December 2015

Archive for “December, 2015”

Six Winners Take Home Prizes for BigApps 2015

December 16, 2015 / Comments Off

BigApps is an annual civic technology competition sponsored by the New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) that invites teams to create apps, websites, and connected devices that help address the City’s biggest challenges. BigApps 2015 – produced by HR&A on behalf of NYCEDC – asked contestants to address four issues identified in Mayor de Blasio’s OneNYC long-term plan – Affordable Housing, Zero Waste, Connected Cities and Civic Engagement. The competition connected teams with City agencies and other civic and tech partners to help produce cutting-edge, implementation-ready products.

Over a five-month competition period, more than 100 teams submitted products and competed for $125,000 in cash prizes. On Wednesday, December 2, BigApps announced six winning teams. Winners were evaluated by an esteemed Selection Committee composed of leaders from the tech and civic sectors, including representatives from BigApps banner sponsors Microsoft and AOL. In addition to cash prizes, winners will receive at least two months of post-competition support from BigApps partner Civic Hall as well as continued product development support from City and civic partners.

The BigApps 2015 winners are:

Affordable Housing | JustFix.nyc

To help tenants improve building conditions, Dan Kass and George Clement created JustFix.nyc, a mobile app that guides tenants through a personalized process to contact landlords and property managers about a problem, collect evidence of housing violations, and builds a case that could eventually help tenants get resolution against unresponsive management.

Zero Waste | Treasures

Alex Bodman, Sam Keene, and Martin Breggren asked each other, “Why throw something away if you can give it away?” The trio created an app allowing users to post items available for free pickup, rather than banish unwanted items to the curb.

Civic Engagement | Benefit Kitchen

Melanie Lovelle and Dan Beeby created Benefit Kitchen as a benefit screening app that easily helps families figure out what city, state, and federal benefits they’re eligible for through a 10-minute survey. The app also includes a budgeting guide and information on how and where to apply for specific programs.

Connected Cities | City Charge

Tommy Mitchell developed a solar-powered charging station, CityCharge, that allows users to charge their mobile devices in public spaces. The station also collects data on air quality, noise levels, and pedestrian traffic to provide data and content, as well as hyper-local ads.

Judge’s Choice | Addicaid

Sam Frons created the mobile-native addiction recovery app Addicaid to cater to the needs of individuals struggling with substance abuse. The app integrates a support network of friends, recovery centers, and a daily log to track feelings and actions related to addiction.

Judge’s Choice | IssueVoter

Issue Voter is a non-partisan constituent engagement tool created by Maria Yuan that enables users to identify and weigh in on issues they care about, and follow them through the political process with bill summaries, voting alerts, and recent news.

As BigApps administrator since 2014, HR&A designed the competition’s structure and led implementation for two consecutive rounds. Our team has helped raise nearly $400,000 in cash sponsorships and an equal amount of in-kind contribution; manage relationships with over 200 sponsors, civic partners, mentors, and judges; manage the web-platform design; market the competition to entrants and the public; manage the submission and judging processes; and produce 25 high-impact events. We’d like to extend our sincerest thanks to our team members SuperCharger, Supervision, Savvy Strategy, Civic Hall, and Urban Solutions.

HR&A congratulates the winners of BigApps 2015 for their creative contributions to civic tech and their future impact on the lives of all New Yorkers. Learn more about the competition and the winning teams here.

Dallas Trinity Parkway “Dream Team” Charrette

December 15, 2015 / Comments Off

HR&A worked with a multidisciplinary team of designers, planners, architects, and engineers to refine a vision for Dallas’ Trinity Parkway.

In early 2015, Mayor Rawlings of Dallas invited Chairman John Alschuler and Principal Elissa Hoagland Izmailyan to participate in a charrette with a “Dream Team” comprised of twelve high-profile designers, planners, architects, and engineers to define a consistent vision for a new road that will run along the Trinity River corridor through a future Trinity River Park. HR&A’s work focused on the potential for economic development and the value of creating a “parkway” experience through the future park. This process resulted in the Trinity Parkway Design Charrette Report, which included an outline of principles for the parkway’s design. The report was unanimously endorsed by the Dallas City Council as a preferred vision for the parkway’s design and development.

The Trinity River Park presents a unique opportunity to bring the citizens of Dallas together in a beautiful, communal space, and catalyze economic development along the Trinity River. The Trinity Trust Foundation recently received a $1 million donation to fund planning and design for the corridor’s park, with feedback from the public. HR&A will continue to offer guidance on and exploration of economic development opportunities surrounding the Trinity River corridor.

Read more about the Dream Team in the Dallas Morning News and The Dallas City Hall Blog.

HR&A and Sasaki Associates Selected to Advance the Pennsylvania Avenue Revitalization Initiative

December 14, 2015 / Comments Off

The National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC) has commissioned HR&A Advisors and Sasaki Associates to develop economic and urban design framework strategies for the Pennsylvania Avenue corridor between the White House and the Capitol in Washington, DC. This work is a critical part of the Pennsylvania Avenue Initiative, launched in 2014 by NCPC, the General Services Administration, and the National Park Service. The goal of the Initiative is to develop a vision for how the Avenue can meet both local and national needs in a 21st century capital city.

While still home to many national landmarks, notable government and private sector office buildings, museums, theaters, and hotels, the Avenue is also in need of improvements to help it to meet the changing needs of Downtown Washington and the District overall. In recent years, Downtown Washington has gained a sizable residential population. A wave of new development in neighborhoods across the City has expanded opportunities for people to live, work, and play. Along the Avenue, the ongoing conversion of the Old Post Office to a hotel and the pending redevelopment of the Hoover Building following the relocation of the FBI make this a critical time to think about the future of the Avenue. The Master Plan has not been updated in more than 40 years, since the 1974 Pennsylvania Avenue Plan, which was implemented by the now-defunct Pennsylvania Avenue Development Corporation.

HR&A is leading development of the economic portion of the project, conducting a market analysis and developing strategies to stimulate reinvestment in the corridor, including in public open spaces. As part of this work, the Team is engaging stakeholders, exploring opportunities for improving the mix of uses, and providing high level estimates of costs, benefits, and potential funding sources for various strategies and urban design interventions.

For more information on the Pennsylvania Avenue Initiative, visit NCPC’s Pennsylvania Avenue Initiative website and a featured article on the selection of Sasaki and HR&A in the Washington Business Journal.

Health Districts | Key Lessons for Municipalities and Partner Health Care Organizations

December 12, 2015 / Comments Off

Crossposted from the National Resource Network
By:Todd Fawley-King, Caroline McCarthy, and Judith Taylor

Our recent publication –Striking a (Local) Grand Bargain – explores how municipalities and anchor institutions can substantially increase community stability, economic competitiveness, and health outcomes when they jointly establish a shared long-term community vision and coordinate policy and investments. For cities with large anchor medical institutions, successful health districts integrate medical facilities into mixed-use neighborhoods to support economic, social, and community health goals.

The City of Lancaster, California is planning for a new health and wellness district and would like to create a partnership with the Antelope Valley Hospital. The National Resource Network provided in-depth case studies of other health districts in similar cities to help Lancaster understand the scope and key elements a health district should include, as well as the potential impacts. In addition, the Network drew on experience planning for healthy communities, including a health district plan for Meridian, MS, and implementation support for a healthy campus in Kansas City, KS. From this research, we have identified several key lessons that may be applicable to other cities considering similar districts.

Formal “initial thinking” in collaboration between a municipality and an existing health care institute is a common element of the successful health districts studied.

The health institutions that formed the nucleus of these successful health districts and the municipality often conducted preliminary planning or collaborative work to form and strengthen their partnerships, which then helped increase stakeholder interest in the investment and effort needed to form the district.

Health districts can coordinate development among individual institutions to efficiently maximize capital resources, share the burden of infrastructure improvements, and support ambitious projects.

Health districts may be especially useful in cities with multiple large medical anchor institutions that have similar investment and infrastructure needs. The dialogue inherent in the formation and maintenance of the health district plan can facilitate creative approaches to finance and encourage shared responsibility of infrastructure upgrades benefitting multiple stakeholders. This process may also encourage the formation of a political coalition necessary to champion ambitious projects and access diverse funding options such as state or federal grants.

There are several challenges that can hinder collaboration and realization of a successful health district.

Notably,partnerships between institutions with similar market aspirations can be tenuous, especially when the economy contracts. Establishment of a health district where the key members are competing institutions may be challenging; a health district with complimentary facilities may result in greater collaboration and success. In addition, changes in the leadership of the municipality can derail a project that is led primarily by the public sector, making it important to carefully consider what entity should lead the initiative.

The right leadership can ensure continued relevance of the plan and support for long-term objectives.

Most cities that pursue a health district must choose between a public-leadership of the initiative or assigning a separate non-profit entity to lead. Public-led health district initiatives require long term city commitment and consideration of how to maintain focus during leadership changes. For some cities, a non-profit coordination organization may be best suited for the lead role because a specially-designated entity can focus and steward the resources necessary to coordinate institutional planning, effectively represent public and private interests, and access financing opportunities such as grants. Additionally, a designated non-profit coordination organization can add dedicated implementation capacity and help maintain focus on the objectives of the plan during leadership changes. However, in considering creating a non-profit coordinating entity, stakeholders must ensure the organization will have sufficient resources to support itself and its mission. Possible revenue sources may include philanthropic support or revenue from assets in the district the non-profit could manage.

Successful health districts are comprehensive and actively involve all nearby landowners.

Instead of focusing narrowly on the municipality and the medical institutions, successful health districts reach out to all landowners to create a comprehensive vision for the future of the community. This expansive view is necessary to secure widespread community support and better targets the full range of investment by all stakeholders in the district towards achieving the long-term goals and objectives.

Cities should actively pursue partnerships with potential new anchor institutions while preparing a master plan.

Attraction of new anchor medical institutions to a district is a clear sign of the success of a health district masterplan. Cities have a valuable opportunity during the preparation of the plan to incorporate attractive policies and incentives and thus should reach out to potential anchors during the preparation phase to understand what cost-effective incentives, infrastructure upgrades, or policies might induce new institutions to locate in the planned health district.

Health districts are powerful long-term strategies that require considerable investment of time to develop and maintain. Municipalities considering a health district should assess the resources and institutional capacity necessary to partner productively with a medical institution to make a health district a reality. To ensure success, cities that choose to pursue a health district should carefully consider how to apply the key lessons identified here, and also review the Network’s report on collaboration between municipalities and their anchor institutions.