Where  Not  To  Walk  In  Cambridge:  One  Ci7zen  

Journalist’s  Journey  Through  Snow,  Bureaucracy,  and  Google  

Fusion  Table  Maps  

Saul  Tannenbaum  saul@tannenbaum.org  

@stannenb  cctvcambridge.org/stannenb  

©  Genevieve  Berumen,  All  Rights  Reserved  

Your FOIA request and the response to the Council order are not exactly the same. The Council Order is a request for data on snow ticketing to be made available on the web site (or other means I believe, but I think it is preferable to be on the web site). The City Manager has also received requests from City Councilors to have other enforcement/ticketing data on the web site as well and I was planning on answering Council Order comprehensively to consider other compliance data as well. I will talk to the City Manager about it.!I certainly don't mean to be difficult Saul. There is a process for us to answer the Council Order via the City Manager's office. The response goes back to the City Councillor(s) first who put the order in. !

Saul, it will take me a week or so to write a response to the City Council order and get it to the City Manager. He then will review and forward to the City Council. If you would like the data request in the FOIA request for the time you specified in next week, then you should maintain as a FOIA request. Sorry for the confusion. !

hNp://www.google.com/fusiontables/  

hNp://project.wnyc.org/census-­‐maps/2010pop.html  

Resources  

•  hNps://sites.google.com/site/fusiontablestalks/talks  •  hNps://sites.google.com/site/fusiontablestalks/stories  

•  Making  the  WNYC  Census  Map:  hNp://johnkeefe.net/47474697  

•  hNps://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/fusion-­‐tables-­‐users-­‐group  

 

!

TO: Robert W. Healy, City Manager

FROM: Lisa Peterson, Public Works Commissioner

TOPIC: Council Order #7 of February 7, 2011 regarding a request to make accessible to the public all unshoveled sidewalks complaints received, and all violations issued either due to those complaints or otherwise, and to develop a strategy to post or release this information regularly during the winter months

DATE: March 7, 2011

In response to the above referenced Council Order, please find attached two spreadsheets with data on all complaints received and all tickets issue this winter season (12/21/2010 through February24, 2011). As you will notice, 2,333 complaints were received and 1,217 tickets were issued as of February 24, 2011.

The Council Order specifically asks for a strategy to be developed to make this information available to the public and updated regularly over the winter months. I suggest that the information be made available on the City’s Snow webpage in a chart form similar to that constructed for the 5 year Street and Sidewalk Plan (see: http://www2.cambridgema.gov/TheWorks/departments/engnr/fiveyearplan.aspx). In this format, users will be able to sort by any one field.

With your concurrence, we will develop a table to display this information in the future on the DPW website. For now, I suggest releasing the information in spreadsheet format.

Please let me know if you have any questions or require additional information.

!

TO: Robert W. Healy, City Manager

FROM: Lisa Peterson, Public Works Commissioner

TOPIC: Council Order #7 of February 7, 2011 regarding a request to make accessible to the public all unshoveled sidewalks complaints received, and all violations issued either due to those complaints or otherwise, and to develop a strategy to post or release this information regularly during the winter months

DATE: March 7, 2011

In response to the above referenced Council Order, please find attached two spreadsheets with data on all complaints received and all tickets issue this winter season (12/21/2010 through February24, 2011). As you will notice, 2,333 complaints were received and 1,217 tickets were issued as of February 24, 2011.

The Council Order specifically asks for a strategy to be developed to make this information available to the public and updated regularly over the winter months. I suggest that the information be made available on the City’s Snow webpage in a chart form similar to that constructed for the 5 year Street and Sidewalk Plan (see: http://www2.cambridgema.gov/TheWorks/departments/engnr/fiveyearplan.aspx). In this format, users will be able to sort by any one field.

With your concurrence, we will develop a table to display this information in the future on the DPW website. For now, I suggest releasing the information in spreadsheet format.

Please let me know if you have any questions or require additional information.

Acknowledgments  

NeighborMedia  Cambridge,  Cambridge  Community  Television  

Funding  provided  by  

Cambridge  Department  of  Public  Works,  Lisa  Peterson,  Commissioner    Cambridge  City  Council  Councilor  Leland  Cheung