Working to Bring Waltham Into The 21st Century
As a member of the Executive Board of the Massachusetts Municipal Association and the Massachusetts Local Government Advisory Commission, I have had the opportunity to meet with city and town leaders from across the Commonwealth, and to hear firsthand how they are using technology to produce results. Here are a few examples of my efforts to bring some of these ideas to Waltham and to use technology to solve local problems.
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Planning. For many years I advocated strongly for the implementation of a pavement management system. A pavement management system is a computer based system that uses special software to analyze data on local roadways, and allows you to prioritize roadway projects based on certain metrics, and to properly budget for long term capital needs. Prior to implementation of this system, decisions on which roadways would be repaired next were driven almost entirely by political considerations. Whatever street had the most complaints got fixed. While this method may seem to have a certain tint of democracy to it, it is certainly not an example of best management practices. Through my leadership, Waltham has implemented a pavement management system.
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Communications. When the City of Waltham’s telephone notification system failed badly during the “Aquapocalypse” MWRA water main break, many residents were not notified of the “boil water” alert until two days into the crisis. I immediately introduced a resolution calling for a new, technologically advanced “Reverse E-911” emergency telephone notification system, and pushed to have it installed. It is now in place, providing for rapid public notification in the event of any emergency.
I also sponsored a resolution calling on greater use of social media by city departments in order to better communicate with residents. Since then, the Waltham Police Department, the Waltham Fire Department, the E-911 Emergency Center, and the City Clerk's Office have all made frequent and effective use of social media to better communicate information to residents in a timely fashion.
Transparency in Government. One of the things that technology can provide is greater transparency in the governmental process. I believe that all important city documents should be available online, so that residents can see for themselves what their local government is doing. Recently I introduced a resolution to require developers and applicants for licenses to submit all materials in an electronic format that would allow it to be posted online. This way, residents would be able to view all of the same documents that City Councillors receive, in order to better understand what is being proposed or requested and how it will affect their neighborhood.
Customer Service. Technology is being used to make peoples lives easier in many ways. When I saw the new "pay-by-space" parking machines in the City of Lowell, that accepted payment by credit and debit card, I thought that might be good for Downtown Waltham. Anyone who has ever pulled into a parking lot only to realize that they don't have any change for the meter knows how frustrating that is. I can't tell you how many times people have told me that they ran to the nearest store to get some change, only to come back to find a ticket on their windshield. Issuing parking violations may bring revenue into the city, but it's no way to attract customers to our Downtown. I spoke with the City Manager of Lowell, and he sent me some data on their program. When it came time to replace the old "pay-and-display" machines, I successfully pushed to have them replaced with the new pay-by-space technology. However, to my dismay, when the new machines were installed they didn't include the credit/debit card module. When I asked why they were left out, I was told that the City didn't want to pay the credit/debit card transactions fees. I kept pushing. When we recently hired a new City Traffic Engineer, I asked again. He produced a report that indicated that parking revenues would increase more than enough to offset the fees. The modules will be installed very soon. It took a lot of persistence and hard
work to make this happen, but it will provide greater convenience to the public and make our Downtown a much more attractive place to shop and dine.
As we look to the future, we need to utilize every advantage that technology can provide to deliver services, information, and convenience to the public. As Councillor of Ward 9 I pledge to continue leading the way. I ask that you please give me your vote on Election Day, Tuesday, November 5th!
Robert G. Logan
Councillor Ward 9
