One-Year Anniversary for Start of Valley Metro Light Rail Service in Downtown Mesa

...and the mayor does this?

Published on Aug 22, 2016

Views: 4

Thank you Extra Innings for hosting a #PlayBall clinic for the Boys & Girls Club. Each year, mayors partner with The United States Conference of Mayors and #MLB to introduce kids to baseball and it's always a blast!

City of Mesa Newsroom Announcement

Mesa department director appointed to EPA committee 08-22-2016 at 12:53:00 PM Source: http://www.mesanow.org City of Mesa Environmental Management & Sustainability Director Scott Bouchie has been appointed to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPAs) Local Government Advisory Committee. [image to the left from Phoenix GoGreen] The Local Government Advisory Committee (LGAC) is composed primarily of elected and appointed local officials, along with several state representatives and environmental interest groups from across the country. The LGAC provides advice and recommendations that assist the EPA in developing a stronger partnership with local governments through building state and local capacity to deliver environmental services and programs. Blogger's note: Mr. Bouchie might have a very full plate to deal with chronic non-attainment here in Mesa and Maricopa County for violating EPA Clean Air Standards. For more than ten days [including yesterday] High Pollution Ozone Alerts have been in effect. The ultimate goal of the LGAC is to provide the citizens of the United States with more efficient and effective environmental protection at the community, state and federal level. The LGAC crafts its advice through the help of four workgroups and a Small Communities Advisory subcommittee. The workgroups include:

Air, Climate and Energy Workgroup Cleaning up Our Communities Workgroup Expanding the Conversation (Environmental Justice) Workgroup Protecting America's Waters Workgroup Scott Bouchie was appointed to two workgroups, Air, Climate and Energy and Protecting America's Waters, and is the only representative from Arizona serving on the committee. City of Mesa Councilmember Dave Richins recently ended his term on the national committee where he served for four years. Bouchie has worked in the municipal arena for twenty years focusing on air quality, water quality, renewables, energy efficiency, resource conservation and resource recovery. His position at the City of Mesa has required him to be on both sides of the equation [Blogger'sNote: usually not a good idea] - as someone who is regulating activities and as someone who is responsible for assuring compliance, or being regulated by EPA requirements. "I am so excited to represent Mesa on this committee," Scott Bouchie said. "Arizona is an extraordinary environment with unique challenges related to dust, heat and water. My experience with each of these topics will make me a strong advocate for developing creative and innovative strategies and policies that take into account both the environmental and fiscal sides of the issues."  [Blogger's Note: don't we hear this same old stuff in the words italicized all the time??] The Air, Climate and Energy workgroup focuses on improving air quality, taking action on climate change, and promoting clean, renewable energy sources. The Protecting America's Waters workgroup focuses on ways that communities and EPA can ensure that we have adequate, safe water resources to support a healthy population and vibrant economy. The LGAC requires multiple online meetings and an annual trip to EPA headquarters in Washington D.C. Environmental Management & Sustainability Contact: Mariano Reyes Tel. 480-644-5005mariano.reyes@mesaaz.gov

Progressive Pie

My man Pie is at it again!
Assumption is the mother of fuck-UPS

Published on Aug 21, 2016

Views: 12,347

Theresa May is not a progressive politician just because she's a woman.

Infinite People | Daily tous les jours | Walrus Talks

This is the group that did the design and installation for "Mesa Musical Shadows" [a $431,000 contract] at the North Campus entry to Mesa Arts Center that's getting toasted in our sizzling scorching heat . . . it is not featured in this.

Published on Aug 9, 2016

Views: only 1!

From The Walrus Talks How to Animate a City (Montreal 2015)

Cities for People, Not Just Cars | Brent Toderian | Walrus Talks

Reconsider traffic infrastructure . . .

Published on Aug 9, 2016

Views: 57

 

From The Walrus Talks Resilience (Saskatoon 2015)

Re | Big Data, Cloud & Internet of Things

 



Fast-changing, human-driven events like expansion of cities and creation of assets for transportation are very vulnerable to old data. Any person who has been misled by car navigation systems can testify to the fact that the digital road network on their device is often out of date and does not show new features.
The need of the hour therefore is for speed of data delivery and crunching.
Where does this data come from and how can it be used in real-time or near-real-time for decision making?
Find out for yourself in this month’s Geospatial World magazine.
The Continuum: Big Data, Cloud & Internet of Things

By Arup Dasgupta August 17, 2016

If geospatial systems have to remain relevant in a fast-changing world, then data sources that go beyond imagery and maps must become a part of the analysts’ armory. Big Data, its analytics in the Cloud and the final Internet of Things are what the future holds.

Q: How many big data scientists does it take to screw in a lightbulb? A: Just a minute. Let me run the algorithm


Natural resources as well as social, political and economic activities have a strong bearing on the outcome of projects such as growth of cities, building of infrastructure and even a farmer’s decision to plant a specific crop. If geospatial systems have to remain relevant in a fast-changing world, then data sources that go beyond imagery and maps must become a part of the analyst’s armory.
Enter the world of Big Data, Big Data Analytics and Internet of Things.

More data is not always more intelligent data

“The rate at which we are generating data is rapidly outpacing our ability to analyze it,” says Dr. Patrick Wolfe, Data Scientist at the University College of London. “The trick here is to turn these massive data streams from a liability into a strength.” The extent to which we are missing extraordinarily valuable data analytic opportunities is incredible: right now, only 0.5% of our information is analyzed. We have more data, but it is not always more intelligent data. Part of the problem with Big Data is that it is not valuable until it is understood. “You have to start with a question and not with the data,” stresses Andreas Weigend, Lecturer at UC Berkeley. “The fact that data gets collected is a good thing,” he adds, but what we really need is to figure out what problems we can solve with it.. . ."

“Our world is ever changing and fresh and dynamic applications that are a combination of content, workflow, analytics and experience can be used in any area of application where we need to sense this change,” elaborates Atanu Sinha, Director, Hexagon Geospatial, India & SAARC. Hexagon, for instance, already has Smart M.Apps to analyze green space, road areas, crime incidents, snow cover, forest burn ratio, iron oxide index in rocks, crop health, UAV data processing and so on.

Read more >> http://www.geospatialworld.net/article/the-continuum-big-data-cloud-and-internet-of-things/ 

Real Future: Predictive Policing (Episode 12)

Published on Mar 24, 2016

Views: 105,555

From citizens capturing police brutality on their smartphones to police departments using surveillance drones, technology is changing our relationship to the law.
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One of the newest policing tools is called PredPol. It's a software program that uses big data to predict where crime is most likely to happen, down to the exact block. Dozens of police departments around the country are already using PredPol, and officers say it helps reduce crime by up to 30%. But some skeptics are worried that despite its futuristic promise, PredPol and similar tools might inflame relationships between local police departments and communities of color.
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In this episode of REAL FUTURE, Alexis Madrigal visits the Santa Cruz Police Department, where officers are already using PredPol to augment their old-fashioned police work. And he asks: as crime-fighting goes digital, is there a risk of relying too heavily on an algorithm?
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Watch REAL FUTURE on Fusion (Mondays at 10 p.m. Eastern), or on Apple TV or Roku.
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More REAL FUTURE episodes: http://www.realfuture.tv