KEVIN NEWMAN for Bellaire City Council 2023

Technology and Forward Thinking on Future Buildings

The more I campaign for City Council, the more I learn about Bellaire.  All candidates were invited to three days of tours of all the City’s facilities, including parks, pools, lift stations, public works, the recreation center, City Hall, the Fire station, and the Police station.  One thing that is now a Top Priority once elected is to bring the City of Bellaire into the 21st century technology wise.  I want better communication between all departments to the public.  I will embrace all the modern sources to disseminate information in a real-time basis in a way that resident scan find with minimal searching.  Facebook, Twitter, and Periscope as well as a City app and Instagram and Pinterest to show off new designs or to get feedback on Park ideas or projects.

I created a City of Bellaire smartphone app as a proof of concept to illustrate how easy it is to set up. Below are screenshots and I will have a tablet for live use at the Candidates forum on Thursday.  This is just a proof of concept and the real thing would be 100 times better, so keep that in mind.  There would be no ads on the real version. We would be able to send out alerts in real-time about traffic accidents on the freeway, construction zones or road closures and post any and all public information that is now easy to find.  If anyone has used the City’s website, you can agree the search function is not very accurate.

This is a 2nd app I created to show a better looking interface. The design choices are limitless.

I want to make sure that any technology in the upcoming Municipal Facilities is forward thinking to be modern and up to date even when the construction of those buildings are completed.  I am actually worried that the technology in these buildings will be purchased on start date and then when the construction is completed the tech will be outdated.  Touring all facilities the only department showing anything near High Tech was the Fire department, although I did not physically use anything there while on the tour.

Public Works has a computer controlled emergency system to monitor all the pumps and lift station except nothing is networked together and the lift station still uses 1950’s tech of a flashing red light on top to alert to issues. The red light just shines and it is up to residents, driving by police or luck that Public Works is notified about the problem.  To me, that is unacceptable!  We are the 6th richest zip code in Texas, yet we use a red light hoping someone sees it and calls the police to report it.  That is a huge issue to me.  We need to make the Technology of the City a TOP priority.