A few cities have turned to digital tools to help them manage infrastructure or customer service. Now, more cities are seeing the benefits and following suit.

In June, we told you about how San Francisco is using Twitter to help solve city complaints faster. They’re currently up to 4,600 followers.

The mayor of Chicago recently unveiled his plans to use GPS sensors and surveillance cameras to help manage snowy streets this season. His goal is to cut down on the number of supervisors working at once and control how much salt is being used. Ultimately, he’s looking at cost and efficiency improvements.

The upstart costs might be hard to swallow, but the long-term benefits are tremendous.

I can think of tons of ways cities could be using digital technology to be more efficient and help its residents. Here are just a few:

1. Email water bills and allow residents to pay online.
2. Bill taxes electronically and allow online payments.
3. Allow people to sign up for alerts when there will be snow removal, leaf removal or anything else that might affect street parking.
4. Cameras installed in parks to monitor and deter kidnapping, loitering, vandalism, unauthorized use or any other criminal or shady behavior
5. Allow residents to take photos of unkept yards with their camera phones and email them to the city manager
6. Implement a version of Google Maps to alert the city of potholes and other needed repairs

And some cities are already doing some of these. My Toronto colleague can pay his city utility bills online and set up automatic withdrawal for his property taxes.

Here’s what would be nice to see on every city website:

1. Park facilities including photographs
2. Park and any other facility rentals, prices and calendar showing existing reservations so you can see availability and book online
3. City ordinance searchable database. Can my neighbor really install that on his front lawn?
4. School performance data
5. Recycling, yard waste and trash how-tos, restrictions and pick up days
6. Submit request and payment for building permit electronically
7. List of recommended builders, landscapers and contractors
8. Agenda and minutes of city council meetings and any other city business

These are not only helpful to current residents but might help lure prospective residents. What are some other ways cities should be adopting the digital mentality?

Thanks to Bridget McKinley, Elliot Smith and Fang-Yu Lin for their ideas on this topic.

Sarah Jo Sautter