TITLE
Recommendation to approve the City’s Smart City Initiative Strategy and Data Privacy Guidelines to enable the City of Long Beach to use emerging technology and data to expand its capacity to enhance City operations, improve the daily lives of Long Beach residents, and protect residents’ personal privacy and digital rights. (Citywide)
DISCUSSION
As requested by the City Council on October 22, 2019, the Technology and Innovation Department (TID) has initiated the Smart City Initiative. Since the initial request, TID worked with the Long Beach community and relevant stakeholders to develop a Smart City Initiative and guiding priorities to better prepare the City of Long Beach (City) to utilize and deploy emerging technologies to meet community-sourced needs. The Smart City Initiative Strategy and Data Privacy Guidelines were developed through a collaborative process that included community conversations, key stakeholder interviews, a public study session with the Technology and Innovation Commission (Commission), a workshop with local technology partners, and analysis provided by HR&A Advisors, Inc., a leading technology and economic development advisory firm.
TID held a total of 13 community meetings between October 26, 2019 and January 20, 2021. These meetings allowed TID staff to receive input from community members and local technology stakeholders on the opportunities and concerns regarding emerging technology, perspectives on how the City can best protect their personal privacy, and their preferred methods of ongoing partnership and engagement on this topic. TID worked with community-based organizations to recruit participants for these workshops and conducted specific outreach to community groups representing youth, older adults, and communities that have been historically impacted by the digital divide. Finally, TID distributed a multilingual online and paper-based survey to solicit additional input, which was completed by over 450 residents. The survey was promoted on the City’s social media accounts and the City’s Smart City public website.
TID staff and HR&A Advisors then synthesized community input along with best practices from peer cities to create the Smart City Initiative Strategy and Data Privacy Guidelines documents. Draft versions of these documents were circulated to the Long Beach community in December 2020 and January 2021, to ensure that feedback was adequality captured and that concerns were addressed.
The goal of the Smart City Initiative (Attachment A) is to advance solutions to civic challenges by engaging the community, staff, and the private sector to explore and implement emerging technology. There are four guiding principles that are proposed in the Smart City Initiative Strategy to direct this work moving forward: (1) design for equity, (2) earn public trust, (3) cultivate local expertise, and (4) build civic resilience. These principles echo what TID heard from the Long Beach community and have been adapted to address the economic realities the City faces following the COVID-19 pandemic. The Smart City Initiative proposes 4 interconnected strategies and 11 objectives that align with these guiding principles and together create a roadmap for the Smart City Initiative through Fiscal Year 2022 (FY 22). Part of the roadmap includes identifying priority areas that the City’s Smart City Initiative will address. The priority areas will be aligned with the City’s priority areas that are contained in the City’s strategic vision.
TID and the Commission developed the Data Privacy Guidelines (Attachment B) as an addendum to the Smart City Initiative. The Data Privacy Guidelines are intended to provide a framework to help the City and its partners incorporate privacy by design as we deploy new technologies and services in Long Beach. The Commission voted to approve the Smart City Initiative Strategy and Data Privacy Guidelines on January 27, 2021.
If the Smart City Initiative Strategy and Data Privacy Guidelines are adopted by the City Council, TID will work with City staff, local stakeholders, and community members to implement the strategies and objectives therein. TID will also work closely with the Commission to develop a workplan to operationalize the Data Privacy Guidelines via City policies, educational campaigns, and procedures as appropriate. TID staff will distribute the final documents to key stakeholders, leverage the Smart City website as a platform to report on progress in meeting key objectives, and provide regular updates to the Long Beach community, the Commission, and City Council.
This matter was reviewed by Deputy City Attorney Erin Weesner-McKinley on February 1, 2021 and by Revenue Management Officer Geraldine Alejo on February 15, 2021.
TIMING CONSIDERATIONS
City Council action is not time sensitive.
FISCAL IMPACT
The Smart City Initiative Strategy and Data Privacy Guidelines are policy documents that outline the City's goals and priorities related to emerging technology. The objectives identified in the Smart City Initiative Strategy and Data Privacy Guidelines provide an actionable workplan for the City to complete by the end of FY 22. The Data Privacy Guidelines identify high-level goals but no specific time-bound actions. Project and program details relating to data privacy will be developed as part of implementation. There is 1.5 FTE assigned to support this effort currently budgeted in the General Services Fund Group in the Technology and Innovation Department. Additional funding to fully implement the Data Privacy Guidelines has not yet been identified and further detailed cost estimates will be determined as resources are identified. In addition, TID anticipates a positive impact on local jobs associated with recommended programs, specifically those that align with the ‘Cultivate Local Expertise’ guiding principle. This recommendation has no staffing impact beyond the normal budgeted scope of duties and is consistent with the existing City Council priorities.
SUGGESTED ACTION
Approve recommendation.
Respectfully Submitted,
LEA D. ERIKSEN
DIRECTOR OF TECHNOLOGY AND INNOVATION
APPROVED:
THOMAS B. MODICA
CITY MANAGER