Google Calendar for Pomona Events!

A couple weeks ago I pitched the idea of using Google Calendars to create a one-stop-shop for events in our city. The idea met with some enthusiasm. Thank you to Ed for helping me figure out how to create and share these calendars!

Question #1: I've embedded two possible calendar formats in the blog. Option 1 appears in the right column. This "agenda view" is skinny and easy to position in a highly visible place. That said, it isn't particularly readable. At the bottom of the blog you will find Option 2: the "month view." It is large, a bit easier on the eyes (I think), but buried at the bottom of the page. Which format do you prefer? Other formatting options exist -- what would you ideally like to see?

Question #2: The calendars need content. Can you help out? Let's take a stone-soup approach to pulling together all the events and activities Pomona has to offer. If you are able to contribute to the calendar, please shoot an e-mail to pomonaevents@gmail.com . I will then send you instructions for posting events. (If I have your e-mail address, those of you who have already offered to post content to the calendar should have already received an invitation from the pomonaevents gmail address.)

And, if those of you who already use Google Calendars would like to subscribe to the calendar, search for "pomonaevents@gmail.com".

Fellow bloggers: Care to post a calendar on your site? Drop me a line and I'll send you the code and instructions.

Google Calendar for Pomona Events?

I recently started using Google Calendar. So far I'm loving it. I can see and integrate the calendars of friends and family (with their permission, of course). This tool is making shared childcare responsibilities easier to manage.

Now, I'd like to see a couple city calendars.

Perhaps one calendar for public meetings (e.g., City Council meetings). Another calendar for fun events (e.g., Pomona Beautification Day, the camp out thingy for kids at the Fairplex, Second Saturdays).

"We the people" could easily manage the calendars. We'd just need to start them, make them public, and take a stone soup approach to adding content.

If I know about a Cal Poly pony show, I'd add it to the special events calendar for all to see. The kind folks at Metro Pomona could list all the Second Saturdays, antique festivals, and such. The Goddess could post yoga and hooping to the calendar. Staff at the Crime Prevention Office could add info about National Night Out. Ms. Lois could add info about story times and homework help available at the library.

The many Pomona blogs could link to the shared calendar so anyone who knows about the blogs would have ready access to an integrated list of happenings (happenings, I might add, that are often difficult to locate on -- or absent from -- the city's official webpage).

I'd love to know what others think about this idea -- especially those of you who already use Google Calendars and/or those of you who could imagine yourselves contributing content every now and then.

What numbers do you have available on your cell phone?

This weekend I engaged in our biannual tradition of updating the ol' earthquake kits (yes, plural -- home, office, car). It's something I do with each time change, right after I check the smoke detector batteries.

This "spring forward" I added a new little ritual to my expanding effort to enhance perceived control of the uncontrollable: I updated my cell phone to include a couple more emergency/urgent numbers. In particular, I added numbers for the Poison Action Center (1-800-222-1222) and Kaiser's advice nurse.

This update got me thinking about other phone numbers I "should" keep handy. Any recommendations? So far, I've got:

Pomona Dispatch 909-622-1241
Graffiti Removal Hotline 909-620-2265
Code Compliance 909-620-2374
Shopping Cart Rescue 800-497-1984
Poison Action Center 800-222-1222

SeeClickFix -- Citizens Communicating to Cities

Listening to a huge backlog of podcasts, I found myself zoning out given many of the reports no longer felt timely. My ears perked up, however, as NPR's Melissa Block introduced a story about citizens using technology to communicate concerns to the city.

I'm now "watching Pomona" using a very cool service titled seeclickfix. It is available as a website and a smart phone ap. And, you can follow the service using the various social networking tools like Twitter and Facebook.

Here's how it works...

1. Residents post concerns--and photographs, when available--about the city to the site. The more specific the better, in my humble opinion. For example, we can report a big ol' pothole at a particular intersection, an out-of-commission street light in a given park, an ugly banner hanging out of a window at a specific address.

2. Other residents "vote" to indicate they, too, are concerned about the issue and would like the issue fixed. If you would like to lend your voice to the process by endorsing items for fixing of leaving comments, consider setting up an account (though it looks like you can also just enter an e-mail address -- I'm guessing the address wouldn't get displayed, but I'm not sure, hence the recommendation for an account). It looks like it is also possible to text in your vote. Ingenious.

3. Everyone keeps an eye out for the municipality to fix the concern. Once the issue is resolved (e.g., a pot hole gets filled in), users can indicate that the concern has been fixed.

4. And -- this is very cool -- once you submit an issue, the site will automatically generate a flier you can print out with the details of your concern. Talk about making things easy!

According to the NPR story, this tool has really taken off like wild fire in some areas. I'll be curious to see how well it works here in Pomona.

I'm trying to figure out how to add a tool to this blog that will allow us even easier access to voting and reporting on issues. The seeclickfix website generated the script, but I'm not sure how to get the widget to appear as a stable feature of the page (it appears below as an element within this post). Any ideas?

Calendar of (some) events

I googled "Pomona calendar of events" and came upon this link:

http://www.ci.pomona.ca.us/city_calendar/index.php

Alas, the calendar suggests our fair city has little to offer. No Art Walks. No kickin' Fairplex events. No community forums. This calendar is downright sparse. I'm guessing the events listed on the calendar are City of Pomona events and thus don't include all the fun-time offerings.

Three questions:

1. Does anyone know where to find a truly inclusive community calendar of events for Pomona? Where do I go if I want to know about events downtown + Fairplex + Cal Poly + Pomona Valley + Library + Historical Society etc.?

2. Does anyone know who to contact to get a listing on the City of Pomona Calendar? What are the requirements? That information isn't obviously available on the calendar page.

3. If we can't find a pre-existing truly inclusive community calendar of events, what would it take to get one started? Ideally, event organizers could self-post their events and event seekers could browse by event type and date. On a related note, do we have a Visitor's Bureau?

Imagine the glories of one-stop-calendar-shopping! (Not that I don't love frequent stops by all the area blogs!)

Let's figure out a way to get on the same page.

Web-cam crime fighting

Taking a break from my to-do list, I decided to check cnn.com. There I found an intriguing article about web-cam crime fighting. A home owner had installed a web cam at her home after the home was burglarized. One day while watching the camera feed from her workplace, she witnessed two men robbing her again (they also grabbed a snack from her fridge). She called the police and they busted the perpetrators.

Here's a community policing idea -- what if we install web cams around the city's trouble-spots and then distributed the feed via the city's web page. We could all pitch in to monitor happenings around town. Whenever a resident is curious about activity happening across the street -- say, the shadows moving in the dark over in the park after it is closed -- she or he could log onto the site and get a look. If something fishy is going on, a call could be made to dispatch.

I know, I know -- this idea sounds rather "big brother." But, if the city posted notices (e.g., Notice: This public space may be monitored by video surveillance) and the cameras focused only on public spaces, I think I'd be comfortable with the idea. I might even give up my trashy reality TV shows to watch the realities of our streets.

What do others think? What would be the hardware and software needs of something like this? Are there wireless web cams that would make it possible to move the cameras wherever they are needed? What about legality?

Your Ideas Needed: Projects for Pomona Beautification Day

May 9 is Pomona Beautification Day (that's two short months from now!). Teams work from 8 AM - noon, and then head to the fairgrounds for a free BBQ and celebration (12:30 PM - 3 PM). Participants can either select their own site or call the organizers for an assignment (909-621-5252).

Here's my question, what kinds of projects do you think would be appropriate for this sort of event? Our NW group would like to pull together a project of some sort; would love to hear your ideas.

Your Ideas Needed: Special Topics for NW Meetings

I'd like to generate a list of special topics NW groups might wish to engage during monthly meetings (in addition to the always-present "what are we worried about right now"). Here are some initial brainstorms -- would love to hear others.

* Emergency preparedness
* Child safety
* Using neighborhood curb appeal to increase likelihood of selling foreclosure properties

What topics have other NW groups engaged? What kinds of things do you think people might be interested in learning and talking about?