City cited for providing information, accessibility to citizens
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (Nov. 8, 2013) – When it comes to using technology to connect with citizens, Louisville Metro Government is one of the top local governments in America. For the third year in a row, Louisville has been named a top digital city by the Center for Digital Government in its annual Digital Cities Survey. Louisville placed 2nd in the survey for U.S. cities with a population over 250,000.
In 2012, Louisville’s city government was judged the top digital city and also honored for having the best city government website.
“This latest ranking is a direct result of our priority and focus on harnessing technology to increase efficiency and provide better services and information to our citizens,” Mayor Greg Fischer said. “Our technology team and departments throughout city government are doing an excellent job of looking for these opportunities.”
Why is Louisville seen as a digital city? Some of the highlighted programs and initiatives in Louisville’s survey include:
♦ Open Data Portal, which features all currently available downloadable datasets. http://data.louisvilleky.gov
♦ Louisvilleky.gov, the city’s award-winning website hich was named the best city website in America last year. http://www.louisvilleky.gov
♦ LouieStat, which measures performance of city departments and maintains the data online for public review at http://louiestat.louisvillekygov.
♦ Mayor’s Strategic Plan Website, which makes it easy for anyone to keep up with the Mayor’s 5 main goals and 21 objectives. http://mayor.louisvilleky.gov
♦ Policy Management System which improves the process for sharing and getting approval for city policies by city employees.
Success in using technology is occurring across many departments and offices, including the Office for Performance Improvement, the Mayor’s Office and Technology, according to Beth Niblock, the city’s Chief Information Officer.
“There’s a real sense of urgency in Mayor Fischer’s administration to benchmark where we are today in terms of performance in city government, and to continue to use technology to measure that success and to help guide us in more efficient directions. And the process is working well,” Niblock said.
“Nationally the number of tech-savvy digital cities is increasing, particularly among the larger jurisdictions responding to the survey,” said Todd Sander, Executive Director of the Center for Digital Government. “The top digital cities are leaders in open data and transparency efforts, as well as innovators in deploying mobile applications to citizens while conforming to fiscal standards.”
In its 13th year, the annual survey is a part of the Digital Communities Program, open to all U.S. cities. The survey criteria focused on results achieved by cities ± via the use of technology – in operating efficiencies, realizing strategic objectives, innovative or creative solutions or approaches, effective collaboration and transparency measures, among others.
The full results in the 250,000 or more population category are:
1. Boston
2. Louisville
2. Philadelphia
3. Jacksonville
3. Riverside, CA
4. Henderson, NV
4. Seattle
5. Corpus Christi, TX
5. Las Vegas
5. Virginia Beach
6. Austin
6. Chicago
7. Albuquerque
7. Denver
7. Long Beach
8. Mesa, AZ
8. Tucson, AZ
9. Baltimore
9. Los Angeles
10. Raleigh, NC
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