Efforts to make a smarter Honolulu

Honolulu is, somewhat surprisingly, the 10th largest municipality in the United States. IBM is working with the local government to update its technology—to "build a smarter Honolulu," as they would say. Here is an interesting video on efforts to provide data to citizens, and the results from … Continue reading →

Vacant Property Registration Continues to Spread

I've been following vacant property registration ordinances since the start of this blog. Earlier this month I noted a recent working paper about these ordinances spearheaded by Dan Immergluck from Georgia Tech University, who has a long-term project tracking them. In that paper, he says, "As of … Continue reading →

Detroit on the verge of emergency management

According to the Detroit Free Press, the word on the street is that Michigan's Governor Snyder might appoint an emergency manager for Detroit—tomorrow. City officials are not excited; in fact, the "Detroit City Council launched an effort today to hire special outside counsel that could help mount … Continue reading →

New lawsuits against MERS

I'm just catching up on a swarm of recent cases filed against Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc. (MERS), the privately owned mortgage registry that has, for some time now, been used by the mortgage industry in lieu of municipal recording systems (which were generally voluntary anyway). … Continue reading →

Video about potential effects of city beautification

This TED Talk is a good reminder why big data, as David Brooks recently put it, is "good at some things and not at others." In this talk, Edi Rama, mayor of Tirana, Albania, discusses how residents started to take responsibility for their city after he initiated beautification projects, and how he … Continue reading →

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