Its about being smarter

Smart cities attract smart people.

And information technology (IT) is the power engine of smarter cities.

From an economic point of view, cities have to rely on a smarter, more skilled workforce for competitive differentiation. Wellington cannot afford to have all its eggs in the “home of government” basket.

Think abut this. Shanghai’s IT sector is worth NZ$164 billion and is growing at 20% per year. This is something Wellington can aspire too. Something that will create real wealth for our city.

IT has to be a fundamental plank in Wellington’s future.

IT (eg, Wi-Fi) is no longer an option, it needs to be a basic service — and available to all citizens, so no-one is disadvantaged because of a lack of connectivity or speed.

Why do I support Jack Yan’s free Wi-Fi initiative?

Well, apart from the fact a large part of the population in our city can’t afford internet access, there are hundreds of benefits for local government and the wider community. More benefits, to more people, than investing in a $350k rugby monument.

For a start, if council invested in free Wi-Fi they would not need to invest in electronic bus timetables – people could just get the time of the next bus off their mobile – for free. And the beauty of redirecting council funding to free Wi-Fi is it can be used for other stuff too. Perhaps a quick posting to council about some graffiti that was spotted (or a water leak) so council can respond to it within the hour.

And the cost?

According to Jack Yan, the cost to ratepayers would be zero. Depending on the Wi-fi program adopted (eg, the cost could be recovered through selling advertising space, something zfree did years ago when it provided free internet). The boost to Wellington’s GDP could be huge. So even if the Council is landed with a bill for the upkeep of the network, it could be more than covered by the income generated from an expanding Wellington economy.

Interestingly, in the USA, there is talk of federal government giving away free radio spectrum to businesses who undertake to roll out free Wi-Fi on another spectrum. Free Wi-Fi could very easily be a central government initiative to stimulate our economy and catch up to Australia. Wouldn’t it great if our city was the first region to test if such an initiative could spark our economy.

Don’t you think its time we got smarter?

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10665287, http://mashable.com/2010/08/13/open311-apps/

Creative capital

We need to make Wellington the creative capital of New Zealand.

Both in terms of film production and information technology.

But to do that we need the infrastructure – and that means internet access. These are the new roads of the knowledge economy that we need to start building in our city.

Our council have had over 3 years to put in place such infrastructure – and we have seen absolutely nothing.

Its now, more than ever, an economic imperative in today’s modern economy to enable everyone to have access to the internet, because people can use the web to save money, find new employment and business opportunities, and give themselves access to many other benefits.

And it will allow council to deliver service to citizens faster and at much lower costs. Heritage order consents come to mind as something that would really benefit from lower costs.

And one way of doing this is ensuring not only that internet access is a right (and council need to lobby central government), but by providing low cost or free Wi-Fi access to residents and business in Wellington.

Finland have just passed laws that promote internet access as a right. And Jack Yan is also promoting Wi-Fi access for Wellington if elected – which I fully endorse.

And if done properly it can be done with a high degree of success.

Check out some real examples.

Lets make it happen.

Vote for new voices on council, that bring fresh new proven ideas, to make our city better.

http://www.govtech.com/gt/660767,  http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/oct/14/finland-broadband

Heritage restrictions and resource consents

Public consultation on the Thorndon Heritage project closes on 29 May. Only 3 options were provided. According to WCC, most support extending heritage restrictions.

Not suprisingly residents are concerned, with what could be escalating costs (remembering that any change to a property will require consent under heritage restrictions). There is a concern that WCC have not fully disclosed the cost to residents and in a survey of 70 residents 83% did not want heritage restrictions on their properties. http://thorndon-residents.blogspot.com/2010/04/tra-heritage-survey-findings-released.html

I believe that if WCC want to extend heritage restrictions, they need to recognise the concerns of residents and put in place systems that will remove unnecessary costs.

I believe information technology can help reduce the bureaucracy around resource consents and reduce the costs for those who are subject to heritage restrictions.

Everyone can win.

Residents should be able to submit requests for minimal cost (if any) while ensuring we protect our heritage. If the online companies office can remove filing costs (its now free), why can’t WCC have a similar aspiration?

Perhaps starting with heritage resource consents?

http://www.fedfarm.org.nz/n1481.html

An open source strategy for Wellington

The New Zealand Open Source Society have decided to put their collective minds together and come up with a FOSS friendly strategy for Wellington City. Well done Jack.

Its about asking what can be done.

http://nzoss.org.nz/news/2010/free-and-open-source-strategy-wellington

Getting Wellington online

A great example of of co-operation and partnership in enabling small business to get online.

Lets make Wellington a connected environment.

Its about making things happen.

http://www.gbbo.co.uk