BasicGov / BLOG

Gov 2.0 Expo was held a few weeks ago in Washington, DC. Much has been written summarizing and reflecting on this event that focused on the next generation of government technology and innovation, including cloud computing, social media and open data (just google “Gov2.0 Expo)  to see many articles and blog postings).

This blog post summarizes a few highlights of the Gov2.0 Expo event and links to YouTube videos to watch the presentations.

1. Tim O’Reilly talks about government moving to platform providers and where the marketplace finds and build businesses.

2.  Jack Dangermond with ESRI presented about “Geoenabling Gov2.0”. It is a fascinating presentation that talks about how GIS is evolving and becoming mapping for the masses.  ESRI has launched a new website arcgis.com that is a cloud-based environment to share maps – check it out.  Watch video

3. Kate Lundy with ACT, Australian Government outlined 3 pillars of Gov 2.0: democratizing data (open data format); citizen centric services (easy to use); participatory government (collaboration, consultation.  Watch video

4. Marie Davie with GSA (General Services Administration) talked about how they are changing the $530B contract processes with its “better buy project” to achieve better results for tax payer money.  Watch video

RealtyTrac, an online marketplace for foreclosure properties, put out their report about foreclosures.

As reported in Business Week we are still not at the peak.

U.S. home foreclosures reached a record for the second consecutive month in May, with increases in every state, as lenders stepped up property seizures, according to RealtyTrac Inc.

Bank repossessions climbed 44 percent from May 2009 to 93,777, the Irvine, California-based data company said today in a statement. Foreclosure filings, including default and auction notices, rose about 1 percent to 322,920. One out of every 400 U.S. households received a filing.

“We’re nowhere near out of the woods,” Rick Sharga, RealtyTrac’s senior vice president for marketing, said in a telephone interview. “We’re likely to set a quarterly record for home seizures if June is anything like May.”

Almost 3.1 million properties have been seized by banks since April 2005, Daren Blomquist, RealtyTrac’s marketing communications manager, said in an interview today.

“The second quarter won’t be the peak,” Sharga said. “I’m not even sure 2010 will be.”

CNBC listed out the most impacted states …

The ten states with the highest foreclosure rates were little changed from the previous month. According to the RealtyTrac report, Nevada remains No. 1 with one in every 79 properties in the state getting a foreclosure notice, five times the national rate.

Arizona ranked second with one in every 169 households receiving a notice, followed by Florida (one in 174 households), California (one in 186 households) and Michigan (one in every 223 households.)
(See the full list in CNBC’s slideshow.)

Code enforcement software helps governments manage  property complaints from foreclosures ….

A  survey conducted last year found that the most frequent complaints related to foreclosures were:

• overgrown yards; property damage
• broken windows, gates, etc.
• garbage dumping

Survey also found that software was a good solution for cities/ towns to manage code enforcement process and help municipalities stay on top of the foreclosure property code regulations.