Roll On, a Creative Commons Attribution (2.0)image from Jeremy Brooks’ photostream

On November 30th, The Heinz Endowments and the Breathe Project Coalition announced the creation of the Clean Diesel Construction Equipment Retrofit Fund. The fund will provide nearly $1 million to install pollution control equipment on diesel-powered vehicles. The fund is in response to the passage of the historic Clean Air Act by Pittsburgh City Council. The Clean Air Act seeks to reduce particle pollution from diesel emissions by requiring requiring contractors at city-subsidized developments to use cleaner diesel fuel and to have pollution controls on their vehicles and equipment. The diesel emissions from construction contain over 40 toxic air contaminants, carcinogens, ozone smog-forming compounds, and fine particulate matter (“soot”). Exposure to fine particles is known to cause asthma attacks, heart attacks, lung cancer, strokes, and even premature deaths. It’s estimated that the Clean Air Act will reduce the soot from heavy equipment by 85% or more.

The fund will be added to $920,000 from Allegheny County government now being managed by the Mid-Atlantic Regional Air Management Association. The Coalition funding through the Endowments will extend the reach of the county-wide project, to provide incentives to small construction companies to retrofit pollution-heavy equipment with new technologies. The new funding will allow the program to expand to target additional small construction companies that operate in and around the city of Pittsburgh.

In April, the American Lung Association’s “State of the Air 2011″ report rated Pittsburgh’s air quality as “the nation’s third most polluted area for short-term particle pollution for the second year in a row.” That was highlighted by Forbes magazine which called Pittsburgh the seventh most polluted city in America. In a report on the fund by WTAE News, Endowments President, Bobby Vagt, emphasized the importance of clean air to our economy:

“The critical item to attract and retain people — the kinds of people that are going to work in technology in Pittsburgh — air quality is absolutely vital,”

Councilman Bill Peduto, who was the prime sponsor of the Clean Air Act, echoed Vagt’s comments:

“What we’re trying to do is show that our economic future is contingent on clean air.”

At the press conference for the announcement, Peduto also referred to the range of support for the legislation. The new regulations were endorsed by unions, community groups, business owners and environmentalists. Each of these interests came together to achieve the goal of improving air quality.

Also supporting cleaner diesel emissions is Google Pittsburgh. From Essential Public Radio:

Andrew Moore, with Google Pittsburgh, said that the company attracts some of the best and brightest in the world, and that mostly Pittsburgh is an easy sell, but, “I kind of draw a blank when the question of air quality comes up, and I have to be transparent about it. I tell them that there’s lots of good things about Pittsburgh, but air quality is still a problem.”

The Breathe Project is trying to combat that problem, but is fighting against the notion that an aggressive clean air plan will cost the region jobs and hurt the economy. Moore said that the strength of the economy, however, is directly tied to a healthy environment, which starts with clean air and water.

Construction vehicles in the snow, a Creative Commons Attribution (2.0)image from Arabani’s photostream

Apple is good at lots of things, but they can’t make the screen bright enough when it’s sunny outside…, a Creative Commons Attribution (2.0) image from Ed Yourdon’s photostream

If you’re reading this, you probably believe that democracy would be better if it was, well, more democratic — that local government would be better if it had more input by locals. That the way to improve our city is not by hiring consultants to tell us what to do, but hiring consultants to listen to people and tell us how we can make their vision happen. CEOs for Cities is working hard on taking the consultants out of the picture and putting the people into focus by fostering direct connections between residents and city government. CEOs for Cities has produced web apps which help create a culture of civic engagement.

Acknowledging that most people aren’t willing to spend much time, if any, on participating in the public process of democracy, they first helped produce the Give a Minute project. Give a Minute literally asks city residents to spend just a minute coming up with a suggestion on an important urban issue. The first project was Give a Minute Chicago and it asks for input on what would make Chicagoans walk, bike or ride transit more often. People can respond online or by mobile phone by jotting down their thoughts on an electronic Post-it^®-style note.

Did you know they have free hi-speed WiFi all over Bryant Park? This place rocks!, a Creative Commons Attribution (2.0) image from Ed Yourdon’s photostream

Change by Us is a new project which evolved out of Give a Minute. Change by Us NYC asks residents of New York City, “How can we make our city a greener, greater place to live?” Change by Us has the same post-a-note look, but it takes the idea a step further. From The New York Times:

City officials described the project as “a social network for grass-roots leaders.” They said their goal was to exploit the opportunities offered by social media to spur professionals, volunteers and city employees to share information about ways to improve conditions and team up for specific projects.

Change by Us NYC will help users raise money to start projects like community composting or creating a new open space. The city’s Department of Environmental Protection will use the site to identify and guide projects that could be eligible for a program that disburses millions of dollars in grants to beautify neighborhoods, reduce sewer overflow into New York Harbor and undertake other infrastructure projects, for example.

In less than a year, this new model for citizen participation has gone from asking for ideas, to creating projects and raising funds for their implementation. Perhaps when people see actual results from their engagement, they will be more prone to participate and put democracy into action. We can have a 24/7 town hall that produces results.

Tomkins Square Park, Apr 2010 – 17, a Creative Commons Attribution (2.0) image from Ed Yourdon’s photostream

Also launched this year is Neighborhoodland. It’s basically the same concept — asking city residents for their thoughts and input on improving their communities. Neighborhoodland was created by Civic Center which wants to “make cities more comfortable for people.” Neighborhoodland currently serves neighborhoods in the city of New Orleans.

Finally, while the technology of crowdsourcing and mobile apps is relatively new, the issue of citizen participation goes back to the very founding of our country. “A Ladder of Citizen Participation” by Sherry R. Arnstein was first published in the Journal of the American Institute of Planners (JAIP) in 1969, but it’s still instructive for today. The author looks at the levels of citizen participation to see where the power truly lies and comes up with the following “eight rungs on the ladder of citizen participation.” Let’s hope that new technology makes that climb a lot easier.

AmeriCorps, a Creative Commons Attribution (2.0) image from St. Bernard Project’s photostream

GET A TECH JOB THAT HELPS YOUR COMMUNITY

Pittsburgh Cares, in partnership with Google and the HandsOn Network, is now accepting applications for Tech Corps VISTA, a new AmeriCorps VISTA program. The mission of Tech Corps VISTA is to help nonprofits be more effective in their use of technology — such as utilizing cloud based computing and applications specifically designed for the nonprofit community — in order to improve their overall outcomes and services. As posted on the Official Google Blog:

Community service has always been important to us. When thinking of ways we can give back, we often focus on where our strengths lie—namely, in technical knowledge. More and more frequently, Googlers who volunteer note that many incredible nonprofits around the U.S. lack the tech knowledge or resources that could immensely help their operations and their cause. With this in mind, we got together with the HandsOn Network, the volunteer arm of Points of Light Institute, to create the HandsOn Tech Corps, an initiative designed to help nonprofits effectively use technology to further their missions.

Tech Corps VISTA is offering 24 full-time, one-year jobs in seven cities across the United States and Pittsburgh is one of those cities. Participants will receive a biweekly living allowance, health insurance and an education award upon completion of a successful term of service. Members are also eligible for child care assistance and student loan forbearance or deferment. Applicants need to have experience in cloud based solutions and computing, tech support, and a passion for working in the nonprofit sector. You can view the entire position description and desired qualifications here. There’s a three-step applicaton process and the deadline for applying is June 17, 2011. Start your application now.

Complete absorption, a Creative Commons Attribution (2.0) image from glindsay65′s photostream

Pittsburgh is Kidsburgh because a group of Pittsburghers are dedicated to making Pittsburgh “the best place for kids on the planet.” As Executive Director of The Grable Foundation, Gregg Behr, puts it, “In one word, “Kidsburgh” conveys an idea and sensibility that Pittsburgh is committed to improving the lives of children.’ Kidsburgh is a portal for all the best that Pittsburgh has to offer to the children in this region. You can go to their website to find “Cool Things to Do with Kids in Pittsburgh,” or news stories of particular interest to parents, or even a slide show of striking images of the next generation of Pittsburghers. You can also sign up there to receive their Kidsburgh is Pittsburgh quarterly newsletter and visit the Kidsburgh page at Pop City.

Kidsburgh was recently featured on an episode of WQED’s onQ. The program took a look at the Kids & Creativity movement. Just as Pittsburgh’s own Fred Rogers used the latest in technology 50 years ago (television), today’s tech leaders are finding new ways to engage kids using the very latest in digital technology. This is not technology for technology’s sake. Rather, it’s a recognition that many of today’s kids are already swimming in a digital sea and that we need to both find a way to keep up with those who are and to ensure that all are well prepared for the jobs of the future. This is technology as a means to an end — to put together the right brain and the left brain and the artist and the technologist.

Please share Kidsburgh with anyone you know who cares about the well-being of kids in our region.

World in Your Hand, a Creative Commons Attribution (2.0) image from biblicone’s photostream

Bruce Katz is the vice president and founding director of the Metropolitan Policy Program for the Brookings Institution. He’s also a visiting professor at the London School of Economics and has served under the Obama administration (full bio here). In the following video, he details how “everything is about to change and, frankly, everything is changing” regarding the energy we use.

The migration from carbon fuels to a more sustainable mix will change our infrastructure, the products we buy, and the homes and buildings we inhabit. Katz likens the change to the transformation brought about by the Information Revolution in its far-reaching effects. He notes that “this is a competition” on a global level and questions how the United States will fare when countries like China and Germany are already ahead of us and determined to stay out in front.

Councilman Bill Peduto has worked closely with Katz and the Brookings Institution over the years. He was part of the “Back to Prosperity: A Competitive Agenda for Renewing Pennsylvania” project and was one of only a handful of Pennsylvania elected officials asked to be involved with “Renew PA” in order to help steer recommendations to actions.

Single white cloud on a clear blue sky, a Creative Commons Attribution (2.0) image from Horia Varlan’s photostream

Cloud computing allows people to access web-based tools or applications as if they were installed on their own computers/smart phones. The cloud metaphor was first used to describe the infrastructure of phone networks, and later, the Internet. Now, clouds are taking on a new meaning. On December 10th, Pittsburgh City Councilman Bill Peduto, N21 LLC and the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy announced an innovative use of cloud computing with the creation of a “learning cloud” in Pittsburgh’s Schenley Plaza. Anyone with a laptop or handheld device will be able to simply point-and-click while in the plaza to learn all about the objects that surround them. Within the “learning cloud” they can learn about the history of the park, the scientific details of the natural environment, or architectural details of the surrounding neighborhood.

“This is the type of innovation will bring to life the objects that surround us every day and also create new opportunities for citizen involvement,” said Councilman Peduto. “We are bringing new education opportunities to the people in a free and open environment.”

The Outdoor Partnership utilizes mobile learning interfaces, geospatial information technology and outdoor high bandwidth communication networks to make this experience possible. Florida-based N21′s president, David Fries, is a Pittsburgh native who was looking to bring his pioneering networks home. He met Peduto at a convention last year. From the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review:

Fries, who works at the University of South Florida developing mobile technologies for low-infrastructure environments, sees his hometown — and the plaza, specifically — as the perfect place to debut the concept.

“It’s an intellectual and cultural epicenter,” he said. “It’s a fantastic opportunity to give Pittsburgh a chance to be out front on this technology.”

N21 is working with the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy, which operates Schenley Plaza, to organize its information about the area and structure it for mobile access. Signs will alert visitors they’re entering the learning cloud.

“Your device becomes cognizant of the network,” Fries said, and the network pinpoints the user’s location. The user can take a picture of a nearby tree or any other object; the cloud will match the image against its database and then respond to the user with a batch of information about the object. Eventually, Fries plans to have the network send users an automatic stream of facts based on their location.

Councilman Peduto’s office provided a $5,000 grant to help launch the project. N21 and the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy have already applied for a grant from the National Science Foundation for long-term funding.

Even more exciting, this technology can be expanded — imagine the entire city enveloped by a learning cloud — instead of surfing the net, you’ll be surfing the ‘Burgh.

Schenley Plaza, a Creative Commons Attribution (2.0) image from rwoan’s photostream

Lego Color Bricks, a Creative Commons Attribution (2.0) image from 713 Avenue’s photostream

Councilman Peduto with Tech-Link teams BioHazard and Grey Matters

Tech-Link is an outreach program of the University of Pittsburgh School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences. Their mission is to “introduce students with physical, visual and hearing disabilities to careers in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM).” One activity that they sponsor is the FIRST LEGO League Robotics Camp for students with and without disabilities. The FIRST LEGO League (FLL) is an international competition for elementary and middle school students. The kids use LEGO Mindstorms kits to build and program small robotic devices. The theme for this year’s competition is Body Forward™ and has the kids explore the world of biomedical engineering. The models that they planned and built are meant to solve real life problems.

There are two Tech-Link teams: BioHazard and Grey Matters. Team BioHazard took on the challenge of prosthetic robotic arms/hands. Team Grey Matters project was to improve a left ventricular assist device. Heady stuff! You can view videos of them explaining their projects below.

On November 20th, they presented their ideas in preparation for the December 2010 Body Forward™ FIRST LEGO League (FLL) Robotics Competition in Pittsburgh. Councilman Bill Peduto was a guest speaker at that event. Additional photos from the day are posted below and you can view more videos of the kids at the “Bill Peduto for Pittsburgh” YouTube channel here.

Amazing kids doing amazing work!

Tech-Link Team BioHazard Presentation:

Tech-Link Team Grey Matters Presentation:

Photos:

Team Grey Matters presenting their project

Team BioHazard being filmed

Bill Peduto speaking to the Tech-Link teams

A recent Next American City article highlights the trend of cities around the country that have begun to utilize free online web applications in order to more easily connect with their residents.

Social media tools such as Facebook and Twitter are becoming increasingly popular methods of communication between local government and the community.  In addition to an official website, many cities are creating blogs through free websites such as WordPress and Blogger, and City Council and committee meetings are increasingly appearing online through websites like YouTube.  The increase in access to the activities of city government creates a positive trend towards more accountability and transparency in local government.

Last year, the City of Pittsburgh and Yinzcam released the innovative iPhone application iBurgh for City of Pittsburgh residents, allowing them to quickly photograph and report problems to the City’s 311 service.  Pittsburgh also has begun to broadcast City Council meetings online through the City of Pittsburgh website.

Read more about free web applications for cities in the New American City article.

On Saturday, Councilman Bill Peduto was the keynote speaker at Pittsburgh Podcamp 4 at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh. His speech focused on the emergence of e-democracy and how individuals can help change pittsburgh, the democratic process and the world through technology and new media.  Read more about this event in this Pop City article.

Podcamp is a community unconference that allows people to come together to discuss, and learn more about social media.  There have been 3 previous Podcamps in Pittsburgh, and Councilman Peduto has attended them all.  To learn more about Podcamp, visit the website.

Last Saturday, Councilman Bill Peduto spoke to the Allegheny County and Western Pennsylvania Township Commissioners Association, presenting to them his plan for LED street lights in Pittsburgh.  The organization is made up of council members and other government leaders from local boroughs, whom come together to discuss issues within their respective boroughs.

Councilman Peduto’s goal is to make Pittsburgh a model for LED lighting, which can then spread to the boroughs around the City.   Read more about Councilman Peduto’s plan for LED lighting in Pittsburgh in A Bright, Green Idea for Pittsburgh

View Councilman Peduto’s presentation here.