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Government
on the Web: If this is the Information Age, government hasn’t gotten the message. In terms of using computers to help people and make information available, government does a lousy job. Technologically speaking, government is filled with clueless dolts. There are a few exceptions, but most of the officials and agencies get a D-. Here’s a rundown on government, e-mail and the Internet from top to bottom. First, you can send e-mail to the President of the United States. Try president@whitehouse.gov as the address. For that matter, you can e-mail Al Gore, Hillary and Tipper. Go to www.whitehouse.gov. However, Wally Herger, your Congressional Representative, is another story. To this day, he refuses his constituents e-mail access. And the weird joke is that his "I love Wally" web page says, "Click Here to EMAIL Congressman Herger." But it’s a lie. When you click you are taken to the tired old tired "write me" screen he’s been using for years. There is a denial-of-service conspiracy in the California Assembly, uniformly Republican, and with your Assembly Member Sam Aanestad as a willing pawn. Of 32 Republicans in Sacramento, only ONE has e-mail. You heard me. They rest have a "comments" link. Of 47 Democrats and Independents, 35 have e-mail. So who’s interested in hearing from people? I wrote Democratic Assembly Speaker Antonio Villaraigosa about this, and he blew me off. His e-mail response was that the two parties could do as they wish with e-mail. Oh, so he’s not responsible for the legislative body he runs. So how do you e-mail Sam? Try Assemblymember.Aanestad@assembly.ca.gov and the e-mail will probably go through. His staff isn’t answering me, but my e-mails aren’t bouncing back. How about the County Supervisors? Great progress! After years of using ncbos@nccn.net, the Supes have gotten hip. Sam, Bruce, Peter and Karen have e-mail. What’s baffling is Izzy Martin’s inability to acquire an e-mail account. Is it stupidity or disdain for her constituents? Anyway, you can find these e-mails on the Nevada County government web page, www.co.nevada.ca.us, which is, incidentally, one of the most clumsy, useless web pages in existence. I only pray that the page is still under development. This page provides no real information or service. The Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ’s) don’t have a single operating link. The Building Department has conflicting e-mail addresses. Almost every department’s page is a cheap brochure about job functions ("The duty of the Building Department is to issue building permits." Duh.). The "locate a business" link takes you to the Economic Resource Council site, another not-so-computer-savvy organization. One bright spot is that you can download a couple of meaningful documents, like the Title 25 housing documents. If you can find the links, of course. What’s amazing is that despite extensive searching, I couldn’t find the Nevada County Sheriff’s Office! So don’t trust this bogus site. Go to www.ncsheriff-ca.com, where you’ll see a nice web page. I’ve been told by some people in County government that Information Technology department head Steve Monahan is a guy with vision. Excellent! I hope to see that vision expressed in Internet-based delivery of information and services. But in the short term, he can get this dismal little website cleaned up. I assume that task falls to David Stroble, who is listed on the site as the recipient for comments through the link "Questions or comments: e-mail: Information Architect." Oh, and Steve ought to tell David to drop "Information Architect" as a title. Professionals laugh at that sort of puffery. Besides, the site looks bad and work poorly. What architecture is there in that? Good news: I’m told that the Clerk-Recorder’s office will soon have hot search and retrieve capabilities for some public records, but for the time being, we’ll have to go to the Rood Center to use the system. More good news: one of the nicest sites around is the City of Grass Valley. (www.cityof.grass-valley.ca.us). Aside from the usual department information and nice words about the town, they actually have copies of their General Plan available on the web. That’s a little more like it. It’s immoral for government officials to refuse communication with their constituents. I think it should be illegal. And it’s thick-headed for entities like County government not to use the Internet to inform, make records available, and transact business. I hope these folks get smart, and soon. Barry Schoenborn is a technical writer, and an 11-year resident of Nevada County. His column appears the second Saturday of the month. barry@wvswrite.com is his e-mail address. The opinions of columnists are not necessarily those of The Union. |