Thursday, August 28, 2008

"Difficulties and challenges": the city website

At my "Revitalization:let's make it personal" post from last week I received many thoughtful comments and ideas from concerned readers regarding the city website. City Councilor Michael Donovan has provided us with an update from the city council meeting last night where the issue was discussed. Thanks Michael. I have decided to post that here so my readers can be updated:

"Greetings:Tonight at the administration meeting, we received a briefing from the city's information officer about the difficulties and challenges of bringing the website up to full capacity. Much of the problem can be linked to poor decisions in past administrations, but also a lack of resources available to work with and publish content. In particular, within the city, the time and skill necessary to manipulate images, video, and even text rests in only a few people, who also have other responsibilities.Then, there is the need to make sure that all pages are consistent and follow similar themes.This all said, Michael D'Amore and I recommended to the manager that he provide a summary of the needs he has to move forward and get the site fully populated. Issues such as design can wait.As far as getting an improved presentation of our arts community, perhaps some people can get together and consider how the city could link to an arts website (perhaps co-sponsored by the arts commission), or even provided volunteers who can be authorized to update a city based site.I'm going to leave it to each of you to think about what is best. However, please know that I'll support whatever moves us to a point where we present the city's arts and culture in a worldclass way.Best regards,Michael Donovan"

He suggests an arts website. The Arts Commission already has a blog called "Allentown City Arts" which I link to at my sidebar. Maybe that can be updated. I am surprised that there is a lack of resources for the city website. Isn't this why we pay taxes? And there is a 14 million dollar surplus.
Since our local newspaper does not provide the citizens of Allentown with comprehensive coverage of city meetings and other developments, I believe the website should be viewed as an important and useful public service. It's an important resource for finding necessary information. I mean no offense to people who work for the city or in city govt., but if you people can't run a website, then why should I have confidence in your ability to run a city?

If you look at the list of all the city commissions, authorities, boards, corporations, councils, etc, there seem to be a lot of people paid to work for the city. I would think some of those people would "volunteer" to get it together and maintain a website. What do you think? Here's a link to city website: http://www.allentownpa.gov/
(Picture has no deep meaning, just for fun.)

11 comments:

Angie Villa said...

Bill Villa said...
" ... a briefing from the city's information officer ... bringing the website up to full capacity ... problem can be linked to ... past administrations ... also a lack of resources ... people, who also have other responsibilities ... manager ... summary of the needs ... design can wait ... I'm going to leave it to each of you to think about what is best ..." -Donovan

Michael, this may be a slight exaggeration, but any intern with his or her own MySpace page should be able to do this for free. Or, what about that $14 million surplus? Could a few bucks be applied to upgrading the City's official website? The Mayor and City Council are building us a whole new city. Building a new website should be a piece of cake ...

THis is what Bill posted back at the older post. I am re-posting it here as first responder.

Bill Villa said...

michael donovan said...
Hello Bill:

You are right about younger people being able to do this when the right engine is supporting the content.

We discussed that possibility at length. And did not dismiss it.

I think it would be fair to say that other information system priorities, coupled with a lack of staff has contributed to the delays.

I'm not happy with the delays, which is why I asked for the meeting.

Best regards,

Michael

Thu Aug 28, 09:18:00 AM 2008

bill villa said...
Thanks for getting it on the agenda and for continuing to push it forward, Michael ...

Thu Aug 28, 09:52:00 AM 2008

Anonymous said...

I said it once and I'll say it again, this City is not cultivating the imagination, ingenuity, or consistency of its residents and apparently not even the people in City hall either. How can a City that NEEDS excitement and pizzazz to bring in new industry and businesses be lacking in things such as this website which would be the first line of defense when it comes to the representation of the City ?
We learned in high school that you NEVER get a second chance to make a first impression, so where does that leave Allentown ? And to ask for volunteers to do this task when you have a 14 million dollar surplus ? If the City won't invest in itself, why should we ? I am definitely worried...

Alfonso

Angie Villa said...

Alfonso,

I am worried too. And I can't help wondering if they excluded the people on purpose. Maybe the city would not look as "refined"(they use this word at the website to describe A-town) as they claim if they showed the actual people on the street.

So glad they did not use the word "sophisticated" That's really snobby.

Chris Casey said...

Dottie, what Makes me wonder out loud is that any respectable blogger can do the things needed to put together and maintain a website, and these people can't?

Anonymous said...

Please don't get me started on how the City does not acknowledge the ACTUAL residents of downtown Allentown. We're good for paying taxes, but bad for publicity shots. (smile)

Alfonso

The Unspoken Word said...

This city is a Situation Comedy !
i think someone should be keeping notes and if possible begin Satire of Allentown
The longer i live here, the more i am exposed to absurdity and benign neglect.
Why does this happen in the Third largest city in Pennsylvania..

Bill Villa said...

We do have an absolutely beautiful park system here in Allentown PA ... and ... what else, hmm (I'm thinking) ...

Angie Villa said...

The parks, buildings, statues, etc. are wonderful and beautiful, but it's the people who make up a community.

Angie Villa said...

Squirrel,

Thanks for the info. I love your blog "Mapping Allentown" I'd like to do a post about it, if that's ok with you. You can respond via e-mail, Ayngie4@aol.com. And I enjoy reading your thoughtful comments at the Commentator, and at other blogs.

Anonymous said...

While I agree the website is a joke, there is a pretty big difference between maintaining a city website and a blogspot account. The college intern is a really good idea.
I'm not bothered by the city wanting volunteers, and most of the boards, commissions, and councils are VOLUNTEER positions.