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(@SF311), and he receives status updates from citizens about potholes, graffiti or other nonemergency issues. One user, Doloris Clean (@DPClean), represents the city’s Dolores Park area, reporting areas that need attention with pictures of the problem. The city responds via Twitter with a case number and an assurance that the problem will be resolved. The result? Better identification of problem areas, quicker response times by city workers and more satisfied citizens.

But it goes beyond a simple Twitter feed.

San Francisco has also released mountains of public data – public parking locations, city salaries, operating expenses and more – to the public for analysis and development of new tools that make the data relevant to the city’s inhabitants. The effort has resulted in popular tools like an interactive map showing crime trends and even smartphone applications to track city buses or show the nearest recycling spot.

Other cities like Chicago, Portland, Boston, Austin and New York have mounted similar efforts and reaped similar rewards: smartphone applications showing traffic trends and health department restaurant ratings, among other useful information. The State of Illinois began to move in this direction under Gov. Pat Quinn, releasing several websites full of data on budget numbers, public service opportunities and the use of stimulus funds. Even the federal government is jumping on the bandwagon, releasing websites like Data.gov, Recovery.gov and FedSpending.gov to make readily available unprecedented amounts of data about how federal money is used.

But those tools are useful beyond helping people catch the next bus or even learning how their government works; the open-source approach lets people see their government being proactive to adapt in the digital era and helps foster a sense of openness, reinforcing the concept that government really is for the people, by the people.

Springfield has already taken steps in the open-source direction by setting up an online portal to view public records requests. The website saves city workers time by avoiding redundant requests and can help the public find information faster. To take it a step further, imagine being able to quickly and easily look up city ordinance violations for the blighted property down the street or notifying the city via Twitter about a fallen tree in the road. Springfield does have a Twitter account (@Springfield_IL) and Facebook page, which the city uses to keep followers informed of road closings and other announcements, and the city’s website already allows residents to report problems. With those steps already taken, it would be only a small change to adopt the faster, more efficient social media model gaining traction elsewhere. If the Internet is the future, governments and their citizens have a lot to gain by evolving with it.

From Chicago, urban farms

In many spots around Springfield, vacant lots sit empty and unproductive, overrun by weeds and tires. Some lots are the abandoned remnants of some former glory, while others are simply a gathering place for the wind-blown garbage of fly-dumpers. It’s a common sight in cities across the nation, as some landowners struggle to find new, profitable uses for their lots and others simply don’t try. But in some cities, those vacant lots are finding new life as urban farms that grow vegetables while they grow communities.

A Chicago group called the Resource Center operates an urban farm in the Windy City, borrowing unused city property that formerly held the now-demolished slums of the Cabrini-Green public housing development. Known as City Farm, the project enlists the help of volunteers from nearby neighborhoods to work the soil, creating a green space only a mile from the skyline of downtown Chicago. Produce from the farm is sold to local eateries like Chicago’s trendy North Pond restaurant, and the proceeds support the farm’s operations.

“We’re selling it at a premium price, and people want to buy it because it’s so fresh,” says Andy Rozendaal, director of urban agriculture for the Resource Center. “It’s cut that day, and within two hours, they’ve received their produce. It doesn’t have to go across the country, and they see that as premium, fresh, local food.”

But because the garden is in a low-income area, it also offers fresh produce at a discount for residents in need, Rozendaal says.

“We try to make sure people don’t walk away without available healthy food,” he says. “If they can’t afford it, they pay what they can afford. We want to make sure that everyone has access to it, not only the rich.”

Rozendaal says people in the surrounding neighborhoods generally don’t steal from the garden or vandalize it.

“I just think that people know what we’re doing, that we’re a nonprofit and we’re trying to better our community,” he says. “They seem to respect us for that.”

Not all urban gardens operate like City Farm, of course. Springfield’s own community garden, administered by the Illinois Department of Agriculture, allows residents a small patch of earth inside the fairgrounds racetrack to grow food for their own use. Space is limited, however, so more community gardens around Springfield could repurpose unproductive land, foster neighborhood pride and improve access to fresh, healthy, local food.

Rozendaal says his volunteers learn valuable skills and get to meet their neighbors, sometimes for the first time.

“A true garden program gets people from the community to do agriculture together,” Rozendaal says. “What better way to get to know your neighbor than the way God intended, getting your hands dirty to grow things and be a creator in this world?”

Contact Patrick Yeagle at [email protected].