The exhibit that shows the Washington, D.C. that could have been.
What if the nation’s capitol had been built with a giant bronze chicken on top of it? What if the Washington Monument had been built with a giant statue of the first president standing atop? How about a Lincoln Memorial built as a giant pyramid?
This week’s Highlighted Site of the Week is the National Building Museum’s Unbuilt Washington, the official site for the exhibit that shows you “what might have been” in our nation’s capital.
The proposed pyramid-style Lincoln Memorial.
According to the site: “Unbuilt Washington reveals the Washington that could have been by presenting architectural and urban design projects that were proposed but, for widely varied reasons, never executed. … The physical character of Washington, D.C., that we take for granted today is the unique result of countless decisions, debates, successes, failures, reconsiderations, missed opportunities, and lucky breaks. To tourists and residents alike, the city’s greatest landmarks may seem so appropriate, so correct—it is hard to imagine that they could have turned out completely differently. But nothing in the built environment of Washington [or in any other city, for that matter] is predestined.”
You will find an interactive Google map for the sites of the would-be sites and memorials described in Unbuilt Washington.
Don’t miss the exhibit, which runs from November 19, 2011 – May 28, 2012. Here is the National Building Museum’s Twitter feed and Facebook.
A website which has mobilized support for many different issues
It is a time when the average citizen taking action and working to get their voice is heard is becoming increasingly common, and more and more tools are being created that help organize and mobilize such actions.
This week’s Highlighted Site Of The Week is Change.org, a site launched in 2007 which offers an effective way that people can engage in social issues. Anyone with a cause can log in, create and sign petitions, mobilize support, and cause change.
The site’s founder, Ben Rattray, says that Change.org aims to
Transform social activism by serving as the central platform that connects likeminded people, whatever their interests, and enables them to exchange information, share ideas, and collectively act to address the issues they care about.
Once someone creates a petition for their cause, Change.org may connect these advocates with nonprofits that work towards a similar goal, and in doing that they are making a dialogue possible between the two groups, mobilizing communities in a way what was not before possible.
Change.org has already contributed to many victories such as Bank of America dropping their debit card fee, JCPenny compensating families of Bangladash worker’s who were killed in the 2011 fire, and countless other victories for a variety of different causes.
Lately it seems like causes born from a grassroots movement are achieving success every day, and Change.org has made this easier to achieve.
Kaczyski has found a lot of forgotten video footage that is embarrassing to some politicians
Many people enjoy killing time by getting on YouTube and watching the latest viral videos for a quick laugh. Andrew Kaczynski, on the other hand, enjoys digging into C-SPAN’s online archives and posting his favorite videos onto his YouTube channel, AKaczynski1, many of them which are embarrassing and problematic for current Republican presidential hopefuls, such as Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich.
This week’s Highlighted Site Of The Week features the YouTube channel of Andrew Kaczynski. This 22 year-old college student has made recent headlines by posting videos he discovered like this video of a lecure Mitt Romney gave about John Kerry and the art of flip-flopping that could easily be used to describe himself today.
As the Republican presidential hopefuls campaign to become their party’s presidential candidate, a forgotten video can create an embarrassing and difficult obstacle to overcome.
Andrew Kaczynski currently has 141 videos posted on his channel. That is a lot of forgotten footage that would likely never have been noticed if not for his unique hobby. While Kaczynski describes himself as a moderate Republican, he admits he is more concerned with scoring page views than gaining political points for his party of choice. This provides more enjoyment for the rest of us!
This article provides more information about Kaczynski.
Hawaii Senator Ihara shared about an organization promoting ethical lobbying.
One of the remarkable moments I had at the 2012 COGEL Conference in Nashville was visiting with Hawaii State Senator Les Ihara, Jr. We spoke about COGEL and I had to put in a plug that the conference will be held in Columbus next year! He spoke about NCSL and other things coming in the next year.
Senator Ihara, who was named co-chair of NCSL’s Legislative Effectiveness Committee, has received the Good Government Angel Award from the Hawai‘i Pro-Democracy Initiative, Lawmaker of the Year from Small Business Hawai‘i, the Good Government Award from Common Cause Hawai‘i, and many other awards. The Hawaii State Legislature site offers an interesting list of the measures the senator has introduced.
“Taking Government 2.0 – collaborative and transparent governance – LIVE and worldwide.”
Our Highlighted Site of the Week is Gov 2.0 Radio, hosted on blogtalkradio. Produced by Adriel Hampton, Government 2.0 covers topics such as government transparency, open data, citizen engagement, social media, and much more. You can enjoy streaming the dozens of radio programs at any time.
According to his blog, Adriel Hampton: Wired to Share, Adriel has worked as an investigator for the San Francisco City Attorney’s Office and is a journalist and gov 2.0 strategist.
They also offer a link to the Library of Congress “Veterans History Project,” which collects and preserves personal recollections of our nation’s veterans.
As we take time to honor our military veterans, I thought you might enjoy a history of Veterans Day from the U.S. House of Representatives Office of the Clerk website, and President Barack Obama’s Veterans Day 2011 Proclamation.
For up-to-date information, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has an official Twitter account and Facebook.
In this picture courtesy of Wikipedia, “Joseph Ambrose, a then-86-year-old World War I veteran, attends the dedication day parade for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in 1982, holding the flag that covered the casket of his son, who was killed in that war.”
“Here is the complete website on the children of the Presidents of the United States. Snapshot biographies, trivia and commentary.”
If you would like a fun diversion, try Doug Wead’s Children of the Presidents. This site gives biographies and fascinating pictures of each United States president’ s children from George Washington’s two stepchildren, John and Martha Custis, to Barack Obama’s daughters Malia and Sasha.
Some of them died young; some of them lived to a ripe old age. Some were rich and powerful, while others were rather obscure. A number of the children worked in the White House with their fathers!
According to the site, Abraham Lincoln’s son Robert Todd Lincoln “was one of the wealthiest men in American, serving as president of the Pullman Palace Car Company, the Microsoft of its day. He was the Secretary of War under James Garfield and was Ambassador to the Court of St. James.”
You will find links to video footage from an interview of Caroline Kennedy, and from the weddings of Jenna Bush and Chelsea Clinton.
During this very week in 1930, the Washington Post began running stories about George Cassiday, a bootlegger who was selling alcohol to lawmakers from rooms in the House and the Senate office buildings. According to the U.S. House Office of the Clerk, Cassiday operated his operation from 1920 until 1930 – most of the span of prohibition.
The article says: “From a New York supplier, Cassiday routinely transported 35 to 40 quarts in two large suit cases by train. A Member, he claimed, secured basement office space for him that suited his illicit trade.”
After five years of investigating – one must wonder how hard they were trying in their investigation – the Capitol Police discovered Cassiday’s operation and arrested him. At the time of his arrest, Cassiday was wearing a green felt hat and that hat became his distinguishing characteristic as he made headlines.
The Washington Post reported that Cassiday said, “You find a more general spirit of good fellowship and conviviality in the House.”
A Road Map for the Digital Future Based on Access, Open Government, Engagement, and Industry
Who can possibly top New York City? This week’s Highlighted Site of the Week is the city government’s NYC Digital. Their statistics are staggering: a four million digital audience, 202 million pageviews of NYC.gov in 2010, 52 agencies represented, 4000 points of engagement, 98% residential broadband access, 200 social media channels, and – as they are proud to say – it is all because they have one plan for New York City’s digital future.
According to the site: “New York City is one of the world’s leading digital metropolises. As Part I: State of the Digital City illustrates, New York City government engages over 25 million people a year through more than 200 digital channels including NYC.gov, mobile applications, and social media.”
They work hard to promote civic engagement, encourage new business startups with their Business Solutions Centers, and host hackathons where they provide city data to programmers so they can write cutting edge web and mobile applications to help the city. For those involved in government relations, their Lobbying Bureau page has many links in its helpful FAQ list.
The hundreds of NYC Social Media Sites range from the mayor’s office Twitter feed and Children’s Services’ Facebook, to the Departments of Aging, Buildings, Business, Community Affairs, Education, and many more. Take a look at their 21 Mobile Apps, where you can have information about the road conditions, sports events, Department of Health updates, directions for getting around the city, sanitation department info, and the latest news from the mayor’s office sent directly to your mobile phone.
NYC Digital is as big as the city itself and just as humbling, I must say. Have a terrific weekend, everyone!
“Presidential Libraries promote understanding of the presidency and the American experience.”
The National Archives and Records Administration has a great website for learning about the presidential libraries. Since 1939, the National Archives have been setting up libraries in order to preserve documents and historical materials of each president since Herbert Hoover.
There are 13 libraries in the NARA system, and other libraries that have been established under foundations or state governments. The National Archives site supplies information for visiting the presidential libraries and opportunities to research the presidential documents. You can even listen to the voices of the presidents in these podcasts.
Wikipedia offers the following list of links to the websites of the presidential libraries:
On this day in 1918, the U.S. House public galleries were closed because of the outbreak of the Spanish flu pandemic.
Each week the U.S. House Office of the Clerk gives “Historical Highlights” and today it remembers how 93 years ago the country was facing a flu pandemic. The House and Senate decided to close the public galleries.
The Office of the Clerk gives us an idea of the scope the problem: “According to some modern estimates, more than 50 million persons perished worldwide in the 1918–1919 outbreak; most sources attribute 500,000 or more deaths in the U.S. alone to the Spanish flu. Washington, D.C., swelled by an influx of government workers during the First World War, was particularly hard hit.”
They reported that there were 400 deaths in D.C. during the second week of October, and 730 deaths the week after that. A number of House members were absent from the session and action had to be taken.
U. S. Rep. Henry Rainey (D-Ill.) said, “Mr. Speaker, it is matter of common knowledge that an epidemic of alarming proportions is prevailing throughout the country. … Out of an abundant precaution the Senate has ordered the galleries closed, which action, I understand, meets with the approval of the medical authorities, and so I ask unanimous consent that the Speaker be instructed to close the galleries of this House until further action shall be taken by the House.”
The motion was approved without objection, and the House and Senate galleries were closed and were not reopened until November 4.
The Spanish Flu ward at Walter Reed Hospital in Washington, D.C.
People in New Orleans can send their ideas to the wisdom of the crowd.
Neighborland is a New Orleans project of Civic Center that was founded by Candy Chang, Tee Parham, and Dan Parham. It harnesses the power of crowdsourcing in order to improve and reinvent their neighborhoods.
The site says: “We love New Orleans. We want Neighborland to be a fun and effective way to make our city a better place.”
Citizens of New Orleans can go to the Neighborland website and fill in the statement – “I want ____ in my neighborhood.” The idea is to offer something that would make your neighborhood a better place.
Then they can start a discussion online and campaign for support and votes.
Hopefully they get enough support to keep the discussion going and figure out how to make their dream a reality.
Ideas include requesting more bicycle parking in the French Quarter, more transit options to get to the airport, and the opportunity to recycle glass.
Luke Fretwell from Govfresh interviews Co-founder Dan Parham in the article “Here Comes the Neighborland” from July 26.
You can keep up with the lastest news from Neighborland on Twitter and Facebook.
The City of Chicago website lets you see what Rahm Emanuel is doing for the city.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s office in Chicago is now offering a Google map on the City of Chicago website that allows citizens to follow the mayor’s travels.
The City Hall in Your Community page has markers on its map showing where the mayor has visited. They give us the date of the visit, a picture of the mayor at the event, a link to the original source of the picture, and a description of the event as well as the mayor’s role. It appears there are over one hundred of those markers on the City Hall in Your Community map.
I think this is a good idea for other cities to imitate. It looks like a powerful tool to demonstrate government responsiveness and accountability.
A local political contributions tracker from the Center for Responsive Politics
This week’s Highlighted Site of the Week is the political contributions database on OpenSecrets.org. The Get local! tracker provides charts, lists, and interactive maps for searches by state or even down to the zip code level.
According to the site, “These profiles can show you who’s making the big political contributions in your state, as well as where the money’s coming from (by city, by zip code, and graphically with our “money maps”). You’ll also find links to a money profile of your senators and representative, with a detailed look at where their campaign warchest came from.”
Each search provides a summary of political contributions, from which you can drill down to top contributors, top recipients, and presidential campaign contributions. You can also search representatives from your own, or other Congressional Districts. You can also find search results for previous election cycles.
A big thank you goes to State and Federal Communications Research Associate Sarah Kovit for finding this Highlighted Site.
State and Federal Communications, Inc. provides research and consulting services for government relations professionals on lobbying laws, procurement lobbying laws, political contribution laws in the United States and Canada. Learn more by visiting stateandfed.com.
What if the nation’s capitol had been built with a giant bronze chicken on top of it? What if the Washington Monument had been built with a giant statue of the first president standing atop? How about a Lincoln Memorial built as a giant pyramid?
It is a time when the average citizen taking action and working to get their voice is heard is becoming increasingly common, and more and more tools are being created that help organize and mobilize such actions.
Many people enjoy killing time by getting on YouTube and watching the latest viral videos for a quick laugh. Andrew Kaczynski, on the other hand, enjoys digging into C-SPAN’s online archives and posting his favorite videos onto his YouTube channel, AKaczynski1, many of them which are embarrassing and problematic for current Republican presidential hopefuls, such as Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich.
One of the remarkable moments I had at the 2012 COGEL Conference in Nashville was visiting with Hawaii State Senator Les Ihara, Jr. We spoke about COGEL and I had to put in a plug that the conference will be held in Columbus next year! He spoke about NCSL and other things coming in the next year.
Our Highlighted Site of the Week is Gov 2.0 Radio, hosted on blogtalkradio. Produced by Adriel Hampton, Government 2.0 covers topics such as government transparency, open data, citizen engagement, social media, and much more. You can enjoy streaming the dozens of radio programs at any time.
If you would like a fun diversion, try Doug Wead’s Children of the Presidents. This site gives biographies and fascinating pictures of each United States president’ s children from George Washington’s two stepchildren, John and Martha Custis, to Barack Obama’s daughters Malia and Sasha.
During this very week in 1930, the Washington Post began running stories about George Cassiday, a bootlegger who was selling alcohol to lawmakers from rooms in the House and the Senate office buildings. According to the U.S. House Office of the Clerk, Cassiday operated his operation from 1920 until 1930 – most of the span of prohibition.
After five years of investigating – one must wonder how hard they were trying in their investigation – the Capitol Police discovered Cassiday’s operation and arrested him. At the time of his arrest, Cassiday was wearing a green felt hat and that hat became his distinguishing characteristic as he made headlines.
Who can possibly top New York City? This week’s Highlighted Site of the Week is the city government’s NYC Digital. Their statistics are staggering: a four million digital audience, 202 million pageviews of NYC.gov in 2010, 52 agencies represented, 4000 points of engagement, 98% residential broadband access, 200 social media channels, and – as they are proud to say – it is all because they have one plan for New York City’s digital future.
The National Archives and Records Administration has a great website for learning about the presidential libraries. Since 1939, the National Archives have been setting up libraries in order to preserve documents and historical materials of each president since Herbert Hoover.
Each week the U.S. House Office of the Clerk gives “Historical Highlights” and today it remembers how 93 years ago the country was facing a flu pandemic. The House and Senate decided to close the public galleries.
Neighborland is a New Orleans project of Civic Center that was founded by Candy Chang, Tee Parham, and Dan Parham. It harnesses the power of crowdsourcing in order to improve and reinvent their neighborhoods.
The City Hall in Your Community page has markers on its map showing where the mayor has visited. They give us the date of the visit, a picture of the mayor at the event, a link to the original source of the picture, and a description of the event as well as the mayor’s role. It appears there are over one hundred of those markers on the City Hall in Your Community map.
This week’s Highlighted Site of the Week is the political contributions database on OpenSecrets.org. The Get local! tracker provides charts, lists, and interactive maps for searches by state or even down to the zip code level.
