by Susan Ives, Alamo PC

 For the past couple of years, I've been a member of the Mayor's Task Force on Technology Implementation. Our mission has been to define the "smart city" and point San Antonio in the direction it needs to take to become one. Our final report is now available on the Internet. I hope you'll take the time to read it, at www.salsa.net/metronet. 

 A good example of the smart use of technology at the County level is the Bexar County Appraisal District, online at www.bcad.org. Students in my classes go goggley-eyed over this site. All of the property information that used to require a trip downtown is now a mouse-click away. If you want to check on the appraised value of every house on your street, you can do it in about five minutes while lounging in your bathrobe. We need more of this stuff. 

But a smart city is more than the Internet. It's using technology to make things easier, fairer, more convenient, cheaper and better for all the citizens of San Antonio. It includes the kiosks the city has set up in shopping malls and grocery stores across San Antonio, where you can pay your property taxes or get a yard sale permit (we've done both!) It's the bar code on your library card and the computer terminals that the police and firefighters have in their vehicles. It's telemedicine, telejustice, telephone, television and tele- just about everything. 

Believe it or not, just by being a member of Alamo PC you have more technical savvy than most people in the city. Your advice is needed, and wanted. From your point of view, what should the city be doing with technology to make your life better? They really want to know. The city also wants to know about your concerns - about privacy, about your less-skilled friends, neighbors and relatives being cut off if dealing with the city requires a mouse and keyboard, about handicapped access and about dealing with machines rather than people. They want to do it right. 

 Read through the report and visit some of the websites cited. Some of them point to other cities or organizations that think about these things all the time. Visit the city website, too, at www.ci.sat.tx.us, to see what's already available. I'm going to crib freely from the task force report and give you some pointers to a few sites that might inspire you. 

 The States Inventory Project helps states develop their advanced telecommunications infrastructure by providing a clearinghouse for tracking state National Information Infrastructure (NII) activities. The States Inventory Project has created an on-line, interactive resource where contributors can post state information. There is a section on this web site called On-Line Delivery of Services, which is covers telemedicine, telejustice, libraries, kiosks, and other services. 

The Minnesota Internet Center assists Minnesota communities in realizing the community development potential of information and telecommunications technologies. It provides links to other sites including Minnesota localities regarding their technology projects. 

 The Davis Community Network provides a list and description of technology projects. However, most the projects listed deal more with information than with the actual provision of services. 

"abagOnline", by the Association of Bay Area Governments in the San Francisco Bay Area, is perhaps the best regional guide to local government services in a large metropolitan region. It provides a wide variety of information about the region, and ABAG also hosts websites for a number of its local governments. 

 In other countries, one of the most advanced cities in the use of technology for service delivery is Brisbane, Australia. That city has created a corporate subsidiary, Brisbane City Enterprises, to sell a menu of the city's technology and management services to other governments. For example, its "intelligent transport system" tracks buses with electronic sensors in the pavement, compares that information with the schedule, opens up green lights ahead to speed any that are delayed, and even flashes projected arrival times to waiting passengers. It also offers a system of mobile laptops and hand-held computers to report, track and coordinate work orders for city departments, and a digital mapping system which is easily accessed by citizens and businesses. 

 Compared to such relatively passive provision of information, few cities provide very much in the way of actual access to records and services (e.g., to place a "hold" on a library book in circulation, as opposed to merely viewing a map of branch locations and information about their hours and programs.) One of the best that we have found in this respect is the site maintained by the City of Indianapolis/Marion County, Indiana, which won a 1997 Global Information Infrastructure award in the government category for its strength in this dimension. 

 Don't be afraid to be fanciful. Technology is changing so rapidly that what might seem like science fiction today will be in everyone's living room tomorrow. Think, "wouldn't it be neat if..?" and let your imagination run wild. 

Put your thinking cap on, and tell us what you want. City Council meetings on Real Video? Online polls about hot topics? Access to data? If you have an idea, you can participate in one of the online discussion boards on the Smart City website. Or, send me an e-mail at suives@texas.net, and I'll pass your ideas and concerns up the food chain. Every once in a while we'll provide reports to you to let you know how things are progressing. A smart city is more than technology. It's smart people. And that's you. 

Susan Ives is the former president of Alamo PC.