.

Tag: City

Want to influence policy around the City of Portland surveillance technology?

Rick Turoczy on December 6, 2021

When it comes to tracking citizens with technology, these days it’s way more than just closed circuit cameras or cell tower tracking. The number of technologies available to the City of Portland include “any software, electronic device, system utilizing an electronic device, or similar used, designed, or primarily intended to collect, retain, analyze, process, or share audio, electronic, visual, location, thermal, olfactory, biometric, or similar information specifically associated with, or capable of being associated with, any individual or group.”

Read More

If you read one story this week, make it one written by a real reporter about the whitest city in America

Rick Turoczy on October 31, 2019

(NOTE: You’re soaking in it.) Portland, by any count, is one of the least diverse cities in the United States. This is referenced anecdotally, often in hushed tones. But it’s the truth. From our state’s and city’s racist beginnings to our modern day existence, Portland is uncomfortably and homogeneously white.

Read More

Startup, open source, and/or independent tech folks: Enlighten the City of Portland and Portland Development Commission (PDC) about your world. Please?

Now thanks to a new survey from the Portland Development Commission PDC about the software industry in Portland we all have a chance to yell We are here! We are here!

Rick Turoczy on April 19, 2010

For some reason, as I write this, my mind drifts to Horton Hears a Who! You know, where Horton the elephant finds an entire city of people who are invisible to the naked eye? And he knows that they are there—and will do anything to protect them—but no one else believes that they are there?

You see, Horton’s predicament is somewhat akin to the situation we’ve got with startups, independents, and open source types here in Portland. With the tech community that flies below the radar. They’re here. They exist. But they’re more obscured from view then they should be. Now—thanks to a new survey from the Portland Development Commission (PDC) about the software industry in Portland—we all have a chance to yell “We are here! We are here!” So I’d like to ask—and maybe plead—that you take a few minutes to do so. Read More

Mayor Sam Adams and the City of Portland to open source, open data, and transparency communities: Let’s make this official

Rick Turoczy on September 28, 2009

[HTML2]You may remember a couple of months back—during the Open Source Bridge conference—that Portland Mayor Sam Adams made a commitment to turn Portland into a “hub for open source.”

But conversing about a topic, as they say, is relatively easy. Or to put it more bluntly: talk is cheap.

That’s why it’s incredibly heartening to see the City moving to get something on the books with a resolution that is designed to officially make Portland a more open city. And if you care about open source—even remotely—it would be great to see you at the City Council meeting this Wednesday during the testimony and voting on the resolution. Read More