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Council recognizes ITA for city website revamp, sees it as foundation for 3-1-1 e-government services
Summary
Council members praised the Information Technology Agency for a redesigned city website intended to highlight services, personalization and serve as the technical foundation for a future 3-1-1 system; ITA said the project was completed largely within existing departmental budgets.
Los Angeles — The City Council on May 11 recognized the Information Technology Agency for completing a major redesign of the City of Los Angeles website and described the work as groundwork for a future 3-1-1 e-government service.
Councilmember Richard Padilla introduced the ITA team, saying the portal project was completed within departmental funds after research and surveys of other jurisdictions. He said the redesign focuses site visitors on services (rather than departments), includes audience-targeted navigation buttons (residents, businesses, tourists and recreation), and offers personalization that will surface information relevant to a user’s address.
Why it matters: City officials said the portal reduces friction for residents seeking services and will be the technical beginning of a broader 3-1-1 system for non-emergency city services.
Jesse Quarros, identified as the general manager of ITA, described the portal’s goals and noted it was intended to make it easier for residents to find specific services without combing through more than 20,000 web pages. ITA staff demonstrated a location-based personalization feature showing local elected officials, trash collection day, parks and cable providers when an address is entered.
Cliff Fang, the project lead mentioned by Padilla, and other ITA staff described the site’s prominent service directory and the new search and online forms integration. Councilmember Mark Ridley-Thomas and other members praised the team’s work. Council President Ruth Galanter thanked the team and said the demonstration would be broadcast so residents could see the improvements on Channel 35.
Council action: The item was presented to the council as a formal recognition and demonstration; members congratulated the ITA team and no formal ordinance or budget change was enacted at the meeting. Padilla and ITA said the portal is a phased project and will require additional council support for later 3-1-1 enhancements.
Ending: ITA said the portal will be refined in future phases to bring more localized, personalized information and link to city call-center improvements. Councilmembers asked staff to pay attention to accessibility and to keep the council apprised as the portal evolves into tools for the public and for internal city offices.
