• the ‘gameification’ of the 311 service request process so citizens can vote on issues to be addressed;
• a business license renewal reminder tool for operators;
• an economic development targeting app;
• an urban gardens map of our city; and more!

You may learn about the 25 suggested projects (they are just suggestions, so come with ideas!) at HoustonHackathon.com. Everyone is welcome, so come join over 280 others already slated to attend!

I hope the Houston Hackathon will be one of many events centered around innovation and technology for our city. We have amazing coders, entrepreneurs and budding businesses here who, if brought together to work toward a shared vision of growth, support, and innovation, will ensure that Houston thrives.

Want to stay involved with our innovation and technology efforts?
Sign up here! »

I’d like to extend a sincere thank you to all those hosting this event, particularly Bruce Haupt, Jeff Reichman, Kim Evans, Jerry Peruchini, City of Houston Department Directors and Staff, Startup America, January Advisors, Houston Technology Center, Invent Houston Foundation, Startup Texas, Code for Houston, Hack Houston, Startup Houston, Blue Lance, REDLabs, Cleanweb Worldwide, Code for America, START Houston, Foundation Republic, Tendenci, Platform Houston, #SLGT, Interface Financial Group, Katz Coffee, Schipul, Culture Pilot, #BBSRadio, and Oh My! Pocket Pies.

See you at the hackathon!

Ed

P.S. Please keep up with this weekend’s event online by following the #HackHou hashtag.

I’d like to welcome everyone to join me this evening at Memorial Park for the Tenth Annual Ride of Silence. BikeHouston will host the ride which will begin at Memorial Park and end at City Hall. Riders will gather in Memorial Park in the parking area just west of the picnic loop starting at 6:30pm. The ride will start promptly at 7:00pm and will be escorted by HPD and two Ride of Silence trucks. The Ride of Silence is a free ride that asks its cyclists to ride no faster than 12 mph, wear helmets, follow the rules of the road and remain silent during the ride. There are no sponsors and no registration fees. The ride, which is held during National Bike Month, aims to raise the awareness of motorists, police and city officials that cyclists have a legal right to the public roadways. The ride is also a chance to show respect for and honor the lives of those who have been killed or injured. For more information about the ride of silence, please reach out to the District H Team via DistrictH@houstontx.gov or 832-393-3003.

I would like to commend  Judge Hartle and her team at the City of Houston Municipal Courts for the Mini Court Clinics which they are hosting throughout the city this week. The Mini Court Clinics are designed to help citizens better understand how to handle court business and to check on the status of any potential pending cases. In District H, there is a clinic going on today from 10AM – 2PM at the Denver Harbor Multi-Service Center, located at 6402 Market Street. There will be no police officers or judges present, just helpful staff that are prepared to assist Houstonians. For more information, please contact PresidingJudge@houstontx.gov or
call 713-247-5464.

The city’s Planning Department is hosting a Historic Preservation Fair this Saturday at Houston Permitting Center, located at 1002 Washington Avenue. The fair begins at 8AM and concludes at 1PM. The half-day event will cover various topics, including: planning appropriate repairs, alterations and additions to historic properties, replacing historic windows, and how to begin the historic landmark or historic designation process. For more information, please call 713-897-7963 or visit www.houstontx.gov/planning.

I’d like to give a quick thank you to the Lone Star College – North Harris graduating class of 2013. This past Friday, I had the sincere pleasure of delivering the commencement address in front of many bright young leaders. I would like to thank President Steve Head and the trustees of the Lone Star College System for allowing me to be a part of such a special day. I wish continued success to the graduates and look forward to seeing each one of them grow and become leaders in their fields.

Yesterday evening, I was able to participate in a “Friends of the American Latino Museum”  townhall at Rice University. The gathering was in support of a Latino Museum being added to the National Mall. The crowd included key leaders from the Latino community and I sincerely thank David Medina and Rice University for their leadership on this issue.

As some of my colleagues have mentioned, this is National Police Week, and I am proud to join in thanking and expressing my support of our police officers. As a retired Sergeant, I know first-hand the high quality of officers that we are fortunate to have here in our city. This week also gives us an opportunity to honor those that have fallen to serve us; we appreciate their bravery, their courage, and their ultimate sacrifice on our behalf.

Finally, I’d like to thank the members of the Woodland Heights Civic Association for allowing me to meet with them last night. This community is engaged, active, and truly passionate about improving the quality of life in District H. I appreciate their passion and their willingness to work with our team.

Ed
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What is ‘Pop Off?’: ‘Pop-Off’ occurs at the end of each City Council Agenda Meeting. At this time, each council member is given the opportunity to discuss happenings in their district, congratulate constituents and share relevant information with the Council and the public. All City Council meetings can be watched live online.

This new measure compliments our goal of achieving a comprehensive ‘complete streets’ policy for Houston – a policy that would ensure all citizens have easy and safe access to roads and more transportation options. The ongoing expansion of the city’s hike and bike trail network will further provide new connectivity to every part of Houston.

I recently took advantage of our city’s fantastic bike share system, BCycle and took to the streets on a bike. My ride through the city made me keenly aware of the importance of protecting all Houstonians on our roads. The new ordinance will require heightened awareness by everyone and a mutual respect for each other and for our traffic laws.

Our Safe Passing ordinance passed because of input from citizens like you, and because of the hard work from Laura Spanjian, Mayor Parker and her team, and key stakeholders such as Senator Rodney Ellis, AARP, Bike Texas, Houston Tomorrow, Citizens’ Transportation Coalition, Bike Houston, and Better Houston.

Together, we’re implementing public policy that continues to improve the quality of life for all Houstonians.

Thank you for your help to improve our city!

Ed

I would like to give a shout out to the Bayou City Dragons, the Municipal Courts: Justice is Served on the Water Team, and the Houston Airport System for participating in the 13th Annual Dragon Boat Festival Races at Allen’s Landing. As the District Council Member for the area, it was pleasure to kick-off the festivities on Saturday morning. I want to thank Council Members Christie and Costello for attending; I know they both rowed with our City of Houston team as well. I also want to congratulate the Texas Dragon Boat Association for their continued growth and commitment to the festival and to the races here in our city. I was impressed by the many cultural performances, the huge crowd, the athleticism (of most teams) out on the water, and the celebration of Allen’s Landing, the birth place of our city. I am already looking forward to next year’s festival!

Last Friday I honored Volunteer Houston’s Greater Houston Service Award Youth Recipient, Deijah Bordenave. She’s only a junior in High School and already has an amazing resume! I am proud of this young lady who has represented District H on the Mayor’s Youth Council, volunteered in her school, her community, and throughout the city. This year she is a nominee for the National Youth Leadership Forum and has accepted an internship in Washington D.C. for Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney. Congrats, Deijah! You are our future.

Last week’s incident at IAH reminds us that we must always be vigilant and that danger can strike anywhere. As a former police officer, I know that being prepared and knowing what to do can make the difference between life and death in a dangerous situation. Our city released the nationally acclaimed Run. Hide. Fight. video last year, which helps all of us prepare for an active shooter scenario. You can find the video online at www.readyhoustontx.gov. I strongly encourage everyone to watch it and to have a plan of action for these types of scenarios. I would also like to acknowledge and thank all of the first responders that secured the scene last week; the system worked. Thank you all for your courage, your professionalism, and for restoring airport operations back to normal.

Ed
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What is ‘Pop Off?’: ‘Pop-Off’ occurs at the end of each City Council Agenda Meeting. At this time, each council member is given the opportunity to discuss happenings in their district, congratulate constituents and share relevant information with the Council and the public. All City Council meetings can be watched live online.

“This is about awareness by everyone that the road is for everybody,” said Councilman Ed Gonzalez, a supporter of the ordinance.

Houston was the only major city in Texas that does not have a safe passing law, though officials have aggressively encouraged cycling in the region. The new law covers anyone not in an automobile or truck, including tow truck drivers.

Bicyclists  pressed for the law to combat what some said are dangerous drivers who come too close to cyclists with whom they’re required to share the road. Proponents said the purpose is more educational, though drivers can be fined up to $500 for violating the law.

Some are skeptical the law will do much good, and pointed out some cyclists also need to show greater courtesy to drivers.

Houston has 300 miles of bike lanes and trails, but 16,000 miles of street lanes. Given those numbers, it’s not hard to figure out that cars, bikes and pedestrians will often share the road.

Houston Councilmember Ed Gonzalez, who has urged his colleagues to vote for the safe passage ordinance, says he’s taken to biking city streets lately just to see what it’s like for people who choose alternate transportation. He’s concerned about the level of aggression he sees from drivers.

“We have individuals that choose to ride a bike in our city and we’re going to see a growing number of that. We now have a bike-sharing program and we’re enhancing our hike and bike trails. So we need to be mindful of this paradigm shift in our city and send a message that this is important and we need to make sure that we’re paying attention, just be a little patient out there while you’re driving.”

The new ordinance will require drivers to either trail behind vulnerable users at a distance of six feet or pass them at a distance of three feet.

A vulnerable user is anyone who shares the right of way, including runners, cyclists, the disabled and even construction or utility workers.

“You also can’t overtake and make a quick turn in front of a vulnerable user, and also not throw any type of objects or substances. Believe it or not, that does happen.”

Anyone caught violating the safe passage rules could be ticketed with a Class C misdemeanor and fined up to $500.

Austin, Dallas-Ft.Worth and San Antonio all have safe passage laws and 39 states have them as well. The Texas Legislature passed a statewide version in 2009, but it was vetoed by the governor.

The Open Innovation Hackathon, to kick off May 17, coincides with the city’s growing “open data” initiative, which will see information from various departments dumped into an online portal, available to citizens and coders alike.

“The goal is to engage the tech community, solve problems and help build the overall technology infrastructure in the city of Houston,” Mayor Annise Parker said Wednesday. “It’s designed to be an intriguing and challenging experience for those who participate in the hack, but it’s to have real deliverables to the city afterward. We have great hopes, considering how tech-savvy the greater Houston area is, that we’re going to get some really intriguing proposals and new applications.”

Parker said whether city resources are invested in promising projects initiated at the event will by determined on a case-by-case basis.

Councilman Ed Gonzalez, the council’s most avid Twitter user and a key force behind the hackathon, said more technology events are planned in the coming months. Gonzalez said Houston does not get the credit it deserves as a technology hub and that city government embracing these types of events raises the industry’s profile.

“Why not create the next Google or Foursquare or the next hot app? Why does it have to come from Silicon Valley or some of these other places? We have everything in place here,” said Gonzalez, who could not keep the grin off his face during Wednesday’s news conference. “There’s a lot of creative energy here. All these are steps moving in that direction, by municipal government lending its support of this hackathon, by sharing its data.”

City leaders urge those interested in participating to register at houston hackathon.com, where 25 potential projects also are listed. Among them are a web site showing restaurant inspection scores, an app mapping city bike trails, bike lanes and dashboards that could measure the efficiency of city departments.

Jeff Reichman, a principal at consulting firm January Advisors and local chair of Startup America, said Houston’s startup industry has gained momentum in the last two years. He said if he can find some coding time at the event, he would like to tackle a project to make it easier for businesses to work with City Hall. A similar application at the federal level goes by RFP EZ.

‘Hackathon mentality’

“Developers, software developers especially, are drawn to challenges, and if they can work on challenges that have a big impact, that’s a good use of time,” he said. “The city just wants to encourage that hackathon mentality that happens naturally.”

James Wroblewski, of Code for Houston and Hack Houston, said civic engagement in the tech community has mushroomed recently, pointing to a local hackathon on health care in March, and another civic hacking event planned for June.

“There’s certainly been a very large movement throughout the country to utilize more national, state and local data in order to make the community stronger and allow them to have more access to things they might need or information they might not previously have had access to,” Wroblewski said. “There’s a little bit more enthusiasm when you can get together people who are not only passionate about technology and innovation but also see a chance to do some good.”

Gonzalez said a focus for him in these events will be exposing students to science, engineering, technology and math fields, pointing to a Brookings Institute study saying Houston has a glut of these jobs but doesn’t produce enough local graduates to fill them.

As for the hackathon, Gonzalez said he hopes someone will compare upkeep costs for police cars to data on street conditions near police stations. It may turn out, he said, that the cost to pave torn up streets near police stations could be offset by savings in car repairs and tire replacements.

“It’s city government making a call to say, ‘come help us help us solve these problems,’ ” he said. “Let’s be a convener, let’s bring people together and let the magic happen. We already know great things are happening.”

“Houston leads the nation in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) job growth, and we want to leverage local talent to produce outcomes,” Mayor Parker said.  “Everyone involved has worked very hard to define high-impact projects that solve our problems and that can be completed in 24 hours.  We want to use the applications and insights that are created at the Hackathon as soon as possible.”

Mayor Parker also announced the launch of the City’s Open Data Initiative, a program that puts public city data in the hands of citizens. The open data originating from dozens of city systems will be critical for the civic hackers in using technology to build tech solutions that solve city problems.

“We’re really excited that Houston is taking this historic step toward liberating data,” said City Council Member and Hackathon Co-Chair Ed Gonzalez.  “Hackathons are a great way to engage citizens and start a dialogue between City officials and our talented analytical and software developer communities.”

Preparation for this initiative and the Hackathon involves publishing data on a publicly accessible website.  Over the last three months, the City has identified more than 25 “weekend projects” that a team of software developers, designers, analysts and others could reasonably complete, ranging from a Houston bike app that displays all bike lanes, trails, B-Cycle kiosks, and bike shops to dashboards that show citizens how the city is performing and where it can do better.

While Houston’s Open Data Initiative is modeled after programs in New York, San Francisco, Austin, and Palo Alto, Houston will also include a STEM outreach component designed to teach children across the city about career options.  “Sometimes, just talking to a successful software developer can inspire a child to pursue a career in technology,” Council Member Gonzalez said.

The city is expecting strong turnout from citizens, corporate participants, and members of Houston’s startup communities.

Further details about the City of Houston Open Innovation Hackathon, as well as registration information, is available at:  http://www.houstonhackathon.com/

As always, the past weekend was a busy one in District H. I would like to offer a special thank you to Comcast and their employees, who along with Jose Rivera and the team at the Independence Heights Neighborhood Centers location, Pastor Preston’s Team from Yale Street Baptist Church, and many community members, collaborated to beautify and revitalize an esplanade along Crosstimbers last Saturday. Fresh paint, new grass, landscaping, trash pick-up and more was accomplished in just under two hours. Through its ‘Comcast Cares’ program, Comcast continues to step up and set an example for corporate partnership with the communities which they serve. Thank you!

The District H team was also busy at the Westcott Cemetery clean-up last Saturday. We partnered with the Department of Neighborhoods, Keep Houston Beautiful, Rebecca Reyna and the Greater Northside Management District, Pastor Smith and the team at New Bethlehem Missionary Baptist Church, and Tebben Lewis and members of the Sunbeam Curry Civic Association. I want to also give a special thank you to Sheena Childs, on the District H team, for all of her efforts preparing for last weekend and for her leadership on both clean-ups. It is a sincere pleasure to work with such fantastic community leaders, organizations, and volunteers to continue to improve the quality of life in District H.

I invite all District H residents and Houstonians to join the festivities downtown this Saturday for the 21st Annual LULAC Cinco de Mayo Parade. The procession kicks off at 10AM on Texas Avenue by Minute Maid Park. The family friendly atmosphere is always fun for all ages and I am excited to participate. I would like to thank LULAC and their leadership for continuing this tradition and for once again, organizing an amazing parade and celebration.

Ed
_____

What is ‘Pop Off?’: ‘Pop-Off’ occurs at the end of each City Council Agenda Meeting. At this time, each council member is given the opportunity to discuss happenings in their district, congratulate constituents and share relevant information with the Council and the public. All City Council meetings can be watched live online.

“The traffic is coming by so fast, coming by so quickly, especially the early morning and the afternoons, that is really makes it almost impossible to cross.”

Heights business owner Dawn Callaway says people want to walk in the neighborhood but it’s not always easy.

“Myself, when I had my child in a stroller, I often had to really sprint across the street, and luckily there weren’t any accidents then.”

But those accidents happen a lot. A new study from the Centers for Disease Control show 47,000 pedestrians were struck and killed in the U.S. between 2001 and 2010.

Here in Texas,  418 pedestrians were killed in 2011. That’s a 17 percent increase from the year before — 83 of those fatalities happened in Harris County, up from 70 fatalities in 2010.

The high numbers come as no surprise to Dr. Kara Kockleman.  She’s with the UT Center for Transportation Research.

“Texas is not a very pedestrian-friendly state.  There’s not a lot of sidewalks in our neighborhoods, whether they are urban, suburban, rural. It’s really not something that is common to Texas.”  

And in a state that’s focused on car travel, the lack of sidewalks poses a danger for one group in particular, and that’s the elderly. The CDC study shows people over the age of 75 are at the highest risk of being struck and killed. Kockleman says for senior citizens a walking trip of any distance poses a danger.

“You know, they’re often going to be on the same pavement as the cars, and crossing I would think is the greatest danger, and my concern there is their ability to turn their heads, their hearing, and their sight. All those things, and their response times, are problematic.”

“There’s many examples where poor design throughout the years leaves very bad situations.”

City Councilman and Mayor Pro-Tem Ed Gonzalez says Houston could fix a lot of its problems with the adoption of a complete streets policy. That’s when streets are built with the needs of all users in mind, including walkers. Gonzalez says much of the funding is already in place through the ReBuild Houston initiative voters approved in 2010.

“A lot of what I’m advocating for is not necessarily a monetary focus at this point. It’s more just better coordination and better design.”

Lawmakers in Austin are also looking at the issue. Houston State Senator Rodney Ellis has filed a bill calling on TxDOT to develop safer roadways for people using all modes of transportation.