More than links: New Web tools from DDOT and the Council, Jim Dyke visits Riders’ Council, and a historic conference
DDOT launches permit browser
A new DDOT tool lets people see public space permits granted or applied for in any area of the city. Tools like this are very useful for residents who see spaces blocked for storage or roads being torn up and want to know why or make sure it’s legal.
The tool, like most of DDOT’s recent dashboards, uses Microsoft Silverlight, which doesn’t work on all browsers or mobile devices and has patent encumbrances. And the UI could use a few tweaks; for example, when you click on a permit location on the map, the circle spins and an entry in a long list gets highlighted, but in order to see all of the information, you have to mouse back over to the list and scroll instead of getting a helpful pop-up bubble.
Fortunately, this data is also available in XML format, so unlike with Ride-On real-time data, other developers can try to do better if they wish.
New Council website coming Friday
DC Council Chairman Kwame Brown and his IT staff gave a group a sneak peek at a new DC Council website yesterday, which will go live for users outside the Wilson Building Friday.
It’s a huge step in the right direction. Navigation has been simplified, and the many different calendars combined into one. You can now get an RSS feed of all bills, or all hearings. Long-term, they’d like to also add RSS feeds for individual committees so you don’t have to wade through all the ceremonial resolutions, for instance.
There will also be fixes for internal users, like a new Microsoft SharePoint-based system for reserving conference rooms in place of the cumbersome paper-based process today. The folks working on the site definitely seem to know what they’re doing, which you can’t always assume from a project like this.
Long-term, they want to load more of the information in the separate LIMS legislative tracking system into pages on the main site, so you can click from the calendar to a bill and actually see useful information about the bill. For now, the site will still have some pages with minimal information, but it’s definitely more than we have today.
The Council also now has a Twitter feed, @councilofdc. It was initially @dccitycouncil until Mike DeBonis pointed out that DC’s council is more of a hybrid city-state legislature than a city council.
Jim Dyke attends RAC meeting
In a recent Post op-ed, I listed 2 criteria for determining whether Jim Dyke’s appointment to the WMATA Board is good or bad for riders. First was whether his involvement draws Bob McDonnell personally into caring about Metro, and second was whether he takes time to hear from riders on general concerns and on the issues coming before the board.
We still have to wait and see on the first, but there’s at least meaningful progress on the 2nd. Dyke came to the Riders’ Advisory Council meeting last night, staying for about half of the 2-hour meeting. Board members occasionally come to meetings, but not very often, so it was a significant step.
Attending RAC meetings is one of several ways he could hear from riders; others include publicizing some kind of WMATA email address for riders to contact him (since Virginia riders can already email their other board members), or holding town halls for Virginians.
DC history conference starts tonight
A conference on the history of Washington starts tonight and continues through the weekend. Presentations will touch on the city’s political, social, and cultural development throughout all periods of its history.
Tonight’s lecture covers the Civil War in Washington. Additional sessions will examine other aspects of the Civil War, as well as many other topics. Some unique presentations this year will cover archaeology, the sesquicentennial of the Metropolitan Police Department, escaped slaves in the DC area, neighborhoods, and the use of online historical resources, including H-DC.
On Friday and Saturday DC Public Library’s Washingtoniana Division will host its first ever book sale, making available hundreds of historical records dating back to 1899. Separate tours on Saturday will explore Lafayette Square and prohibition. A Sunday tour will visit the Civil War defenses of Washington.