Palo Alto CIO Jonathan Reichental
Palo Alto CIO Jonathan Reichental is bringing his private sector tech experience to city government and his leadership is making a difference. For the second year in a row, the City of Palo Alto has been named a leading digital city by the Center for Digital Government, a national research and advisory institute focused on information technology policies and best practices in state and local government.
“Every department across our City organization has made significant contributions to this recognition,” said Reichental on the City of Palo Alto website. “Exploring and adopting innovative technology is now foundational in all our City efforts. Fundamentally, using the right tools as a government agency is about providing great customer service. We’ve got more technology work to do, but it’s clear we’re quickly moving forward in the right direction.”
The award recognizes the innovative ways that the City of Palo Alto is using technology to reach out to citizens, improve governmental processes and connect the community, including:
- Serving as a model for publishing almost real-time data about city government, spending, budgets and more
- Using social media and online tools such as Open City Hall to support and promote community and civic engagement
- Creating public-private tech partnerships such as the Palo Alto Apps Challenge, Pulse Point and Buildingeye.
- Launching more than 50 online services including many for the web and smartphones
The overall winner in the top 10 list of digital cities in the less than 75,000 population was Dublin, Ohio, followed by Palo Alto, Schaumburg, IL, Tamarac, FL, Rancho Cordova, CA, Williamsburg, VA, Evanston, IL, Marana, AZ, Shawnee, KS, Hudson, OH, Marietta, GA and Manchester, CT. Visit the Digital Cities Survey website to learn more about the 2014 awards.
Also, did you know there is now free wifi at King Plaza in Palo Alto? Just launched December 15, 2014!
Check out the Palo Alto Pulse interview with CIO Jonathan Reichental to learn more about his digital vision for Palo Alto.
