Posts about OCTO
Government
What does Gray's dismissal of Klein and others mean?
In the wake of disappointing news that Mayor-Elect Vincent Gray won't be keeping Gabe Klein and several other Fenty cabinet officials, District residents and smart growth advocates have a distinct duty to avoid doom-and-gloom projections and frantic searches for apartments in Arlington or Silver Spring.
Photo by DDOTDC on Flickr.
Gray's decision to replace Klein is disappointing, no doubt, but should not come as much of a surprise. While the Committee of 100 and a host of entrenched Ward 3 residents may gloat that the transportation policies of the past few years are on the way out, it's more likely Gray made the decision out of discomfort with the process rather than the policy.
The bottom line from this year's primary election, that many seem to have forgotten by now, is that there were pretty minuscule policy differences in the Gray and Fenty platforms. What most distinguishes the two are their approaches to decision-making.
Gabe Klein was the poster child for Fenty's reliance on fast-acting, agile agencies that were willing to push new policies quickly into fruition, evaluate them on an interim basis, and, assuming successful outcomes, work quickly to push for broader implementation.
This style is anathema to Vince Gray's affinity for more reserved, intricately studied, broadly discussed, and carefully compromised policy-making. As many have stated, this move does not necessarily amount to a rebuttal by Vincent Gray of those smart growth and alternative transportation policies that were coming out of DDOT. Though some of Gray's supporters would like that, it is still too early to tell.
While I'm disappointed by Gray's need to very apparently distance himself from the Fenty administration, despite his continued statements of support for a smart growth agenda (David didn't endorse him for no reason), it's pretty much standard operating procedure in changing political administrations for the biggest heads to roll. We will have to see who Gray picks to succeed Klein, to make a better judgment on where DC's transportation and growth policy is heading.
What is perhaps more disappointing is the dismissal of DCRA's Linda Argo. Argo has been relatively low profile throughout their tenure, despite making major strides in their agencies. Under her leadership, DCRA has undertaken a variety of daunting regulatory rewrites in an open and informative way, to the benefit of Washington business.
Bryan Sivak, another cabinet member let go today, has pushed OCTO to continue open up DC government to the public, releasing mountains of data and creating a variety of tools to provide District citizens with a window into the workings of their government. While relatively low key in DC, Sivak has become something of a superstar in Gov 2.0 circles for his great work in the District.
As such, I will be eagerly awaiting Gray's cabinet announcements to see if he keeps any Fenty appointees on board. Gray's announcement that he will promote Fenty's head of DCPS school modernization, Allen Lew, to City Administrator is encouraging on this front. Rumors have also begun swirling that Office of Planning chief Harriet Tregoning will be asked to stay or even promoted to Deputy Mayor for Economic Development.
Most disappointing in this whole saga was this morning's revelation that Gray and Klein have not spoken in 3 months. I'm baffled that the man who ran on a platform of "One City" and touts himself a public servant who believes in the importance of hearing opposing viewpoints, listening to all the disparate voices, and making compromises, was unable to find time to discuss the direction of the city's transportation department with its current head.
Perhaps neither is true, and the two just simply didn't have time to talk. After all, they have both been extraordinarily busy with running the city. All in all, I think it's too soon to make summary judgment about where Vince Gray will take the District.
While I voted for Fenty, I'm not ready to throw the towel in on the incoming Gray administration. If anything, now is the time to make our voices heard, as Gray looks for new people to fill these positions.
Politics
Should urbanists be nervous about Vince Gray? Part 1
Especially since the streetcar funding debacle, many urbanists have viewed Vincent Gray's candidacy for Mayor with some trepidation.
Photo by KCIvey on Flickr.
Certainly Adrian Fenty has his problems, but at the same time he's pushed hard for streetcars, bike lanes, and more housing (though not always affordable housing), and turned over planning and transportation to two excellent leaders. Plus, he's made education reform a priority. Would a Mayor Gray spoil that?
I recently had the opportunity to sit down with Gray to discuss these issues, and also had a few conversations with his campaign manager, Adam Rubinson. Gray was able to address many of my concerns, though other questions remain. I may or may not make an endorsement in the Mayor's race, but many of you wouldn't simply vote based on my say-so alone in any case. Instead, I want to share with you what I learn as I consider whom to pick in this high-profile contest.
First, here are some questions that were on my mind before starting to speak to Gray and his people. Edited to add, since some have asked: These are not in priority order. Rather, I started with some issues where many readers here had been exposed to Gray, and worked around to other issues.
- What really happened with the streetcar funding?
- Gray says he supports streetcars. Does he "support streetcars" like the Committee of 100 and Phil Mendelson support streetcars (only if they have absolutely no impact on any views, anyone's parking, slow down any drivers, or annoy a single person), or does he really, actually support them?
- Gray has talked about wanting more planning. If he's Mayor, would Gray maintain the momentum toward projects like the streetcar and simply add some more public communication and/or creation of planning documents, or would the planning slow down the process?
- Would Gray have handled bike lanes differently? Would fewer have gone in because there would have had to be a longer and slower planning process? Or would stakeholders have been able to participate more in the design of lanes like the Pennsylvania Avenue bike lane?
- Would Gray have handled sidewalks differently? Would he have intervened in DDOT's decisions in cases like the sidewalks in North Portal Estates, where Fenty overruled DDOT for political reasons?
- Gray is from a fairly car-dependent part of Ward 7. Fenty is from a fairly car-dependent part of Ward 4. Both probably have neighbors whose reaction to bike lanes is to oppose anything that interferes with car flow. Is that Gray's view?
- Would Gray keep Harriet Tregoning? Or promote her? What about Gabe Klein?
- How supportive is Gray of Smart Growth? Would he push to add housing opportunities and retail around Metro stations? Would he stand firm despite opposition from the perennial opponents of such measures?
- Many groups and individuals who traditionally spend most of their effort opposing growth and change rather than supporting a certain vision for growth and change are supporting Gray. Will that support make him obligated to stop projects they don't like?
- Under Mayor Fenty, DMPED often pushes to get development projects done quickly, but often at the expense of getting a good project that will work with the long-term needs of DC. How would Gray balance the need to get development done with the fact that, once done, projects will be around for 50 years or more?
- Mayor Fenty is widely criticized for the way he makes appointments to board and commissions, selecting fellow triathletes and/or developers for zoning positions, for example. How would Gray approach appointments?
- Would OCTO under Gray keep getting small yet tangible projects completed which add value for people, like Where's My Bus and the open source feed of Circulator positions, which OCTO achieved with minimal time and resources?
- No discussion is complete without education. Many younger residents of DC feel that regardless of tone or appearances of impropriety, the Mayor's number one job is to improve the schools in time for their young children or future, unborn children to be able to get a good education in public schools. Would Gray put any of that momentum in jeopardy?
- If Gray becomes Mayor, what is his vision for how the District would be different in 20 years?
Are there other questions on your mind? What do you think about Gray in these areas? Next, I'll describe the answers I received as well as what I believe thus far would happen under a Gray administration.
Bicycling
Tell DDOT where you want a Capital Bikeshare location
DC's Chief Technology Officer Bryan Sivak and his innovative, fast-moving agency have launched a new interactive survey to suggest DC sites for new Capital Bikeshare stations.
This extends the ideas in our experiment last year, where all of you placed a few hundred suggested locations in DC, Maryland, and Virginia on a map. OCTO's version is more sophisticated, asking you to identify "origin" locations where you might want to pick up a bike, and "destination" locations where you'd like to drop one off.
This recognizes the fundamental use case for bike sharing: short-range transportation. Some people use a shared bike to bike around for fun or go use a trail, but the bikes are not generally designed as much for recreation and speed as short-range urban trips. They're also priced that way, free for a half hour with charges beyond.
People probably won't drop off a bike where they got it from. Instead, they'll pick one up somewhere they are, like near home or near a Metro station, and drop it off somewhere they want to go that's nearby. SmartBike users I know use it to travel between Dupont Circle and 14th and U, for example, which aren't very far apart but have no direct transit. Someone living or working in western Montgomery or Upper Northwest might get off the Red Line at Dupont and pick up a bike to go to U Street instead of having to ride all the way through downtown and change trains.
My own location suggestion is 17th between Corcoran and R Streets, near the Safeway, hardware store and many restaurants. That corner has enormous expanses of empty sidewalk, and I was disappointed the 17th Street streetscape reconstruction didn't put some street furniture here. A bike sharing station could utilize some of the space and draw shoppers.
What are the similar locations in your neighborhood? Take the survey!
Speaking of bike sharing, documents from yesterday's TPB meeting reveal more about the region's plans for a TIGER II grant for more bike stations. DC would get 1,000 more bikes for a total of 2,000, Arlington 750 in addition to their planned 117, Montgomery County 200, Fairfax County 100, Alexandria 60, and a still-undetermined number in College Park.
Governments have to match 20% of the total cost with the federal government potentially paying 80%. Arlington gets to count their 117 bikes as their match, but DC is using federal funds for its 1,000 and would therefore have to pay for 20% of the next 1,000 locally.
This totals $10 million in capital costs, the minimum size for a TIGER II grant. TPB staff believe that a minimum-size grant application is most likely to get funded since DOT will be trying to spread the money out more than in TIGER I. Local governments would pay for all operating costs that aren't covered by memberships and usage fees.
Transit
DC on a roll with Circulator iPhone app
DC's Office of the Chief Technology Officer strikes again. In June, OCTO, DDOT, and the Office of Planning created Where's My Bus, a Web app that lets you find out real-time positions of all Circulator buses. Today, they announced an iPhone app ("DC Circulator") to make it even easier for iPhone users to find Circulator stops and track their buses.
Photos courtesy of DDOT.
Where's My Bus and the iPhone app don't predict how long it will take for a bus to arrive, but do let you know if a bus is close, and keep tabs on its progress toward your stop. The iPhone app adds a map of the Circulator system and a native interface. The screen shots label one of the features "find closest stop," but it's not clear if that uses your GPS location or just lets you pick a stop from a menu. I've emailed DDOT to follow up, or one of you with an iPhone can download the app for 99¢ and post in the comments. Update: Once you pick a route, the app will identify the closest stop on a particular route using the phone's GPS.
An even better app would plot the buses on a real-time display, as NextBus does, but OCTO got this application done in a short time and probably with a very small quantity of developer resources. That's what a good technology outfit should be doing: finding the "low-hanging fruit" and launching many useful tools in short periods of time.
Even better yet would be an app that combines NextBus and Circulator locations, so you don't need two apps just because you sometimes ride a Metrobus and sometimes the Circulator. Maybe NextBus Information Systems could upgrade their iPhone app to include Circulator as well. This is one example of why Metro should release the NextBus position data in an API; if they did, maybe OCTO would put it into their app, or someone else could build an integrated tool.
Update: OCTO will also be releasing the source code for the app, so that other developers can add features in the future. Great move.
Update 2: If you want to download the app, it's listed as "DC Circulator" in the App Store.
Government
Some DC agencies doing a great job with technology
We've done a fair amount of criticism of DC and regional agencies lately. There's plenty to criticize. But most agencies do good work day in and day out, despite periodic lapses of into stupidity. A few agencies are doing a particularly good job with recent technology developments that deserve special mention: DCRA's Twitter, the Office of Zoning's on-demand video, and OCTO's data feeds and apps.
Photo by larskflem.
DCRA's Mike Rupert watches for people including @dcra in a tweet, and responds promptly. There are examples every day; just yesterday, @joni_pod complained of price gouging at an impound lot and @dcra followed up for more information. When a shady architect forged some papers for Capital City Diner's foundation and DCRA stopped them from moving in, Rupert helped them find an interim solution partly via Twitter. When
And Now, Anacostia's @DG_rad reported some sign vandalism, Rupert pulled in DDOT via Twitter (and DDOT followed up).
Rupert even follows up when his agency is falsely accused of narrow-mindedness. Yesterday, ReadySetDC's Justin originally reported that DCRA was asking for crazy 22' buffers for Park(ing) Day, but Rupert quickly clarified that DDOT is responsible. The confusion arose because people apply for public space permits at the DCRA permit center (whose wait times, by the way, Rupert frequently reports via Twitter), but DDOT officials actually make the policy decisions and work with the applicant.
Another technology gold star goes to the Office of Zoning, which supports the Zoning Commission and Board of Zoning Adjustment. They've offered live video streams of their meetings since at least last year, but they now also offer on-demand video for all of their past meetings as well since about September 2008. They've rolled out some impressive new features as well; now, while watching a hearing, you can see the agenda, and click on an individual agenda item to jump right to the discussion of that item.
Many agencies often have snazzy Web sites but don't keep them updated very well. Not the Office of Zoning. I wanted to watch tonight's meeting shortly after it concluded. To my surprise, the Office of Zoning already had the video online. Nearly real-time access to government information is extremely important for public participation. Too many agencies have weeks or months of delay before information becomes available. Now if they could just finish the online system for viewing zoning variance and PUD submissions that they're working on.
The DC Council also has a nice on-demand video system, though hearings don't usually show up until a day or two after they happen. Bills newly introduced often take around a week to appear in the LIMS database.
Most frustratingly, the Council Web site has an interactive calendar that shows meetings but doesn't list the subjects of any of the hearings; neither does the list of hearing notices. You have to click on and read each of the PDF notices to see what a committee is discussing. And knowing that there's a meeting of the Committee on Public Works and Transportation on September 16th without knowing the subject isn't particularly useful, unless maybe you are Jim Graham and need to know to show up no matter the topic. (It's on fire hydrant maintenance).
Much of this technological progress comes courtesy of DC's OCTO, which handles technology across the government. They've been leaders in releasing public data feeds and encouraging people to build applications using that data, launching a network of Wi-Fi hotspots, and even creating an app store to assemble all of the tools and apps in one place. In fact, OCTO just won an award from Harvard's Kennedy School of Government for the data warehouse.
Which agencies in your community are especially good or bad with technology?
@ggwash
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