MAYOR LEE P. BROWN LAUNCHES THE CITY OF HOUSTON'S SPANISH WEB SITE New Web Site Provides City Services to Spanish Speaking Houstonians
December 10, 2002 -- Mayor Lee P. Brown today launched the Centro Electrónico del Gobierno, the City of Houston’s Spanish eGovernment Center. This Web site will provide Spanish-speaking Houstonians with online access to information about City services and programs.
“The Centro Electrónico del Gobierno is one of the most comprehensive Spanish-language municipal Web sites in the country,” said Mayor Brown. “We have nearly 100 Web pages of information about the City of Houston, covering everything from departmental services and City government to Houston tourism and economy.”
The Centro Electrónico del Gobierno is the sister site for the City’s eGovernment Center, which gives residents the option of interacting with City departments from the comfort and convenience of their homes or offices. Through the eGovernment Center, Houstonians can now do everything from reporting a pothole and paying tickets online to finding maps to City-owned facilities and beginning the process of obtaining a city license or permit.
“It has been one of the goals of my administration to give citizens easier access to City government, empowering them to work with us for the betterment of Houston,” said Mayor Brown. “The eGovernment Center puts City services at residents’ fingertips. This is an important tool in fostering Neighborhood Oriented Government. With the expansion of our online initiatives into Spanish, we are enabling access to City services and information for a larger segment of our community.”
The launch concludes the first phase of development of the Spanish site. The next phase will include adding more Spanish content. While some of this content will be translations from the eGovernment Center, there are also plans to create Spanish-specific content to meet the needs of that community.
“The continued development and long-range plans for the Spanish site will include recommendations from the 3-1-1 Houston Service Helpline, the Citizens’ Assistance Office and the Mayor’s Office for Immigrant and Refugee Affairs about information and topics that are relevant to the Spanish-speaking community,” said Mayor Brown. “This will allow us to make the site a more effective tool in reaching all Houstonians.”
