2 NATION’S CITIES WEEKLY
April 16, 2012
COLUMNIST
New City Rx: High-Tech Innovation Merged With
a Role for Citizens
by Neal Peirce
In our age of acronyms,
you’ll be excused if you can’t
define SFpark, SFStartup,
SmartSF, EngageSF. They’re all
part of SFGov — or, to be more
precise, San Francisco city gov-
ernment’s leap into a world of
far-ranging innovations.
The basic idea... “is to engage the community, make sure it
has information and can share ideas...”
ly among today’s app-friendly,
data-addicted youth. Advanced
data centers and networks are
key. But the technology needs
to include, and build on, inten-
tional outreach to citizens and
companies — and ways for city
governments to become more
transparent and citizen-respon-
sive than ever before.
San Francisco is not alone in
the scramble for cutting-edge
innovations. New York, Boston
and Chicago are also leaders,
and often exchange informa-
tion with San Francisco. And
Philadelphia is the only other
city with a direct counterpart to
Nath — Adel Ebeid, recently
appointed chief innovation offi-
cer by Mayor Michael Nutter.
One expects more and more
cities will be taking the same step,
especially in an era when cities
are more than ever neglected by
state and national governments
and “on their own” to compete
in fiercely competitive times.
Neal Peirce’s e-mail address is
nrp@citistates.com.
© 2012, The Washington
Post Writers Group
The opinions expressed in this
column are not necessarily those of
the National League of Cities or
Nation’s Cities Weekly.
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Nation’s Cities Weekly
Volume 35, Number 15 | ISSN 0164-5935 | April 16, 2012
Official publication of the National League of Cities
Helping City Leaders Build Better Communities
Donald J. Borut, Executive Director
Publisher: Donald J. Borut; Editor: Amy Elsbree; Managing Editor:
Cyndy Liedtke Hogan; Writer/Editor: Sandi Burtseva; Coordinator,
Editorial Services: Laura Turner
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