The Let’s Do It movement is inherently grassroots and requires a massive volunteer effort. Since I publicly floated the idea on Thursday, the response has been positive, with support from the director of the SF Neighborhood Empowerment Network, line-level SF city employees, Craig Newmark, and, very importantly, Ben Berkowitz of SeeClickFix (a Web, phone and mobile app that allows citizens to track and report blight and municipal infrastructure issues), just to name a few. Ben and his co-founders are going to be in town in mid-April, and it makes sense to have an initial volunteer team meeting at that time.
The volunteers who kicked of Let’s Do It in Estonia started with a team of 20 that grew to more than 600, with tens of thousands taking part in the culminating day of action. My first goal is to have at least 20 of us at an initial meeting mid-month.
To clean graffiti, we’re looking at a couple big issues. Some of the worst of it is on state-owned and private property. That means getting permissions from the property owners to remove it. And we’ll need ladders, not just paint and paint supplies. I think the permission part is pretty easily dealt with as we create an opt-in for property owners, who will greatly benefit from this effort (they are legally responsible for removing graffiti on their property). We need muralists on board for hot spots, a trash transport plan, and, as we pick up steam, there may be opportunity to address other blight as well.
There already are commercial paint matching apps, and we’ll want to work to tie them into the mapping system as well as seek partnerships with paint companies that can provide mobile paint matching services for the day of action.
Alissa has pointed out that we can tap SF’s 311 system to identify outstanding complaints before the day of action (thinking about at September or October for the date, perhaps the weekend of 10/10/10).
I’ve created a Twitter account and hashtag for LetsDoItSF, and we should also agree on an open shared space for online collaboration: Google docs, Wave, GovLoop, here?
Thoughts?
To get more insight on what we’re diving into, check out the Let’s Do it World action manual. What we are doing here will not only dramatically improve blight in San Francisco and show the power of collective civic action, it is also critical infrastructure building in one of the world’s most earthquake-prone regions.
The technologies for pulling this off have only advanced since 2008 and Estonia. Let’s do it!
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Local Gov 2.0 and Participatory Community: We discuss Gov 2.0 applications for local offices and agencies, and highlight next week’s Gov 2.0 Camp LA. We also discuss community collaboration and the challenges of building participatory community around issues and actions. Special guests include Erin Kotecki Vest, political and special projects director for BlogHer, Ron Vinson, Deputy Director of San Francisco’s Department of Technology, and eCommunications manager Martha McLean of Ottawa.
Just like politics, all governance is local. And, as the Gov 2.0 movement grows from infancy to toddling around the country, we’re seeing key concepts of openness, collaboration and tech-fueled government innovation and transformation make their way further into municipal and state agencies. Last weekend, Chicago hosted CityCamp, and coming Feb. 6, the west coast kicks off its first major Gov 2.0 conference, Gov 2.0 LA.
If you’re interested in the future of Gov 2.0 there’s something you can do right now to shape its road map: take this 15-30 minute survey designed by Antonio Oftelie of the Leadership for a Networked Word program at Harvard Kennedy School.
At Gov 2.0 LA, we’ll be working with this survey, our speakers, and workshop participants to create a framework for tackling the near future of the Gov 2.0 movement, particularly online services, enterprise collaboration, and community collaboration. Is evolutionary change in government enough, or, like the radical shift shaking up the newsgathering industry, does the disintermediation of a networked society call for a full-scale re-creation of governance structures? Big questions, so sharpen your mouse pointer, and help us out by completing the Harvard survey.
Now, a little more about the Gov 2.0 LA event:
You can register (free, thanks to sponsors and lots of volunteer work) and check out the camp themes here. If you’re coming, take a few minutes and vote for your favorite sessions – I did it last night, and there’s some great content from great speakers to choose from. The camp will be announcing winning submissions, as well as keynotes and themed sessions, next week.
Logistics such as location, hotel and transportation are here. If you plan on attending an opening reception Friday night, Feb. 5, RSVP by e-mailing register@gov20la.org.
If you want an early look at speakers, check out this Twitter List. And network with speakers and other attendees with this List.
Along with sessions all day Saturday and early Sunday, attendees have extended invites to great pre- and post-session activities. Tracy Lee is putting on the “Gov 2.0 La Dishcrawl,” a Saturday night tour of four dishes at four restaurants. If you can make it down early on Friday, Ted Nguyen of the Orange County Transportation Authority has invited social media practitioners to the Southern California Transit Forum.
Please share your thoughts, inputs and related events here in the comments and on Twitter using the hashtag #gov20la. I’ll see you in LA!
Oh, and don’t forget to complete the Harvard Gov 2.0 survey. Thanks!
