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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - Futures Committee - 02/11/2019 - City Manager’s Office 300 LaPorte Avenue PO Box 580 Fort Collins, CO 80522 970.221.6505 970.224.6107 - fax fcgov.com MINUTES CITY OF FORT COLLINS FUTURES COMMITTEE MEETING Date: February 11, 2019 Location: CIC Room, City Hall, 300 Laporte Ave. Time: 4:00–6:00pm Committee Members Present: Mayor Wade Troxell Kristin Stephens Ray Martinez City Staff: Darin Atteberry, City Manager Jeff Mihelich, Deputy City Manager Jackie Kozak-Thiel, (Staff Liaison) Presenters: David Eaves Additional Staff Present: Tim Campbell, Open Data/IT Dean Klingner, PDT Katie Ricketts, Finance, Victoria Shaw, Sustainability Tyler Marr, City Manager’s Office Colman Keane, Fort Collins Connection Kelly DiMartino, City Manager’s Office Teresa Roche, Human Resources Nina Bodenhamere, City Give Dan Coldiron, IT Community Members: Kevin Jones, Fort Collins Chamber of Commerce Nathalie Rachline, Transporation Board Meeting called to order at 4:06 pm Approval of Minutes: Kristen moved to approve September minutes. Mayor Troxell seconded. Motion passed unanimously. 2-0-1. 2 Chairman Comments: None Think Tank Item 2-2019: Polarities in data and smart cities: connectivity and privacy, big data and security Jackie introduces David Eaves and the context of the Futures committee David worked as an advisor for the office of the Mayor of Vancouver, led open data in Canada and the world. David is considered one of the 100 most influential people in digital government and was the first director for code for America. David Eaves, Harvard Kennedy School • David asks us to think about some of the bigger challenges around Smart Cities and data management o As managers, the power for change comes from the types of questions that are asked in meetings—consider what types of questions we should be asking. • Point number 1: Good Questions and good data o Using San Diego’s installation of LED streetlights with sensors as an example, highlights that even though data may be being collected, it is important to understand what questions are being asked and how those questions will help to solve the right problem. o Managers need to question how resources can be allocated to projects that actually matter o Goal should not be to collect data for data’s sake ▪ Ask the right questions and use data to support • Point number 2: Good Politics over more data o Cities are facing big challenges such as climate change and the opioid crisis that threaten the viability and resiliency of their communities o There can be a tendency to use data as a distraction from the hard work that needs to be accomplished to address these wicked problems ▪ Work includes building partnerships and coalitions to solve problems. we build partnerships and build coalitions to solve these hard problems • Point number 3: Values over data o With the emergence of Smart Cities, it is easy to get excited about the possibilities without thinking about the type of city leaders want to build ▪ Consider how to be inclusive ▪ Using Sidewalk Labs Toronto as an example, lessons learned include being clear on who owns data, how it is managed, who has access and how it is used o Consider the tensions that arise with data: ▪ How does data collection run contrary to creating a safe and welcoming city? ▪ What are the privacy issues with data collection? o There is a need to consider larger governance questions 3 • Point number 4: What are best practices o Begin with asking questions: “who are we serving” and “how are we engaging them” and “do we really know them”? o Once these questions are asked, city officials can begin: ▪ Exploring what tools are needed to meet those needs; ▪ Examine how operations support these tools; ▪ Explore policy options to support infrastructure o Beginning with policy rather than understanding who we are trying to serve can result in programs that are not user friendly and don’t accomplish goals ▪ Build the service with the person at the center (i.e. who are we serving) ▪ Think about how to design for that user • Do you understand how users engage? • Have you used service yourself? ▪ Learn and Iterate: Test hypothesis in cheapest way possible, learn from testing o Smart cities are not built because of grand vision: ▪ incremental ways to scale them up ▪ scale expectations, beliefs and values—don’t impose them on others o Make sure that you own the data Comments/Q&A: • Systems thinking is very very present in this discussion—think about interplay between things. o The discussion also highlights Design thinking: putting user at center of what you are designing • We should also be considering Rapid prototyping: observe and see what useful application is. • What are the important thoughts about integration of different services or other things? o Davide mentions that systems thinking is extremely important, but we still need to consider how it affects other things such as sense of privacy or safety concerns. o Owning the data is very important: ▪ As city officials when we are buying data management tools, it is important to ask the vendor if we own the data ▪ Don’t rely on a single vendor: diversify vendors and see how well they cooperate • Looking at the example of Scooters and UABs, these are data sources where the question becomes, even if we have access to the data, do cities have resources or time to analyze it? • Looking at drones, there continues to be important questions about privacy and where to draw the line. • Question from staff member on how do we walk the line between the right questions and once we have the data, seeing correlations with problems? o Part of this is about what we choose to collect o David suggests collecting data that the City needs for operational purposes o Making data open drops prototyping costs, which benefits city staff the most 4 • There is skepticism of cities collecting data in big ways, are there cities that get it right? o Barcelona o Chicago created sensors on light posts and had huge community outreach program to figure out how it made sense and where most community value would be ▪ i.e. video on sensors—made people uncomfortable—so they degraded camera quality to collect data they needed (water on streets) but couldn’t identify people Future Topics: What would the committee like to see discussed in 2019? Mayor Wade Troxell and Jackie Kozak-Thiel • Our June Futures meeting will be with Andres Duany on community architecture. • Discussion about regionalism and how to shape it o Something that can stimulate conversation around collaboration/partnerships, we are all better if we play together (interplay between self interest and shared interest). How do you align and build coalitions? Additional Discussion: None Meeting adjourned by Wade Troxell at 5:28 pm.