed. The new program will allow residents and businesses to reduce, reuse and recycle more than ever before.

The biggest changes are the ability to combine glass, paper, plastic and aluminum all into the same bin rather than separating. Now you can also recycle additional paper, plastic and metal items including plastic cups, deli trays, aluminum foil and plastic plant pots. In the yard-waste bins you will now be able to toss food waste that will be composted rather than thrown away. The yard waste bin will be picked up every week to keep food odors to a minimum.

These changes are possible due to Seattle’s new recycling contract with Rabanco, who will process, sort and market the recyclable materials. The Rabanco Recycling Center is the largest on the West Coast. The combination of the recently added high tech recycling equipment and 40 additional sorters allows more volume and higher quality sorting.

Read the full story at TheGreenNW

Mar

6

Bicycling To Sustainability

Filed Under Bicycling, Syndicated Blogs, Transportation | Leave a Comment

The Danish seem to have it figured out…

They have one of the highest bike ridership in the world and they do it in style. More than 36 percent of all Copenhagen commuters arrive on bikes, as cycling has clearly become a way of life there. The city is currently planning and implementing infrastructure improvements to increase bicycling commuter use to 50 percent by 2015. Currently over 60 percent of Copenhagen’s residents use their bike every day and 85 percent own a bike creating a diverse bike culture.

The Livable Copenhagen study shows how flexible streets-capes have encouraged pedestrian and bicycle use while enhancing urban life. Employing blue painted bike lanes and set back car stop zones are examples of the creative strategies used to improve safety and draw awareness to the presence of the bicycling community. Other innovative ideas include setting the traffic lights to the average speed of bicycle commuters and buses which happens to be the same 20km per hour….commonly revered to as the “green wave“. Cophenhagen has 15km of cycle lanes, 350km of cycle tracks and are building another 115km of green cycle tracks that supplement the existing network. Programs like the City Bike allows users to make a small coin deposit, use the bike for the day and simply return the bike to a City Bike rack and the deposit is returned. With such a friendly environment for cyclists and pedestrians it does not make sense to drive a vehicle in the city unless a unique situation requires it.

In my home town of Seattle the Bicycle Master Plan has been adopted to create the most bike friendly city in the nation. Seattle’s plan calls for 118 miles of bike lanes and 19 miles of dedicated trails, with a goal to triple ridership. Seattle is taking examples from cities like Copenhagen to compete with its neighbor city of Portland that has a booming bike culture and higher ridership.

Read the full story at TheGreenNW

Mar

4

Pike Street La Rambla-ized

Filed Under Streets For People | 2 Comments

Cheesecake, over at CHS wondered what would happen if Pike St. on Capitol Hill were a little more like La Rambla in Barcelona. The result is wonderful:

If you’re interested in making this a reality, join the new Capitol Hill Streets for People group at the Seattle Network.

Mar

4

Seattle’s Bus Chick profiled on StreetFilms.org

Filed Under Uncategorized | 1 Comment

Here is a great posting and video on Seattle’s Bus Chick.  Thanks to a website we love, www.streetfilms.org.

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