Way-Finding Colors

A lot of focus has been on the design of the way-finding signs. In case you didn’t notice, “trial” way-finding signs were placed around the City for the All-Star game (they were green, light green, and orange). People were surveyed about the usefulness of the system: while commenting on utility, people brought up that they strongly disliked the colors. The designer of the system, a private company which also did Dallas’ system, proposed three different color sets. The greens and the orange were one of the choices—but nobody, including the designers, were too fond of it. Really the trial system was set up to ascertain sign positions and the utility of the system.

Please note that all of the colors used for way-finding have to fit in a certain palate- the Phoenix sun would diminish reds, oranges, and yellows, so the main focal color has to be a cool color. The other two color palates were plum and blue (think hospital sign blue). Way-finding signs that were for cars would have an accent color of light green, and way-finding signs for pedestrians would have orange as the accent color. Thus, what we were to determine was the main color. Everybody really liked plum: it fit well with the accent colors, and matched the copper of the street poles. Here’s the deal-breaker: plum is a specialty color, which costs 20% more than the blue. The blue, granted does not “match” as well as the plum, and does look “hospitally.” However, it less expensive than the plum if we ordered it through the company, and substantially less expensive considering the City sign department has the blue for hospital signs. Further, I think it visually “pops” more. Those in favor of the plum argued that the way-finding system brands the City- do we want our City labeled as a cheap hospital blue? And the plum looks better: it’s just so much more professional looking. So, go for cost savings or branding? Tough call. Glad I don’t have to make it.

Way-Finding and Corporate Sponsership

Way-finding can be rather expensive: thousands of dollars each year in maintenance for the system, and well over a thousand dollars if one sign gets knocked over by a heedless driver or devious teen. Because of the costs there is motivation to find other ways to sponsor the system without the use of much tax dollars. DDO wanted me to do some initial research on corporate sponsorships on way-finding systems.

After looking and looking, I only found one City that does it.

Portland uses corporate sponsorship to subsidize its way-finding program. Businesses are allowed to purchase a “slot” on the way-finding sign for $200 a year. That’s cheap advertising. The annual fees are collected by the City and are used to maintain the system as a whole. Businesses are advertised by their name only (same size and style of font) an no logos are allowed on the signs. After talking with the City of Portland, I was surprised to find out that not a lot of businesses utilize this opportunity. Thus, the program is not totally self-sustaining, at least at the moment. Portland believes there are several reasons why there was a low-response rate. First, they did not advertise very well. They sent an intern out with some pamphlets and told him/her to deliver them to various businesses. Looking back, what they should have done was go to a non-governmental agency that helps businesses develop in Portland (much like DDO) and have them encourage businesses to advertise on way-finding signs. A second reason is that businesses were unfamiliar with what way-finding was and what it would look like. Now that the system has been in existence for two years Portland expects a greater response rate.

Way-finding Research

The City of Phoenix is implementing a way-finding system. Some of you may not know what that is; at least by name-- its purpose is its title, to help people find their way around a city. “This way to City Hall, That way to Wells Fargo Parking” and so forth. Way-finding systems are currently implemented in a lot of downtown areas across the US. The goal is to revitalize downtown areas. If people were better able to find their way around a city (especially tourists) then they will presumably be able to visit more places, which encourages economic growth (especially if those public institutions charge admittance fees). Also, residents may not know all of the benefits their City has to offer, and a way-finding sign, a pseudo-advertisement for public goods, informs the populace of different activities and places of interest. Way-finding is administered and funded in different ways: there is no uniform standard.

In the majority of small cities, the City administers and funds the program. In larger cities, such as Philadelphia and Dallas, way-finding systems are implemented and maintained by a non-governmental organization that has taxing authority within a set boundary in the downtown area. But there are still variances. In Philadelphia, the non-governmental organization, called Central City, installs and maintains the signs. They charge a small fee to government and non-profit organizations that are listed on the way-finding signs (although not all pay). In Dallas, The City is in charge of installing (and re-installing in case a sign gets knocked down) and the nongovernmental organization, DID, is in charge of maintenance. DID, like Central City, has taxing authority but does not charge annual membership fees.

Why Washington is Amazing

So, I was reading 1776-- the Costco version that comes with all of those cool add-ins-- and came across a story that really impressed me. It was about George Washington before the siege of New York in late November. Imagine this: hundreds of men or dying, from disease, want of food, and the cold; the British are just off the coast with hundreds of ships, waiting to attack; you don't want to give up New York because it's one of the biggest cities in America at the time, and losing it to British control might be too discouraging for the army and the American people. Washington did not know what to do: should he retreat and let New York fall into British hands? or make a stand?

Washington wrote to General Lee, who was up in Burlington, to ask him to send some of his men down into New York. Along with Washington's letter, Washington's private secretary and a very trusted friend, Joseph Reed, slipped in a note of his own to Lee-- it was two pages long, lambasting Washington for not being a good leader, calling him incapable, and generally suggesting that Lee should take Washington's place. Six days later, an express came from General Lee-- thinking it was about the recruitments, Washington tore open the letter. The letter was really to Reed, and with the first few sentences, thanked Reed for finding himself (Lee) capable of leading the army and agreed that Washington's lack of decisiveness was more deadly in war than "stupidity or even want of personal courage." What is truly remarkable about this situation is that after reading the first two sentences, Washington resealed the letter, sent it to Reed with a note of his own enclosed. The note written by Washington explained the miscommunication that led him to open the letter, apologized for his own intrusiveness, thanked him for his tireless service, and signed it "your most obliging servant." Can you imagine? You're going through one of the toughest times in your life, two people who are your friends, and on whom you rely greatly on, betray and commit treason against you-- and all you can do is thank them? That is why Washington is pretty much the best. I wish there were more men like him.

The Joys of Implementation

Something I have learned at this internship: implementation is not pretty. Policy-makers can get up before a group of people, make grand guarantees, promise bright futures, and are in the business of telling people exactly what they want to hear: don’t worry; government will solve all of their problems. But, politicians cannot ensure the effectiveness of these policies: they very well may be promising what is impossible to deliver: after all, they do need to be re-elected. If the policy goes array, there are always the bureaucrats to blame. Words are easy. Actions are substantially harder.

Policy promises sound great to many residents. To those involved in government, it may sound great to them as well, but a bureaucrat cannot help but ask – how in the world is this going to work? Money has a limit, businesses will only comply to a certain point, and residents may get tired of taxes, and perhaps compliance. To ensure all of this is actually accomplished? That’s the government’s job. And undoubtedly, it will more than likely be an implementation nightmare. Some of these hurdles will need to be jumped if the policy is really worth it. On the other hand, some of these hurdles, well, just aren't worth jumping. Because the pursuit of something-- using an imperfect plan to fulfill an overarching goal-- can screw the situation more up than if it was just left alone.

It may work, it may not. One thing is abundantly clear—big policy promises cost a lot of money, and take a lot of time. My one caution is this: next time a politician promises you the world, step back, and ponder the logistics. It may be impossible. Empty promises are just that, empty promises. Don’t get too excited. A politician may try to get you the world, but after he/she is done with it, it may be so messed up you decide you don’t want it anymore.

Public Health Service Act, section 481 A

This is why government is not so great. We are trying to get a portion of the stimulus. In order to be granted stimulus monies, we need to comply with stimulus demands. Easy, right? But, it’s government, and government has a unique ability to take what should be a carefree process and turn it into an all-day-still-nothing-getting-tired-of-googling-I-would sell-sell-my-soul-for-the-answer-NIGHTMARE. You would think it would be rather simple to ascertain eligibility requirements in order to get our hands (or anybody else’s hands) on 1.5 billion of taxpayer’s money. That’s a lot of money- and as transparent as Obama is trying to be, you would think that the requirements to get this money would be in big, bold, red letters at the top. Guess again.

And that is what I experienced today. I did three hours worth of search engines and nothing, absolutely nothing, to show for it. I have no idea where section 481A of the Public Health and Service Act is. I looked on THOMAS (the library of Congress) on the NIH website, on the NCRR website—looked under various act names that could be related, such as the Animal Welfare Act, and the National Institutes for Health Revitalization Act (maybe it went by a different name? Sometimes Congresses passes an act that stands as an act, in and of itself, but part of the act replaces part of another act). The end result? I found three revisions of PHS Act Section 481 A, one department that was created because of this section, a couple of blogs about how evil the stimulus is, and about 50 million different versions of the stimulus itself referencing this section –BUT NO ACTUAL TEXT. It’s not just me; oh no, about five people in my department have worked on this as well as our inter-governmental relations guy.

NCRR is getting a call in the morning.

18th to 19th Century Literature

Chris said we can talk about anything we want to- I took that to heart. If I could be a professor of anything, it would be English Lit. I love it; I've always loved it. My favorite authors are Thomas Hardy, DH Lawrence, and to through a few poets in there, Keats, Wordsworth, and Yeats (although, technically he is an Irishman). I am also a huge fan of Tolstoy - who is Russian, but he was an enormous fan of Dickens. In fact, he kept a portriat of Dickens in his study -- so that's close enough, right? Oddly, I am not a big fan of Dickens, or George Eliot -- I tried to read Middle March three times -- and I haven't gotten past page 576 yet.

I am currently reading Jane Eyre. It's my reward to myself for Spring Break. I'm not going anywhere because I have to work -- so I decided I would allow myself to do something that wasn't associated with school. I forgot how much I loved that book. I remember going to the library and explaining to the librarian that I wanted something a little more advanced than The Boxcar Children, Goosebumps, and American Girl series. She handed me a copy of Jane Eyre. And that's when the love affair begin. From Jane Eyre to Withering Heights to all of Austen.

Of course, I love American authors around the same time: Lousia May Alcott, Emerson (who was actually best friends with Louisa's dad, crazy, eh?), and Thoreau.

Maybe it's not so much British literature as the time period.

Gotta love those contracts

Our contracts are in a state of disarray. It's not the fault of DDO. The Department has received more contracts and because of budget cuts, has to manage these contracts with less people. Thankfully, we requested Prolaw -- a contract database -- in our budget and it went through Council and was approved! Prolaw will allow DDO to track contracts much easier. The contract is loaded into the computer and Prolaw analyzes it -- it ascertains milestones, specific obligations, and so forth. It coordinates this information with Outlook. For example, when an employee comes into work, first thing on their agenda is to ensure such-and-such company paid their annual bill to the city. No more digging through stacks, upon stacks of paperwork trying to get the answer. The law department uses the same kind of system, and they love it.

Well, the question is what to do in the meantime. Prolaw will not be installed until mid-July. Even then, we have to wait for training and to input all of our contracts into the system. Thank goodness there is an intern to do such things. ;) At least, that is my goal before I go. I want to do as many contracts as I can -- by all means, there is no way I can do all of them. But anything I can do in regard to organizing contracts will help the City, I feel. I have completed one. It took me about two weeks (I have other projects I am working on as well). I put all of the information in an Excel document, and I think it is readily understandable.