PUNCHCARD Series: Gambit’s Electionland Allows Citizens To Ask Questions & We Have Our Own

In our interactive world, we pretty much expect immediate or ASAP response time.  With the common availability of WiFi, 3G, smartphones, etc., there’s almost no reason NOT to be connected, especially if you are in a position that might require you to provide answers in a time-sensitive fashion.

With this in mind, I was excited to see Electionland pop up on the Gambit’s Best of New Orleans blog with the promise of interacting with mayoral candidates in an open online forum. Readers were encouraged to submit questions and expectations were set that mayoral candidates would answer them on January 6.  As of the day of this writing (January 19), nine questions were asked and the breakdown is as such:

• One question was directed specifically at James Perry. He answered that question and one other.
• Seven of the 8 relevant questions were answered by Troy Henry.
• Only one of the 8 relevant questions were answered by both John Georges and Mitch Landrieu. Coincidentally, it was the same question about the crime/education link.

The questions were good. For the most part, they weren’t flip or standard. The NolaStat questions were particularly high-level and precise. The concern is: why weren’t MOST of the questions answered by more of the candidates? Even by a team hand? It’s not as if the Gambit is some randomly periodic black and white rag with no readership. Or that the site has a bunch of spinning gifs and visible tables. It’s a dedicated weekly coupled with a well-organized, fluid site that updates as-needed and that many young, forward-thinking, smart people of voting age use for election information.  Even if the Electionland questions were overlooked by the candidates themselves, it seems impossible candidates don’t have some type of Google Alerts, RSS feed or team researcher set up to scour the Internet for cases such as this.

So, where does that leave us with our questions? We can’t rely on debates that merely allow the candidates to stump when asked questions, we can’t rely on press events with pat, carefully worded statements that answer nothing.  We have questions about the future of tech in our city and we want ANSWERS. So, now, we at NewOrleans Tech are throwing our interrogative hat in the ring.  We want educated, thoughtful answers about the use of social media, closing the digital divide and supporting growth.  There hasn’t been much campaign talk about about technology initiatives in New Orleans or how the new mayor will help spur them.

This is our call to New Orleans Mayoral Candidates. Can you step up to our plate? Can you answer our questions? Here they are:

1. More cities are embracing mobile apps and using social media in a “government 2.0″ stance to connect everyday citizens with government processes.  As mayor, what are your plans in helping New Orleans embrace these types of tools for our citizens?

2. There is an apparent digital divide in New Orleans between people that have access to certain types of technologies and others that don’t.  What are your plans to ensure that NOLA citizens have access to adequate tools such as Internet access, computers, etc?

3. In past administrations, there were obviously a lot of black eyes in terms of the crime cameras, important e-mails being deleted off city servers, and personnel issues. As the new mayor, what are your plans to ensure that transparency is a part of the city’s operations?

4. As mayor, how do you plan to support continued growth and economic revitalization in technology and improve the efficacy of any programs currently in place?

5. Do you have any plans to incorporate Web 2.0 tools in to the city’s emergency management plan?

I’m not sure what happened at Electionland, but we at NewOrleans Tech plan to stay on top of these issues because we know, like you, that our future as technologists and high-tech entrepreneurs depends on who we elect to lead our city for the next four years. We also plan to check back on the newly elected to make sure he/she is fulfilling any promises made to the tech community during the election.

As always, we welcome your insight or input in the form of questions for the candidates.   Stay logged on for more in the 2010 mayoral election Punchcard series.