Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Honolulu Tops 2011 Digital Cities Survey

Posted by samzenpus on from the high-tech-luau dept.

First time accepted submitter folsomfella writes "The 11th annual survey spotlights the municipalities that best show how information and communication technology are used to enhance public service. The top 10 cities are selected in four different population categories and judged on the criteria of enterprise applicability or impact across multiple program areas, measurable progress from the prior year, hard dollar savings or soft dollar benefits as a result of technology use, innovation and a demonstration of effective collaboration."

17 of 35 comments (clear)

  1. I wish we had free city-wide wifi here... by AngryDeuce · · Score: 2

    Then again, everyone I've ever known that's lived in Hawaii has said that it was ridiculous expensive to live there...

    1. Re:I wish we had free city-wide wifi here... by DigiTechGuy · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Everything is expensive as it's either shipped in or flown in. It's a very liberal state and as such, taxes are quite high so that doesn't help either. Hawaii was gorgeous and incredible to visit, but I certainly wouldn't want to live there.

      As an aside, Honolulu is a beautiful city on the surface, at least for the first block or two in from the ocean. Though the city is full of drug dealers/users, hookers and bums/homeless, all of which are conspicuously plentiful even in the beachfront/resort area right on the water. This did not detract from enjoying my vacation for the few days I was staying in Honolulu but the particularly aggressive hookers were annoying when out at night. Strangely the bums were not aggressive or rude as they are in every New England or east coast city I've been in. On a side note, if I ever failed completely at life and became a homeless bum, I would find my way to Honolulu. Bums seem to live alright lives in an amazingly beautiful and temperate area. At sunset they swarm the beaches and put up hammocks and cots to sleep in the open salty air.

    2. Re:I wish we had free city-wide wifi here... by Boycott+BMG · · Score: 2

      As a current resident of Honolulu, I have to respond to some of this.

      First taxes are not very high compared to mainland states. According to the Tax Foundation Hawaii has the 30th highest taxes in the nation (out of 50 obviously). http://www.taxfoundation.org/blog/topic/24.html

      Second, there are a lot of homeless in Hawaii. The primary cause of this is high home prices. A home in a "bad" neighborhood will cost $300k-600k, in a "good" neighborhood they go from $500k-$900k, and in the "rich" neighborhoods they are ridiculous. Unfortunately, we live on an island, so there is a limited amount of land. Couple that with regulations that prohibit apartment buildings in a lot of places because they would "ruin the view", and one economic downturn has the effect of generating a lot of homeless.

    3. Re:I wish we had free city-wide wifi here... by DigiTechGuy · · Score: 1

      I'm sure they did not include the whole insland or anything outside of the "city" area of Honolulu and tourist trap area. When I made my way around the rest of the island much of it was very rural, spread out countryside. One thing I found interesting, not just on Oahu but also the Big Island and Maui in particular was that there are abandoned cars everywhere. It appeared to me, an outside only on the islands for a bit shy of two weeks, that whenever people used up or wore out a car they just ditched it on the side of a road farther from the built up areas. This struck me as odd, as I would imagine, being islands, scrap metal recyclers would be present and these abandoned cars would have more value than on the mainland where you can get $200-$400 typically for a whole or gutted vehicle depending on weight and how much desirables (metal) you left vs undesirables (interior, gas tank, oil, etc.) you left in it.

    4. Re:I wish we had free city-wide wifi here... by DigiTechGuy · · Score: 1

      Sorry if I didn't accurately describe everything. This was just my perspective from staying in Hawaii for about two weeks and working my way across Maui, the Big Island, and Oahu. I saw a bit of everything from the cities/tourist traps to the countryside, drove the Hanna Highway, and saw a fair amount of "backwoods" type areas. It was several years ago so sorry if things have changed or I don't recall 100%, just mentioning the things that jumped out at me while I was there or that I have read.

  2. Not enough IT Jobs to matter by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Hawaii has a dearth of IT jobs. I left there for Seattle, never looked back.

  3. What's the downside? by interkin3tic · · Score: 1

    Free wifi, free public healthcare, beaches, great weather... were it not for the hostility to outsiders, Hawaii would be heaven on Earth.

    1. Re:What's the downside? by interkin3tic · · Score: 1

      Oh, right, cost too. Duh...

    2. Re:What's the downside? by timeOday · · Score: 1

      If it were a cheap paradise welcome to all, it would be immediately spoiled by everybody moving there. See California.

    3. Re:What's the downside? by interkin3tic · · Score: 1

      Rich college douchebags from Michigan and Dubai, get the fuck out.

      That's an interesting coalition right there...

      Dumb-fuck Christian military savages from Texas and Mississippi, get the fuck out.

      This does annoy me too. Why conservatives move here is beyond me.

      Anybody who was not born in this state, get the fuck out. We're sick of you polluting our culture and driving our living costs through the roof!

      Having met people from LA, that's a good thing. Anyway, I'm on my way out, though not because of this post.

    4. Re:What's the downside? by interkin3tic · · Score: 1

      I was talking about the non-native-hawaiian "I BOUGHT MY LITTLE PIECE OF PARADISE! YOU GO AWAY!!!" That is what really irks me, if the ethnic Hawaiians want to carry a grudge, that's stupid but whatever. The mainlanders who transplanted there have absolutely no excuses for anti-outsider attitudes though. I understand tourists can be obnoxious, but you knew what it was like when you moved there. The no trespassing signs on the tiny yards of ugly ranch houses in the suburbs miles from the beach or any hiking trails really seemed ugly to me.

      The trail called "stairway to heaven," renovated at great expense to the taxpayers evidently has great views and is one of the best hikes in the US. It also has a guard posted out front to prevent anyone from going into it, as a result of the local neighborhood deciding they didn't want anyone parking on their street. I gather that these were not individuals who would be using the "haole" term either, these were people who made it rich and moved to a beautiful tourist destination, got annoyed with other outsiders, then decided they wanted to have their cake and eat it too.

  4. Honolulu Tops 2011 Digital Cities Survey....... by SIR_Taco · · Score: 5, Insightful

    .... in the United States.

    --
    I say don't drink and drive, you might spill your drink. Before you get behind the wheel just stop and think.
  5. Not an unbiased survey, very anti-public wifi by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    The organization that funded this survey is dedicated to promoting interaction between private business and government. So don't expect to see any cities with their own municipal broadband. Only cities with privately provided wifi are welcome.

  6. For government services... by pat_trick · · Score: 1

    ...but not for regular residents. Been here since 2004. The free wifi hot spots are primarily concentrated in downtown, and a few other random spots. You can see the network map at http://p2.meraki.com/network/kokuawireless ; I wouldn't call this "municipal" wifi in the slightest, seeing as it doesn't really serve anyone except the businesses that have customers coming in or nearby.

    In addition, our primary ISPs, Oceanic Time Warner and Hawaiian Telcom are only now offering speeds of 50 mbps down to residential customers, but only "up to" and only in limited service areas. Not exactly up to par with FIOS services available elsewhere.

  7. Booming industry... by Tablizer · · Score: 1

    They did it to handle all the birth certificate requests

    --
    Table-ized A.I.
  8. Great Place To Live Hard Place To Make A Living by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    I was born and raised in Hawaii, went from Molokai, to Maui, then to Oahu. Making money is hard there, technical opportunities exist, but they are hard to come by. So in 1999 I moved to Seattle where I got to work on a High Performance Linux cluster, was part in a startup aerospace company, and now find myself doing virtualization in a government entity.

    Recently, a former coworker at the State of Hawaii asked me to go to Honolulu and help with a CentOS 3 to CentOS 5 migration, during that time he told about the furloughs they have to endure and how they lost federal funding for new equipment. I really felt bad for them, because they are good people.

    If you don’t have to make money (rich, retired, or student), Hawaii is an awesome place to be. But now I just work single job and my wife is a stay at home mom which a far cry from when we both worked a full time job and I even had to take on a 2nd job to make ends meet.

  9. Not a big surprise by dontmakemethink · · Score: 1

    Honalulu is unique in that it's very isolated and its distinct native population rather underprivileged, I'm not surprised that free city-wide wifi is provided and done well. However I wouldn't say it's a testament to their skills or benevolence as the distinction may suggest.

    An example where a city has gone to great lengths to provide for their residents is the city that hosts the team with the longest waiting list for season tickets in all of professional sports in North America - the reigning NFL champs, the Green Bay Packers. They are by far the smallest city with an NFL team, and it's kept alive because only residents of Green Bay can own shares in the team, and you must own a share to get a season ticket, plus the NFL has a profit-sharing program that supports smaller markets.

    In many other cities with free wifi, it's often insufficient and only serves to dissuade businesses from providing wifi to customers. It's always a drag trying to keep in touch in Saskatoon when I'm touring with my band, since the free wifi is only useable at 4AM and the venue doesn't provide wifi.

    --

    War as we knew it was obsolete
    Nothing could beat complete denial
    - Emily Haines