CITY OF HOUSTON eGOVERNMENT CENTER SELECTED AMONG TOP TEN E-GOVERNMENT CITIES IN NATION Brown University Study Ranks Houston 9th, Up From 36th in 2001
October 10, 2002 - The second annual Urban E-Government study conducted by Brown University has ranked the City of Houston’s eGovernment Center -- www.cityofhouston.gov -- 9th among the 70 largest metropolitan areas cities offering a wide range of e-government services.
Houston’s ranking jumped 25 places, from 36 to 9, placing it 6th in website improvement over last year’s study. Dallas (2nd), San Antonio (3rd), and Houston (6th) placed in the Top 10 of most improved sites in the nation, and all three cities ranked in the Top 12 in the overall study.
Rankings were based on “features important for information availability, citizen access, portal access, and service delivery,” according to the Urban E-Government 2002 report, issued late last month. The report can be found at www.insidepolitics.org.
“Given that our website is always a work in progress,” said Information Technology Department Director and Chief Information Officer Richard Lewis, “I’m very pleased at our increased ranking. Once our Spanish Portal goes online, we’re looking forward to providing more information to our citizens and gaining more recognition in comparison to other municipal websites.”
A 90-page City of Houston Spanish translated website, rivaling Dallas as most voluminous among major metropolitan city websites, is scheduled to debut on or around December 1, 2002.
Since the Brown University study was conducted in June and July of this year, the City of Houston website has pro-actively responded to citizen requests by adding detailed Heavy Trash and Heavy Trash Contract Pickup Maps as well as downloadable .pdf versions of the City Charter and Code of Ordinances. Scheduled to debut before the end of the year are Bikeways Maps, Recycling Maps, and Garbage and Garbage Contract Pickup Maps, an increased listing of forms, applications and publications, and the abovementioned debut of the Spanish Portal.
