Long Beach has continued its efforts to improve the lives of all Long Beach residents by making technology more accessible to address community needs.
The city has launched community technology pilot programs in four Long Beach neighborhoods as part of its Smart Cities Initiative – which advances solutions to civic challenges by engaging the community, staff and private sector to explore and implement emerging technology.
These pilot projects are derived from LB Co-Lab, a community-driven civic technology program that engages community members in immersive collaborative workshops to design technology solutions to address challenges in their neighborhoods.
“Our city team is committed to bringing together members of the community and exploring technology solutions that bring value to Long Beach residents and improve city operations,” Mayor Rex Richardson said in a statement. “As technology is a greater part of our day-to-day lives, it is our job to ensure technology and innovation projects are co-designed alongside our most traditionally underserved residents.”
After the city analyzed data on internet access, unemployment, age and COVID-19 cases, it identified four neighborhoods of focus: Hamilton, Ramona Park, Willmore and Westside. Each of the selected neighborhoods were allocated an initial budget of $35,000 to design and start a technology pilot project in their community, according to a press release.
Each technology program was designed and vetted by community participants from each neighborhood based on needs specifically identified by the community.
Participants defined a challenge based on their neighborhood’s biggest needs, evaluated and selected the technology pilot solutions, and defined key pilot details, such as location and performance metrics.
Three technology pilot projects have launched at various locations across the city, with the fourth project currently happening, officials said.
The Willmore neighborhood project was launched in May, with participants seeking to promote pedestrian and cyclist safety to create a sense of community well-being. They selected a solution to deploy three privacy-complaint sensors to measure multimodal activity at key neighborhood intersections, such as bicycle, pedestrian and vehicle movement.
All data collected, such as vehicle counts, paths, heatmaps, speed and other trends are anonymous and secure, the city said. The sensors are located at Ocean Boulevard and Pine Avenue, Third Street and Maine Avenue, and Seventh Street and Chestnut Avenue. Data collected will be made publicly available and used by city officials to guide future street safety improvements and grant applications.
The Westside neighborhood project also launched in May. Participants chose a technology pilot solution to propel park utilization and improve safety at Silverado Park. The city installed two people-counting, privacy-compliant infrared sensors at Silverado Park and created a custom data dashboard for the city and members of the public to visualize information about park visits and time spent at the park.
City officials will use this data to understand park operations and planning needs, and inform capital improvements to Silverado Park, according to the press release.
For the Hamilton neighborhood project, participants wanted a street improvement solution to promote pedestrian safety, enhance visibility and encourage positive neighborhood experiences. The project launched in July to address this need.
The city installed three smart, energy-efficient lights with people-counting and air quality analytics features on the pathway between the parking lot and the exercise area at Houghton Park. Data collected will be used by Houghton Park staffers to evaluate usage trends and determine whether smart lights are a viable solution throughout the park, according to the press release.
Ramona Park neighborhood project participants chose a technology solution to provide efficient and reliable internet connectivity at Ramona Park and the adjacent community center.
Residents in the neighborhood have low rates of home internet access and shared that previously, there were no accessible public Wi-Fi points in the neighborhood, city officials said.
Nine high-coverage Wi-Fi routers are being permanently installed at Ramona Park to provide reliable service to all park areas, as well as educational signage and resources to learn about W-Fi. The city anticipates the public Wi-Fi will be available in the coming weeks.
After the completion of each pilot, a community brief will be shared with the public to review the results and evaluate the impact of the solution in the neighborhood, officials said. Long Beach officials say they will continue working alongside community members to foster a public dialogue about emerging civic technologies and piloting technology in the city that provides solutions to urban challenges.
“Our Smart City Initiative team continues to pioneer community-centered approaches to advance our vision to address civic challenges by engaging the community, staff and private sector to explore, design, and implement emerging technologies in the city,” Chief Information Officer and Technology and Innovation Department Director Lea Eriksen said in a statement.
“We are committed to ensuring people come first,” Eriksen added, “and we will continue connecting with community members to design and deploy technology that serves the public good.”
---
Autor(en)/Author(s): Christina Merino
Quelle/Source: Press-Telegram, 08.11.2024
Bitte besuchen Sie/Please visit:
