Photo by brothergrimm.

CTO Sivak

DC’s most innovative agency has a new CTO, Brian Sivak, who founded a knowledge management software company and calls himself an “innovator”. (City Paper)  (Tip: Michael P)  

One county’s revenue from hoarding data: negative half a mil

Most California counties release their map data, but Santa Clara County (where I once lived), capital of the tech industry, decided to try to make money off it instead. When a nonprofit asked for the data, Santa Clara tried to charge $250,000 and get a nondisclosure agreement, first arguing that it was copyrighted and then that national security prevented the release. The county just lost a lawsuit, and has to pay $500,000 in court costs instead. (Wired.com, Michael P.)  (Tip: Michael P)  

MTA pulls back the F curtain

In what could be another sign of the New York MTA’s new direction of openness, they’ve released a detailed study of the F train’s performance. It includes data on the line’s on-time performance (about 50%), frequency of stops skipped to catch up (about 2-3 times a day), and much more. (transit-developers list, Michael P.)  (Tip: Michael P)  

H Street will go first?

DC will accelerate plans for an H Street streetcar, reports the Business Journal. They also say that after lobbying by Tommy Wells, H Street will operate before the Anacostia line. Is that right? The Anacostia line is currently under construction, while H Street just has tracks and no infrastructure, including a maintenance facility. BeyondDC asked DDOT, which replied that they’re hoping to finish both Anacostia and H Street by 2012.  (WBJ, BeyondDC)  (Tip: Michael P)  

No more meters for Iowan city

Davenport, Iowa is taking away its parking meters, replacing them with two hours free (and presumably no parking after that). They’ll look at the program in a year. We should check back and see how it’s going for them.  

Really high-speed rail

Japan has always been a leader in high-speed trains. Their latest plan: a maglev from Tokyo to Osaka. It would make the trip, 20% farther than DC-NYC, in just 67 minutes. The Acela Express takes 168 minutes. (The Mainichi Daily News, Nazo)  (Tip: Nazo)  

Music to your feet

One Stockholm subway station has an innovative approach to getting people to use the stairs: they make music. (David C, Tom A)  (Tip: David C)