By Rachel Stemerman, EMSGrantsHelp.com

Rachel Stemerman is currently the quality assurance officer for Orange County Emergency Services in North Carolina. She attained her Bachelor of Arts from Wesleyan University and has been freelance grant writing for both the non-profit sector and EMS agencies around the country for the past 6 years. While working with EMSGrantsHelp.com, Rachel has helped agencies all over the country attain funding for various projects. Currently she is in the process of attaining her Masters in Public Health Policy and Administration Management from the University of North Carolina.

The post EMS Grants Column: Avoid These 4 Common Errors appeared first on EfficientGov.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

By Gary D. Robertson

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina lawmakers return to work in a special session Wednesday to consider stopping a new Charlotte ordinance set to take effect April 1 that gives protections to transgender people to use the restroom of their gender identity.

Proposed legislation is expected to go beyond just overturning Charlotte’s broader LGBT ordinance. All local governments statewide could be barred from prohibiting discrimination in public accommodations based on sexual orientation and gender identity going forward, as Charlotte did.

Republican leaders at the General Assembly, responding to worries from constituents and conservative activists about the provision in the state’s largest city, scheduled a one-day session after enough lawmakers requested to reconvene. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have met again until late April.

House Speaker Tim Moore, R-Cleveland, has said intervening is necessary to protect the safety of women and children. He and others have focused on the ordinance allowing transgender people to use the restroom aligned with their gender identity.

“When a local government goes on such a radical course and a reckless course, we in the General Assembly I think not only have the authority but actually the duty to do something about it, and in this case we’re going to,” Moore said Tuesday. There have been arguments that any man — perhaps a sex offender — could enter a woman’s restroom or locker room simply by calling himself transgender.

Representatives for gay-rights groups said overturning the ordinance is wrong and demonizing the transgender community. They say blocking the ordinance will deny lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people essential protections needed to ensure they can get a hotel room, hail a taxi or dine at a restaurant without fear.

At least 225 cities and counties nationwide have passed similar anti-discrimination laws.

“Charlotte’s law is not unusual, unique or radical,” said Chris Sgro, executive director of Equality North Carolina. “A special session to deal with such an ordinance is radical, unique and unusual.”

Leading up to last month’s 7-4 vote, Charlotte city leaders heard from LGBT residents who say they’ve experienced harassment and discrimination trying to use public accommodations.

The ordinance “sends a message to everyone that we matter,” Erica Lachowitz of Charlotte, who was born male but identifies as female, said last week. Otherwise, she added, “we are afraid half the time to walk in to a bathroom that matches our gender identity.”

Details on the final proposed legislation were expected Wednesday morning.

Gov. Pat McCrory, a Republican, has criticized the ordinance in Charlotte, where he was mayor for 14 years, and wants action. McCrory didn’t call the special session himself — a top aide told legislators Monday the bill’s scope had widened too far — raising questions about what his response will be to legislation. Each day in session costs $42,000.

Legislation requiring transgender students to use bathrooms corresponding with their birth gender have failed recently in other states. South Dakota’s legislature failed to override Gov. Dennis Daugaard’s veto of such legislation. A similar Tennessee bill died Tuesday in a House committee.

Copyright 2016 The Associated Press

The post NC Lawmakers Return to Address Transgender Bathroom Measure appeared first on EfficientGov.

PHILLY.COM

By Amy S. Rosenberg and Andrew Seidman

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — Mayor Don Guardian placed the blame for a looming shutdown and cash crunch on Gov. Christie’s shoulders, but assured citizens and tourists Thursday that the city would be “business as usual” when if shuts itself down April 8 for three weeks.

“He’s absolutely shutting us down,” Guardian said, to a room full of cameras and reporters, flanked by City Council President Marty Small, three council man, Fire Chief Scott Evans, Police Chief Henry White and others.

Continue reading the original  story on Philly.com.

The post Atlantic City Mayor Blames Governor Christie for Shutdown appeared first on EfficientGov.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

By John O’Connor

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — The Illinois Supreme Court dealt another devastating blow Thursday to the state’s impatient attempts to control ballooning public pension debt, striking down a law that would have cut into an $8 billion hole in two of Chicago’s employee retirement accounts and leaving officials searching for new options to shore up an already wobbly program.

The city had hoped that by pointing to the steep increase in taxpayer-fueled contributions the law required it would be able to sidestep a widely expected ruling that the plan violated the Illinois Constitution’s protection against reducing pension benefits.

But the court’s unanimous finding in favor of pension participants who pointed to reduced future benefits and higher contributions sends the city back to the bargaining table.

Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner used the ruling the tout a proposal by Democratic Senate President John Cullerton that would offer workers a choice of future cost-of-living increases based on current salary, or lowered increases tied to future pay raises. The idea is, benefits already collected don’t go away.

“We’ve got to stop changing and taking away peoples accrued pension benefits,” Rauner said at a stop in Paxton, according to audio released by his office. “Let’s propose changes for future work with ‘consideration’ so teachers or police officers or public places can choose different pensions for the future.”

An expert on Illinois finances said it’s time to amend the Illinois Constitution to make the pension protection language clear. Lawmakers vowed to keep trying.

To stave off insolvency by 2029, the law forced the city to significantly ramp up its annual contributions, but also cut benefits and required larger contributions from about 61,000 current and retired librarians, nurses, non-teaching school employees laborers and more.

Critics targeted the law from the start, in part because it addressed only two funds — civil servants and laborers. When including police and fire pension programs, the city’s total liability was $20 billion — not counting a $9.6 billion shortfall in the Chicago Public Schools teachers’ pension account. The City Council approved a $543 million property-tax increase last fall — to deal with shortages in police and fire funds.

The order came less than a year after the high court used the same reasoning to shoot down a separate pension bailout: the $111 billion deficit in state-employee retirement accounts.

And other cities are not far behind, facing similar shortfalls.

Laurence Msall, president of the Civic Federation, a Chicago-based tax policy and research group, suggested the iron-clad constitutional language threatens any proposal. He suggests a constitutional amendment that loosens its restrictions.

“We’re not advocating for any specific plan,” Msall said. “We’re supporting the need for clarity in the constitution so those ideas can be legislated.”

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who inherited the crisis, disagreed with the ruling but pledged to re-convene negotiations on a new framework.

“My administration will continue to work with our labor partners on a shared path forward,” the Democrat said in a statement.

The four unions representing the plaintiffs were more sanguine.

“This ruling makes clear again that the politicians who ran up the debt cannot run out on the bill or dump the burden on public-service workers and retirees instead,” the unions said in a joint statement.

Copyright 2016 The Associated Press

The post Illinois Supreme Court Strikes Down Chicago Pensions Plan appeared first on EfficientGov.

ANDROID AUTHORITY

By Rob Triggs

The alerts are just simple pop-ups to remind drivers to take extra care at an upcoming junction that’s on their planned route. Boston, Los Angeles, New York City, San Francisco, and Washington D.C. are the first five cities to make use of the new alerts, although I imagine that Waze will be rolling this feature out further afield after collecting some feedback.

Read the original story on Android Authority.

The post Waze App Adds Hazardous Intersections Alerts appeared first on EfficientGov.

GOBANKINGRATES.COM

By Cameron Huddleston

Affordable housing can be hard to find, especially in large cities. That’s why a growing number of people are opting for affordable tiny homes that are just 100 to 400 square feet.

And despite zoning laws that make it difficult to build a tiny house in some areas, tiny homes are becoming common in others. With the help of TinyHouseListings.com, GOBankingRates identified cities where these homes are popular based on the number of tiny houses listed for sale.

“I believe some of these cities are seeing a spike in tiny houses as a sort of dismissal or rejection to astronomical real estate prices,” said Steven Harrell, owner of TinyHouseListings.com. (According to Zillow, the home median sale price in the U.S. is $208,226.) There’s also been an increase in tiny house workshops in some areas that introduce people to the concept and spur interest in tiny house living, he said.

Read the original story and check out the top 10 cities with the most tiny homes listed for sale on the GoBankingRates.com website.

Review our story, Tiny Houses as Solves for Cities.

The post Top 10 Cities with the Most Tiny Homes For Sale appeared first on EfficientGov.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

ATLANTA (AP) — Atlanta’s city council is expected to consider a plan for Uber and other ride-booking services to operate at the airport under certain conditions.

The airport’s proposed new rules for Uber, Lyft and other ride-booking firms go before the city council’s transportation committee Wednesday.

Officials at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport — the world’s busiest airport — have said they want drivers to undergo criminal background checks based on fingerprints, a method preferred by many law enforcement experts.

Uber has objected to the fingerprint checks, saying its own background checks work well, and the fingerprint-based checks would be overly cumbersome for its drivers.

The airport’s plan also covers proposed fees the airport would receive from ride-booking firms, when drivers can pick up passengers and where they would be able to do so.

Copyright 2016 The Associated Press

The post Atlanta Council to Consider Airport’s Plan to Regulate Uber appeared first on EfficientGov.

By Diane H. Leonard, GPC

Is leadership making the decision that grant funding should be pursued?

When your organization, department or municipality looks at individual opportunities and decides they are a fit with a specific project or plan, who is it that’s deciding if the funding opportunity is a good fit?

Are multiple members of the organization being allowed to weigh-in about the fit of a potential specific funding opportunity?

When your organization, department or municipality begins the work of completing an application for the specific opportunity identified, who is involved in helping to create a competitive application?

Is it a team of colleagues, or is the application left to be the sole task of the grant professional (whether internal or external)?

Continue reading the column on GovGrantsHelp.com.

The post Grants Column: Who Should Be Part of Application Discussions appeared first on EfficientGov.

SARA BURNETT
Associated Press

CHICAGO (AP) — Chicago teachers took to picket lines Friday morning in an unprecedented one-day strike they say is aimed at getting lawmakers to adequately fund education and other programs in the nation’s third-largest district.

The walkout will close schools for nearly 400,000 students, who will have the option of spending the day at one of the more than 250 “contingency sites” Chicago Public Schools is opening at churches, libraries and school buildings.

“We’re going to win funding for our schools and we’re going to fight until we get it,” Vice President Jesse Sharkey said at a Friday morning news conference outside one school. Behind him teachers and their supporters chanted “Fight for funding!” and waved protest signs.

American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten rallied too, calling cuts to funding a “reckless disregard of children.”

Friday’s actions also could foreshadow a longer strike over a new labor contract, which by law can’t occur for several weeks.

The Chicago Teachers Union last went on strike in 2012, shutting down schools for more than a week before reaching an agreement with Mayor Rahm Emanuel. That contract expired in June, and the two sides have been negotiating for more than a year over a new one.

CPS, which faces a $1.1 billion budget deficit and billions more in pension debt, already has halted salary increases, ordered teachers to take three furlough days and imposed other cuts to schools. It reached an agreement earlier this year with union leadership on a proposal that included salary increases. But a larger union bargaining team rejected it, partly because it required employees to contribute more toward their pensions and health insurance.

The union and its allies say the only way to get a fair contract and improve struggling schools is to pressure lawmakers such as Emanuel and Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner to approve new revenue, either through a tax increase or other changes.

Illinois is about to enter its 10th month without a state budget, and the state’s ongoing financial problems have led to severe cuts to social services and education.

While Sharkey acknowledged closing the schools could create difficulties for parents, he said it will be minor compared with the hardship the state will see “if we don’t have our public schools.”

Schools CEO Forrest Claypool, who calls the action a “wildcat strike,” said CPS and the mayor’s office share the union’s urgency for elected officials to resolve the funding issue. But he said the walkout isn’t the answer because it punishes parents and takes a day of instruction away from students.

He also called on state lawmakers to find a solution.

“We need to make it clear that it’s time to end the gamesmanship,” Claypool said. “When adults play politics, students suffer.”

Teachers who participate in Friday’s action won’t be paid for the day, Claypool said, though he said CPS expects to take legal action against the union. The union says the strike is allowed.

Dozens of unions and community groups will join in Friday’s activities, which include rallies at schools and universities across the city. The day will culminate with a rush-hour gathering and march in downtown Chicago, where the union plans to close streets and disrupt traffic.

Copyright 2016 The Associated Press

Read previous coverage.

The post Chicago Teachers Launch Unprecedented One-Day Strike appeared first on EfficientGov.

ATLANTA, GA. — The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has just announced that state and local agencies need to prepare for the potential transmission of the Zika Virus in the United States. So far, the Zika Virus is believed to survive in mosquitoes that live as far north as New Jersey, perhaps New York City.

“We must work at all levels of government and all levels of society to reduce the threat to pregnant women,” said CDC Director Tom Frieden, according to the Wall Street Journal¹.

So far in the United States, there are 312 cases of Zika Virus reported, with 27 cases of the infected pregnant women confirmed, according to the CDC.

Frieden recommended that every state:

• Appoint a Zika coordinator
• Review preparedness plans
• Organize lab testing
• Coordinate public outreach to pregnant women

There is no vaccine at present, so CDC said the best way to prepare is through mosquito abatement.

Many cities and counties in the United States do not have mosquito control programs, so the Obama administration is urging Congress to approve a request for $1.9 billion to supplement public health response.

Read the announcement on the CDC website.

Get prepared with advice and top resources from our expert columnist Ray Barishansky, MPH, MS, CPM.

Source

^{1 http://www.wsj.com/articles/cdc-warns-local-health-agencies-to-prepare-for-zika-virus-1459542884?ru=yahoo?mod=yahoo_itp}

The post CDC Warns Local Governments to Prepare for Zika Virus appeared first on EfficientGov.

By Andrea Fox, EfficientGov Senior Editor

Water is food, energy, drink and home.”

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The first ever White House Water Summit held on World Water Day brought together federal leadership with water financing experts, scientists and other stakeholders to discuss the costs of domestic water infrastructure, drought response, climate change and other issues that have become serious problems throughout the United States.

President Obama has put water back on the POTUS agenda with Flint, Mich., drinking water infrastructure looming large and California’s drought impacts going on and on. Not to mention the long-documented problems reported by environmental agencies, the water industry and waterkeepers.

It’s really water budgeting on the agenda–in a sense. To scientists, a water budget would catalog every drop—in any state–from the canopy to what the Earth beneath us holds. We’ve never done that regionally, let alone nationally. But domestically, the government, industry and scientists are looking into the finite resource concerns of water.

Some of today’s expert panelists gave details on the following:

• How are we monitoring our freshwater sources?
• How are we going to finance dependable and safe water delivery systems?
• How are we managing for drought as well as catastrophic storms and floods?

There is no corner of this country that is not untouched by a water issue–from the water quality impacts of stormwater and industry, to the crumbling infrastructure that is, in some cases, tainting our drinking water and climate impacts like crippling crop loss due to drought and catastrophic damage caused by storms.

There were many announcements and news items last night and today timed to coincide with water making our national agenda. Some highlights include:

• There is money available, the White House announced.
• Congress is also going for more SRF funding. “Ninety-six House Democrats asked the House Appropriations Committee todouble funding for the state revolving funds (SRF), to $US 4 billion. The funds provide low-interest loans for water and sewer projects,” according to last night’s Growing Calls in Congress for Water Infrastructure Funding in Circle of Blue’s Federal Water Tap.
• Industry is putting up money for water reuse–greywater and stormwater. Sustainable Water, which creates large-scale water reclamation and reuse, announced $500 million to develop 50 water reclamation systems. There is an acceptance cap of 10 for municipal government applicants with public treatment works proposals. Learn more and apply on Sustainable Water’s White House Water Summit Commitment page.
• The Western states have a forum to coordinate water resources. President Obama wrote a Presidential Memorandum institutionalizing the National Drought Resilience Partnership, designed for better communication and coordination in the West, said ThinkProgress.org’s White House Responds To Western Governors’ Call For Action On Drought.
• Media publishes food for thought. The New York Times ran an opinion piece “Our Water System: What a Waste,” by Michael Webber, author of “Thirst for Power: Energy, Water and Human Survival,” which suggests impassioned solves.
• Stakeholders provide tools. The Nature Conservancy launches Texas Freshwater Explorer.

Get more information about or watch the White House Water Summit.

The post World Water Day: Domestic Water is on the POTUS Agenda appeared first on EfficientGov.

By Andrea Fox, EfficientGov Senior Editor

PARIS, FRANCE — Landlords that need to make upgrades can give the firm Les Toits du Monde, as reported in Architectural Digest, permission to attach cost-effective prefabricated apartments to their buildings in exchange for needed renovations. The lower costs of production enables the firm to sell the parasitic apartment spaces at more affordable prices. About 40 percent less¹.

The firm recently funded installation three of these apartments near the city’s Canal Saint-Martin as part of Stéphane Malka Architecture’s 3BOX project. The units are made from 100 percent recycled steel and are designed to fit gaps and vacant spaces around the existing buildings they attach to¹. Each one also has a green roof.

Read the original story on the Architectural Digest website.

Source

1 http://www.designboom.com/architecture/stephane-malka-3box-modular-housing-paris-01-08-2016/

The post Paris Tests Parasitic Architecture appeared first on EfficientGov.

It’s clear that the lessons learned by the city and county of Dallas, Texas, from the recent Ebola situation are being implemented as Zika threatens to rear its ugly head.

Dallas was the epicenter of Ebola as the first Ebola-impacted patient was seen at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital, one of the city’s largest medical facilities. There was also some initial confusion—seen both locally and nationally—as to how to appropriately treat Ebola patients. This was borne out as we witnessed nurses being exposed to the virus, confusion as to who would lead the public health response to Ebola, and even pictures of Dallas police officers wearing masks while scrubbing sidewalks outside of patient’s apartments.

Understanding the potential seriousness of Zika, Dallas has taken the lead in assuring its testing equipment is ready, developing public relations campaigns including radio advertisements, and moving up its mosquito abatement sprayings.  Clearly they have brushed off their pandemic response plans quickly.

State and local governments have received millions of dollars from the Federal government since 9/11 to bulk up their own planning, preparedness and response capabilities to public health emergency situations of all varieties. Time has demonstrated that it is these very entities that will be the “boots on the ground” responders for at least the first few days of any emergency situation, public health included.

It is incumbent on local government to work collaboratively with state government to implement strategies now, before there is potentially a wave of Zika infection seen across the US. These measures must include proactive communication with the public about Zika realities, aggressive mosquito abatement strategies and assuring that local, state and federal health authorities are delivering a consistent message.

Forward thinking public health maneuvers such as the aforementioned put Dallas ahead of the game for this, and other, public health crises. Other municipalities should take a lesson from Dallas’ lead.

Get prepared with Ray’s list of top resources for local government.

Editor’s Note: As of today, the Centers for Disease Control are now warning local health agencies to prepare. Read about the Federal response.

Read our coverage Dallas Gears Up Early to Combat Potential Zika Threat.

The post Column: Getting Ahead of Zika Virus, Dallas Leads the Way appeared first on EfficientGov.

CDC to get leftover Federal funds from Ebola crisis for Zika virus research and response.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

By Andrew Taylor

WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal money left over from the largely successful fight against Ebola will now go to combating the growing threat of the Zika virus, the Obama administration announced Wednesday.

Most of the $589 million would be devoted to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for research on the virus and Zika-related birth defects, as well as the creation of response teams to limit its spread. The National Institutes of Health would continue research into a vaccine and the U.S. Agency for International Development would intensify efforts to fight the virus overseas.

Researchers fear Zika causes microcephaly, a serious birth defect in which a baby’s head is too small, as well as posing other threats to the children of pregnant women infected with it.

President Barack Obama has asked for about $1.9 billion in emergency money to fight Zika but the request has stalled in the GOP-controlled Congress. White House budget chief Shaun Donovan and Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia M. Burwell said on a conference call with reporters that the administration still needs the full request to fight both Zika and maintain vigilance on Ebola.

They said agencies would not be able to achieve a complete response to Zika without additional funding. For instance, additional money must be approved to manufacture vaccines, purchase diagnostic tests, and undertake mosquito control throughout the rainy season in Central America and the Caribbean, among other activities.

“We cannot wait for this supplemental. We cannot wait for the fall,” Donovan said. “There are real consequences and risks for waiting.”

While the administration has acknowledged that substantial Ebola funding is left over, it has already committed much of it to helping at least 30 other countries prevent, detect and respond to future outbreaks and epidemics. It also wants to preserve money to keep fighting Ebola should it flare up again.

“We’ve made important progress to keep Americans safe from these public health threats here and abroad, but these efforts need to continue and they can’t be stopped or shortchanged,” Burwell said. “We face two real global health challenges, Ebola and Zika, and we don’t have an option to set one aside in the name of the other.”

The impending move comes as there’s greater urgency to battle the Zika virus as summer weather leads to mosquito season and a potential broader spread of the virus.

Burwell said that there are 672 confirmed cases in U.S. territories such as Puerto Rico and the United States, including 64 pregnant women. Zika can also be transmitted through sexual contact and it’s estimated that 40 million people will travel between the U.S. and countries with Zika outbreaks.

Republicans on Capitol Hill had suggested the administration consider reshuffling existing funds and have said they are open to paying the money back in future legislation if it’s needed for Ebola or some other purposes.

Action on a stand-alone emergency spending bill seems improbable in the bitterly partisan atmosphere in Washington, though such funding could be attached to larger legislation later in the year. At the same time, both the White House and top Republicans have tried to work cooperatively despite the difficult environment.

“I told the White House I’d be supportive of a supplemental if they could show me where the money goes and what it could do,” said Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., chairman of the Senate subcommittee responsible for foreign aid.

Rep. Nita Lowey, D-N.Y., the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, said the administration’s moves are just “a temporary Band-Aid.”

“It is inexcusable that the Republican majority’s failure to consider emergency supplemental funding to respond to the Zika virus, forced the administration to redirect funding that is still needed to monitor and respond to the potential re-emergence of the deadly Ebola virus,” Lowey said.

Appropriations Chairman Harold Rogers, R-Ky., and other top panel Republicans responded with a statement praising the administration’s action and promising to “continue to monitor the changing needs resulting from this unpredictable crisis to assure the resources necessary for the response are available.”

Congress approved about $5 billion in 2014 to combat Ebola. Voters’ fears regarding Ebola were seen as hurting Obama’s party in the 2014 midterm landslide.

Copyright 2016 The Associated Press

The post White House: $589M to Go to Fight Zika Virus appeared first on EfficientGov.

Living in a Food Desert is a documentary produced by Virginia State University as part of a study on food insecurity in the state of Virginia. Nearly 18% of the state’s population lives in food deserts–places where access to fresh fruit and vegetables is severely limited.

Virginia is not alone. In the United States, hunger and food insecurity affects some 46.5 million Americans, according to Feeding America.

The U.S Department of Agriculture’s Food Access Research Map displays food deserts based on income levels and lack of access to fresh produce. In urban areas, access is considered limited where supermarkets are more than one mile away.

The local food movement is finding ways to address food deserts and reduce environmental footprints with vertical farms. Vertical farming companies, both small and large, are showing that their innovative methods can grow produce nearly anywhere. These companies produce massive amounts of food in buildings with hydroponic and other low-resource technologies. Vertical farms tend to grow food using fewer natural resources, and in spite of seasonality.

Here are just a few innovative projects:

• FarmedHere, the nation’s oldest vertical farm south of Chicago in Bedford Park, Ill. is opening a 24-acre operation in Louisville, Ky as part of its plan to build in 18 U.S. cities.
• Artesian Farms started its operation in an abandoned warehouse and its employees live in the Brightmoor neighborhood of Detroit,Mich.
• Vertical Harvest in affluent Jackson, Wyo. worked with the town to establish its large operation and employs adults with intellectual disabilities.
• San Diego, Calif.-based Home Town Farms is specifically targeting densely populated cities in order to provide lower cost fresh foods to consumers.
• New York-based Bright Farms is disrupting the supply chain by signing groundbreaking deals to bring local, vertically-grown produce to dozens of northeast supermarkets.

Watch the Living in a Food Desert documentary trailer:

The post Vertical Farming Can Address Food Deserts appeared first on EfficientGov.

How does your organization collect and share operational data? Your local government uses this information to justify spending and allocate funding for projects, but it’s up to local government staff, from those in the field to department managers, to provide and manage the data.

In a typical system operation, a field worker receives a work order from the system and sends the information back to the system once the work is finished. A department manager then requests a weekly or monthly report – which is only as good as the initial data entry and the procedures for data collection.

Data also drives regulatory compliance efforts, which are linked to operational efficiency. Mobile data access can improve the overall process, streamlining workflows and empowering your workforce to be more accurate, more effective and more efficient.

1. Reduce redundancy

How much time do your workers spend logging in and documenting their work? A mobile data system can boost efficiency and productivity by eliminating redundant tasks.

“Why have someone enter his or her name? With a mobile system, you know who is logged in,” says Eddie Staley, a certified GIS professional and land surveyor. “Why type the time and address? You’ll know the time and location from the GPS on the mobile device.”

GPS technology also enables better personnel management, because you know where your teams are and when, and you have a more accurate record of how long it takes to accomplish a given project.

2. Ensure regulatory compliance

We all have compliance requirements to meet. We need to make sure those requirements are captured and documented in all work processes. Access to data on the go helps you stay on top of the workflow chart to ensure that nothing falls through the cracks. Complete a review and workflow of each compliance requirement and use mobile data to make sure your work order and management systems follow those rules as closely as possible.

3. Measure performance and make predictions

You can’t manage what you don’t measure. By evaluating key performance indicators, you can quantify the work being done, identify trends and predict needed preventative maintenance to avoid problems. Data enables accurate modeling, identification of high-risk areas and predictions of potential system failure. You can then define needed short-term improvements and suggest long-term projects and compare them to current financial resources. The data will help you make a strong case for funding.

Data that is up to date and easy to access – mobile data – can streamline these processes. With better access to information, you can enable better decision-making and transparency, accelerate workflows and boost your organization’s overall effectiveness.

The post 3 Ways Better Data Can Boost Your Organization’s Productivity appeared first on EfficientGov.

A new report reveals a lack of affordable rental housing in major U.S. metros.

NEW YORK, N.Y. — It’s not just the 11 largest U.S. metro areas that the new report focuses on. What is also very telling is what happened outside of those cities between 2006 and 2014, where most of the growth in the rental market happened.

Researchers at the New York University (NYU) Furman Center, commissioned by Capital One to examine the national affordable rental housing landscape, examined rental market trends in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York City, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Washington, DC. These regions comprise about 25 percent of the U.S. population.

What they found is that more people need to rent than the housing stock available, rents are increasing and renters need more roommates to afford their homes–nationwide.

In 2014, there were nearly 22 million more people renting in metro areas in the U.S. than there had been in 2006, and while the renter populations within principal cities increased by more than nine million, the majority of the growth occurred outside of those cities. Indeed, the renter population in the suburban areas outside principal cities grew by more than a third—by more than 12 million people—between 2006 and 2014,” researchers said in the report Renting in America’s Largest Metropolitan Areas.

As recently as 2014, rental units had higher rents and were less affordable than units available the previous year. The researchers generally found the trends foreboding in that greater challenges to affordable rental housing are yet to come.

Of note, rental vacancies dwindled in all of the metro regions studied, except Miami. That city showed a slight increase in available rental units, according to researchers, but it also had the second-highest growth in rental housing stock.

Download the report and key findings on NYU’s Furman Center website.

The post Affordable Rental Housing is Increasingly Difficult to Find appeared first on EfficientGov.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

By Jennifer Kay

MIAMI, FLA. — Florida health officials have trapped mosquitoes in an area of Miami-Dade County and are testing them for Zika to determine whether a woman with the virus could be the first person infected directly by a mosquito bite in the continental United States.

Florida’s Department of Health and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention did not immediately respond to questions about their investigation, but health officials said the case had no apparent connection to travel outside the country.

The patient is a woman who lives in Miami-Dade County, according to a health official familiar with the case who wasn’t authorized to reveal details beyond the statements of the agencies involved, and thus spoke on condition of anonymity.

“Mosquitoes have been trapped in the area of investigation and are being tested,” Health Department spokeswoman Mara Gambineri said in an email Wednesday to The Associated Press. She did not say when the results might be known.

More than 1,300 Zika infections have been reported in the U.S., none involving bites from local mosquitoes; 14 of these were sexually transmitted, and one lab worker was infected by a needle stick.

Health officials predicted that would change this summer once the virus reaches U.S. mosquitoes, and have mobilized to keep Zika from spreading beyond isolated clusters of cases.

President Barack Obama spoke by phone with Florida Gov. Rick Scott regarding the new Zika case, noting that the CDC already provided $2 million to Florida and anticipates awarding another $5.6 million in Zika funding through a grant this week, the White House said.

Mosquito-control inspectors have been constantly working on abatement in the investigation area since they learned of the infection, and planned more truck spraying Thursday, said Gayle Love, a spokeswoman for Miami-Dade County Solid Waste Management.

Miami-Dade County has the most confirmed infections in Florida — 89 — but so far all have involved someone who traveled outside the U.S. mainland to areas with Zika outbreaks, such as Latin America and the Caribbean.

According to a CDC response plan, health officials would want to see more than just one unexplained case before declaring that someone has been infected by a mosquito bite in the continental United States.

The plan suggests there should be two or more cases within a 1-mile area in people who do not live together, who did not have sex with Zika-infected people and who did not recently travel to countries with Zika outbreaks.

Evidence of the virus in mosquitoes captured in the same areas also might help investigators declare Zika is spreading, but short of that, it might be difficult to determine with certainty that mosquito transmission has occurred.

There is no vaccine for Zika. The virus causes only a mild and brief illness in most people, but it can provoke fetal death and severe brain defects in the children of women infected during pregnancy.

The main defense is to avoid mosquito bites. It also can be transmitted through unprotected sex with someone who is infected, so health officials worldwide have advised people preparing to have children against travel to high-risk areas.

These and other warnings have applied to countries and regions where Zika outbreaks are severe. It remains to be seen how many Zika infections would have to be confirmed before authorities issue similar warnings for areas within the U.S. mainland.

Crews in Utah, meanwhile, are setting traps in old tires and junkyards and dumping mosquito-eating fish into ponds and abandoned pools after a man became infected while caring for his dying father, who had been infected while traveling.

The son has recovered, but because his infection didn’t involve travel or sex, his case raises more questions about how the virus might spread. Test results on the mosquitoes trapped in Utah are expected within days, Salt Lake City Mosquito Abatement District manager Ary Faraji said.

Copyright 2016 The Associated Press

The post Miami Mosquitoes Tested in Possible First Local Zika Case appeared first on EfficientGov.

BOSTON, MASS. — Mayor Philip Levine said that right now, the situation is under control on Miami Beach.

There are five cases of local spread, and the city is hitting this problem head on as an educational response.

“It will be eliminated,” he said.

He also said he was not surprised about the Federal government’s slow response, but that his partners are working hard to address funding and travel and shipping protocols.

The post Podcast: Miami Beach Mayor Talks Zika Response appeared first on EfficientGov.

In several U.S. cities large and small, parents are now able to track their children’s buses for the 2016-2017 school year with a range of school bus tracking systems.

The Austin Independent School District (AISD), with a population of about 85,000 students across 129 schools, has launched the WheresTheBus App for its school bus tracking system. According to THEJournal, the school district is using the technology to track 500 school buses transporting about 23,000 students.

AISD can monitor and adjust more than 370 bus routes every day as needed. A parent authorized secure login access can also track a child’s bus on its route. This will reduce the number of calls parents make to find out where a bus is.

The app works with an existing GPS system, upgraded for the purpose last year at a cost of $194,000, according to KXAN. The district will spend $155,000 per year to operate the app-based technology.

In the small town of Stevens Point, Wis., parents are using Mystop, another GPS-based app for school bus tracking. The Stevens Point Area Public School District paid about $23,000 for the tracking devices, according to the Stevens Point Journal.

In Chesapeake, Va., all public school buses in the 500+ fleet now have a Zonar 2020 tablet GPS system and Harris P25 700 MHz radios.

“Our number one concern is student safety,” David Benson, director of pupil transportation for Chesapeake Public Schools, told the Virginian-Pilot.

This school bus tracking system is tablet-based. They scan data tags, generating electronic driver logs, which help the bus drivers automate their daily inspections reports, formerly recorded by pen and paper. They can also send mechanical data directly to bus technicians back at the district’s repair shop.

While this system does not have a smartphone app, “When parents call, we’ll be able to tell them exactly where a bus is located,” said Benson.

The post Cities Launch School Bus Tracking appeared first on EfficientGov.