impound ordinance

"we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals." 

If Denver passes ballot initiative 300, an existing ordinance will be rewritten to sharpen the consequences for violating its terms.  As is, Denver police officers can use discretion as to who and who should not have their cars impounded based on net public safety. Initiative 300 would revoke that right, and require officers to impound the vehicle of any unlicensed driver without proof of vehicle registration. No, not of any unlicensed driver, but of any driver pulled over without his license. 

Damages could total $3,000 after retrieving your vehicle and the incurrence of court costs. So, the next time you run out to the grocery store, are pulled over for your broken tail light, and cannot produce your license, you can kiss your car goodbye, in addition to your next couple paychecks.

Initiative 300 would effect the whole citizen population of Denver, and anyone who drives through Denver, but was designed with one small subset of people in mind: illegal immigrants.

Let me draw a parallel.

Everyone who travels through a US airport has to remove their shoes because our overzealous federal government imposed a sweeping reform based on the actions of a single person. I feel degraded as a human when i am asked to remove my shoes, my coat, at the security check in an airport. so, do i resent the one guy who allegedly hid a bomb in his shoe, or do i resent the reaction of our federal government?

Our entire country was impacted by the action of one man.

That’s power. By reacting the way the federal government did--adding a new branch to our government!-bloating our bureaucracy, spying on our own citizens--all of these actions demonstrated a weakened connfidence in each other and in our system.

•

In terms of the extreme measure that the new vehicle impound ordinance proposes, the cost of keeping illegal immigrants out of our country is its dignity. The measure attempts to arrest a problem that local government is ill-equipped to resolve. Denver police officers are employed in the sphere of public safety, not border control. To vote yes on the initiative is to penalize each other. To vote yes on initiative 300 is to have local law enforcement combatting an elusive perpetrator that is the jurisdiction of the federal government. 

Initiative 300 would be passed in lieu of public safety, not for public safety.

Government 2.0-- Less M.C. Escher Print, More Aqua User Interface

In the spirit of change, President Barack Obama will appoint the first United States federal Chief Technology Officer. The job description is to:

ensure that our government and all its agencies have the right infrastructure, policies and services for the 21st century. The CTO will ensure the safety of our networks and will lead an interagency effort, working with chief technology and chief information officers of each of the federal agencies, to ensure that they use best-in-class technologies and share best practices.

Obama demonstrated his tech savvy during the 2008 election, and proved that taking advantage of innovative technology leads to success. Recasting the Director of New Media from stagehand to starring role by titling Macon Phillips “special assistant to the President” is a new and notable deviation from previous administrations’ commitment to giving tech its proper place in the White House. On January 20 at 12:01 PM, Phillips posted the first ever blog entry at WhiteHouse.gov.

On March 26, WhiteHouse. gov hosted its first online town hall style question and answer session. “Open for Questions” converges the web and democracy by allowing users to login to whitehouse.gov and submit and rate questions. The most popular will be answered, live, by the President via webcast.

Our country has never seen a webocracy before. If the Director of New Media and the rest of the Obama team are using advanced technology to improve the public face of the White House, imagine what the Chief Technology Officer could do to transform the remaining 90% of the U.S. Government.

Basically, the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) could do for the U.S. government what Steve Jobs did for the personal computer.

Currently, navigating our government, understanding its framework, and accessing its information is about as easy as finding your way out of an M.C. Escher print--staircases leading nowhere, freestanding doorways, sideways arches...the architecture of our government is long overdue for renovation.

The Mac OSX aqua user interface is navigable, appealing, functional and interactive. It turned computing into a user experience that has delighted legions of consumers. It turned the personal computer into a Mac--and it turned Apple into the pioneers of innovative computing technology. It enables ordinary people to do extraordinary things, easily. Our government should enable its constituents to design, navigate, and interact with its content. The government should be one product, tool, for me to use to get things done, and so far, this is only theoretical. I can only use what is within my reach, and so much of our government’s usability is concealed, or too confusing to find. The CTO could change this.

And, well, because Steve is not currently available for the Job, enter my nomination, David Kelley. Founder of IDEO and the d.school at Stanford University, Kelley received his B.A. in electrical engineering in 1978 and has been innovating his pants off ever since. IDEO is “a worldwide leader in the user-centered design of products” and Kelley is pioneering “design-thinking” at Stanford to get students “to create delightful design experiences and embrace and promote a culture of innovation.”

Kelley is not a designer. Kelley is a design consultant. The design consultant. Kelley doesn’t have allegiances, and IDEO does not design its own products. IDEO’s agenda has always been you. As a design consultant, IDEO has simplified via innovation everything from your tube of toothpaste to the way you save money. And the government could use some simplification via innovation.

Specific challenges the use of current technology could meet: participation (people), coordination (agencies),  improvement (transparency), and communication (ideas). How will technology triumph idea flow to and from the government? How will technology turn bureaucracy into webocracy, monologue into dialogue, walls into windows? This is where the U.S. government has significant space to become a usable product. A means to an end. And this is where Kelley shines. Technology is the bridge between the government and the people, and Kelley can build it.

updated 03.26.2009