Santa Monica Wins Four Technology Awards

May 29, 2008

Contact:
Jory Wolf, Chief Information Officer
(310) 458-8381

Santa Monica Wins Four Technology Awards

The City of Santa Monica has won a technology solutions award and received three honorable mentions from the Public Technology Institute (PTI) for four new and innovative technology projects. 

The SantaMoniCard parking meter debit card program was recognized by PTI with a technology solutions award.  This highly competitive award is presented to local governments who have demonstrated innovative technology solutions to improving service delivery, lowering operating costs, and creating new revenue opportunities. 

The SantaMoniCard debit card is used in conjunction with the new parking meters to be found throughout the city.  The new meters accept coins or the SantaMoniCard.  The SantaMoniCard resembles a credit card and may be purchased at the Parking Office at 429 Santa Monica Blvd., Suite 350 or at the Treasury Office in City Hall at 1685 Main Street. 

Three other Santa Monica technology programs were recognized in the competition with honorable mentions.  The Advanced Traffic Management System is a multi-pronged approach to address traffic congestion issues that includes an improved parking information and advisory infrastructure, improved public transportation resources, and improvements to streets, intersections, signage, and signaling.  Traffic signals will be remotely monitored, managed and controlled in real-time.  Infrastructure improvements include upgrades to traffic signals, upgrades to existing signal control electronics, and construction of a dedicated fiber optic network. Now, traffic signal timing may be adjusted on-the-fly from a central location in order to accommodate shifting traffic patterns due to peak travel times, special events, holidays, and traffic accidents.  The system will also be used to synchronize traffic signals to improve flow along major corridors.

A Mobile Work Management System is now available on office desktop computers and from internet enabled laptop computers carried by Water Resource Division work crews.   Field crews are able to update and view work order information without returning to the office helping make them more efficient and ensuring that their work order information is always up-to-date.

CityNet is a collaboration of city and third party fiber providers that provide the business community with  high bandwidth communications services. This program has enabled local government agencies to construct and expand community fiber optic assets.  Participating local businesses are experiencing considerable savings for their communications networks  while contributing funding for expanding the community fiber optic network.  The city uses the additional revenue to fund expansion of fiber optic and wireless networks and implementing new technologies that provide improved service, mobility and livability for the community.

The Public Technology Institute (PTI) is a national non-profit technology research and development organization based in Washington, DC, representing local governments. The PTI Technology Solutions Awards is a national program recognizing local governments that use technology to increase revenues, improve service to their community, save tax dollars, or improve management. 

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This page was last updated on 05/29/08.