Our pursuit of innovation
[VIDEO] On June 15th, the City of Syracuse Division of Code Enforcement hosted Healthy Housing 101, an event held to teach local residents and service providers how to spot code violations in homes. Our code inspectors reviewed what to look for in homes--mold, infestations, unsafe staircases--as well as who citizens can contact when they have an issue getting problems fixed.
[VIDEO] On June 6th, Mark Headd, in partnership with Syracuse University’s iSchool, organized and hosted the first-ever Upstate Data Summit, a conference of data officers and analysts from across upstate New York. At the conference, public data and innovation professionals held panels on how cities including Syracuse, Rochester, Buffalo, Albany, and Binghamton can efficiently gather and use data to improve everything from housing safety to road & sidewalk repair.
When James Anderson took to the podium last week at the Bloomberg Philanthropies convening of communications directors from U.S. cities, he knew how to get my attention. James, who worked in a role just like mine under Mayor Michael Bloomberg in New York City, is now the leader of Bloomberg’s Government Innovation team. He showed us the hard cold reality from the Edelman Trust Barometer: Americans don’t trust government.
I was running late to the Behavioral Insights conference in NYC. Despite planning efforts, I was having trouble checking into the hotel and now only had fifteen minutes to get from East 92nd Street and 1st Avenue to 78th and Madison (Bloomberg Philanthropies!). Seeing the time tick by, I made a decision. I abandoned the concierge, grabbed my luggage and began my stressed out walk/run toward the nearest 6 train. While I clamored across the upper east side, I drilled through what I would do if I got there five minutes late (walk in quietly and sit down) versus fifteen minutes late (wait out the first meeting of the day and join the group after) versus more than thirty minutes late (resign in shame).
