TITLE
Recommendation to request City Manager to direct staff to develop a Smart City strategic initiative and guiding priorities and report back within 180 days.
DISCUSSION
Long Beach currently leverages technology to provide residents with a safe and healthy environment, well-maintained streets and parks, a robust local economy, livable neighborhoods and educational opportunities. Innovations such as our open data portal, free public wi-fi, smart LED street lights, smart parking infrastructure and automated metering infrastructure promote transparency while producing operating efficiencies and cost-savings.
As technology continues to evolve, leading cities across the country and world are developing effective strategies to adopt advancements in technology, information management, and user-centered design to improve quality of life for their residents, catalyze economic development, improve public safety, and build a resilient workforce. These initiatives are commonly referred to as "smart city" programs.
Through a smart city strategic initiative, Long Beach will develop a more coordinated approach to propose, design, and pilot smart city solutions that address existing City challenges. This approach will prioritize improving residents' quality of life through both technological and nontechnological solutions while also protecting residents' privacy and digital rights. Our smart city strategic initiative will better repare the City to utilize emerging technologies that will be deployed responsibly to meet community-sourced needs. It will also include guiding principles that foster civic engagement and allow for improvements in service delivery to residents. This initiative will also build on our progress to advance digital inclusion. In Long Beach, our smart city strategic initiative will work to ensure that opportunities gained from technology are accessible to all and strive to build an inclusive, responsive, and accountable government that proactively supp...
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