Not everything in city government is hopeless.
I haven’t been to Tel Aviv since 2013, so I didn't see this. My friend Alex sent the link to me. Tel Aviv is out in front in making a hopeless bureaucracy functional for the citizens by making the internal data available and welcoming mobile apps to use the data.
Tel Aviv recognizes its environment as one of the two or three tech start-up capitals of the world. And is making use of this vitality.
San Francisco is one of the other two or three tech start-up capitals in the world and proclaims this title often. But being a union controlled, failed socialist state, talk is all that San Francisco can do.
As Tel Aviv shows, even the worst bureaucracy can serve its customers with open data and mobile apps.
San Francisco has one mobile app, probably bought from Israel, that I like. It is SF311 on my phone. Shoot a photo of graffiti on a public wall or a pothole and give the location. A clean-up crew is there in hours or by the next day.
The beginning of a responsive government bureaucracy.
Now we need to be able to find people in the hospital, send a message to the police and fire departments with photos, file a police report and a dozen other simple tasks. Especially dealing with the planning and permit departments.