California is well represented in the 2015 Digital Cities Survey, an annual selection of the most strategic, efficient and innovative guardians of public-sector tech in the nation. Judged by the Center for Digital Government, operated by Techwire parent company e.Republic Inc., the top-ranked cities will receive an award on Nov. 5 at the annual National League of Cities conference in recognition of their achievements.
The first-place winners in four population categories are Philadelphia; Alexandria, Va.; Avondale, Ariz.; and Shawnee, Kan. Judges evaluated the survey submissions of each city by considering four elements: citizen engagement, policy, operations, and technology and data.
Here’s a breakdown and analysis of each California winner in the 2015 Digital Cities Survey. For a full list, go to Government Technology’s Digital Communities.
250,000 or more population category
2nd place // City of Los Angeles
Second-ranked in the 250,000 or more category, Los Angeles is developing a new model for funding innovative ideas, leveraging private-sector platforms to improve services, streamlining internal processes and closing the broadband gap. The city established a $1 million innovation fund late last year to seed pilot projects generated by city employees’ suggestions. More than a dozen projects have been launched so far. Through open APIs, the city trades traffic information with Google’s Waze traffic app. The app consumes city traffic data to warn drivers about closed roads, hazards and dangerous intersections, while the city transportation department uses information submitted by Waze users to identify potholes, illegal road construction and traffic patterns. MyPayLA, launched by the LA Controller’s Office and the city Information Technology Agency, is a mobile app that lets city employees view their payroll information on a mobile device. And the CityLinkLA broadband initiative is designed to attract broadband providers to the city with expedited permitting and access to existing assets like streetlights, real estate and fiber.
6th place // City of Riverside
In July 2014, sixth-place finisher Riverside launched its Engage Riverside transparency site, which moves past merely presenting raw city data sets. The portal also serves up city information via infographics, dashboards, interactive visualizations, maps and video. The site has logged more than 540,000 page views since its debut. And there are many paths for Riverside’s mobile citizenry to engage with the city. Mobile devices account for 45 percent of traffic to the main city website, and more than 88,000 followers stay up-to-date with their city via 40 social media groups, channels and feeds. Email notifications provide another vital city-citizen link, with 13.85 million email notifications sent to more than 150,000 subscribers in 2014. Riverside IT projects are now tracked in SharePoint via a project management system called The Hive, a collaborative environment that allows stakeholders to store documents, get detailed status updates and keep apprised of outstanding tasks on a project. The city also added a chief information security officer to its ranks in 2015, and to date has trained more than 1,300 employees on cybersecurity awareness. Other security pursuits underway include endpoint hardening, deployment of a Web app firewall and use of a security information and event management system.
8th place // City of Sacramento
Sacramento’s Digital Strategy continues to provide an excellent foundation for moving the city forward. The framework for delivering tech services is a prioritized multiyear action plan based on more than 150 hours of interviews with numerous stakeholders. The city took fifth place in this year’s Best of the Web awards for its portal, which was re-engineered over three phases and completed in the first quarter of 2015. A new CMS has reduced by 90 percent the time it takes for Web content to be updated. In another initiative to connect with the community, the police department partnered with Nextdoor to help combat crime and post safety alerts. Sacramento’s open data program is seen as a model for other jurisdictions. Its Open Data Portal is a collaborative effort across city departments that ranked seventh in 2014 by the U.S. Open City Data Census. Additional digital initiatives include: upgrading cellular data connectivity for ambulances from 3G to 4G to enable faster connectivity for mobile devices; installation of automated water meters as part of a statewide effort to protect the water supply; and transitioning the police department’s interview rooms to an in-car camera digital management system, enabling faster and more secure networked video delivery.
9th place // City of Long Beach
California’s seventh-largest city is focusing on innovation and technology to empower citizens with new tools and meet modern challenges. One aspect of this is working with the local startup community through city and community events while also participating with Code for America and recently being awarded a Bloomberg Philanthropies Innovation Team grant to focus on business incubation. Long Beach recently went live with a new, responsive portal, which consolidated 4,000 pages of information down to 2,500. As part of its move toward openness, the city has launched an open data site and is working on finalizing an open data policy. Along this line of thinking, the position of virtual data officer will be created to crowdsource data sets that are most useful to the community.
125,000 – 249,999 population
2nd place // City of Rancho Cucamonga
The Southern California city of Rancho Cucamonga knows what matters to its citizens — their pets. The city uses its @LostRCPets Twitter account to give real-time updates about lost (and found) pets, and a dedicated Facebook page to encourage the care and adoption of animals. Civic engagement is a high priority, as proven by the city’s Tax Measure Information, which serves as a communication hub for information about how parks, trails and street lights are funded. And the Rate Calculator is a unique transparency tool for measures on the ballot in November. The Rancho Cucamonga Fire Department has enlisted data analytics as a main component of its Community Risk Reduction Initiative, under which a risk analysis tool drives decision-making about the deployment of services and program implementation. And in 2012, the city began work on a business plan to provide GIS services to public agencies through a shared services model and the Rancho Cucamonga Enterprise GIS (REGIS) Connect was created. The REGIS staff helps its first client, the town of Yountville, by providing technical support and training that its employees can use to build capacity of their own. Judges also took note of the City Manager's Executive Dashboard, which gives a snapshot of Rancho Cucamonga's key operations: police, fire, public works and automatic vehicle location, as well as quick access to disaster incident management and permit and land development information.
6th place // City of Roseville
Roseville is taking steps to improve quality of life for its citizens and staff through the implementation of new and useful technologies. A new open data portal is improving transparency and boosting civic engagement with the release of pertinent data sets. The adoption of Microsoft Office 365 will allow for better connectivity between employees and greater efficiency through the suite of tools. The city is also working to replace its legacy computer aided dispatch (CAD) and records management systems within the police and fire departments. The new systems allow the city’s first responders to function independently of the larger Placer County CAD system, while still maintaining the spirit of cooperation with its neighboring agencies. Roseville's 10-year Strategic Technology Rehabilitation plan, in its third year, brought a new focus to the replacement of the citywide phone network. And the replacement of the city’s content management system is upcoming under its e-Government Strategic Plan.
75,000 – 124,999 population
9th place // City of Lake Forest
The city of 80,000 people is using tech to create a 24/7 City Hall and its redesigned website, built with responsive design, is helping make that a reality with its functional and easy-to-use layout. A public Wi-Fi initiative brings Internet access to three city facilities including the Lake Forest Sports Park and Recreation Center, which was built with technology in mind. The center’s technology projects include a network data center that connects via VPN to City Hall and a CCTV system that can be monitored onsite and remotely. The city’s economic development business tools, like lakeforestbusiness.com, provide informative and functional resources for current and prospective business owners.
10th place // City of San Leandro
Located in the Bay Area, San Leandro is working to be competitive with nearby tech hubs like San Francisco and Silicon Valley. A public-private partnership, called Lit San Leandro, harnesses an 11-mile fiber-optic ring to provide businesses with gigabit-speed Internet access and helps the city recruit tech firms. And free public Wi-Fi is available in the city’s downtown core area. The civic engagement tool Virtual City Hall allows the city to directly ask residents questions and discuss important topics like priorities for the budget. In addition, the Nextdoor platform is used for direct communication with residents in the more than 28 neighborhoods that are currently participating on the site. Cloud-based systems are streamlining work both internally and externally. A new online permitting platform went live in February and features integrated PayPal Payflow payment options. In addition, an IT service management platform has helped modernize internal processes and features a service catalog with automated processes for actions like new hire functions and GIS requests. San Leandro also is working on numerous public safety initiatives including body-worn cameras, replacing squad car laptops with tablets and integrating with the statewide Smart Justice system.
Up to 75,000 population
3rd place // City of Santa Cruz
Santa Cruz’s IT plans are now aligned with city priorities, a fairly new development after some recent restructuring resulting in IT’s status as a stand-alone department being restored. Under CIO Laura Schmidt, the first IT annual report was issued in May 2014, in conjunction with an IT funding model and an Information Technology Advisory Team that meets bimonthly to help prioritize upcoming projects. A mobile parking app for visitors and residents of this California beach town simplifies payment, incorporates alerts when time is about to run out and allows patrons to feed meters remotely. Transparency efforts include a crime app that enables citizen reporting, maps crime in the city and links to supporting data, social media accounts and the SCPD’s most wanted, while the Open Counter online tool streamlines business registration with a guided process that pulls relevant planning and finance data along the way. To further its broadband ambitions, Santa Cruz is also looking at the feasibility of a gigabit fiber network through a public-private partnership.
4th place // City of Palo Alto
Aspiring hosts of city apps challenges that need some guidance need look no further than Palo Alto. It literally wrote the book. A longtime digital leader, with a first place win in 2013 and a second place win in 2014, this year’s fourth-place Digital City in the smallest population category, Palo Alto has published an Apps Challenge Playbook online in an effort to share its wisdom. Other cities are also paying attention to the Palo Alto Police Department’s use of social media. These communications channels are relied upon by local media and citizens alike due to the timeliness, accuracy and thoroughness of messages. Known for lightning fast responses to public posts, pages use a consistent voice to engage the public and dispel rumors about incidents in the city. Palo Alto now uses cloud-based DocuSign technology to transition paper-based workflows to digital, improving transparency and cutting down on contract turnaround time, which has gone from 14 days to five days. The city has also made more service types available via its 311 app, refreshed its open data portal and implemented a hybrid cloud backup solution for its data center. Rounding out its digital endeavors this year was the opening of Palo Alto’s Civic Technology Center. Home to the IT department, the startup-inspired space also hosts civic tech events that encourage collaboration between entrepreneurs and city staff working on issues of mutual concern.
5th place // City of Rancho Cordova
The 12-year-old city of 67,000 people uses technology to promote transparency, accountability and communication. In February the Rancho Cordova City Council passed a resolution endorsing the principles of open and accessible standards for data, enabling information to be shared with the public. Open data initiatives include a budget dashboard and the release of data sets related to public safety and economic development. The LEED-certified City Hall and police facility have enlisted numerous technologies to be energy efficient and environmentally friendly, including an integrated HVAC system and an Internet-connected sprinkler system that operates according to the weather forecast. A recently launched public safety program installed digital surveillance cameras in two residential areas and one business area to provide officers with live views of public areas. The cameras were deployed in May and are credited with reducing crime by 6 percent in the first three months. And the city has proven that its technology infrastructure can be relied upon: In the last three years, the network has had fewer than 100 minutes of unscheduled downtime.
