In still more Mayoral news...Chaka Fattah released his technology plan; it's here. The plan ranges from small to large ideas, and includes a good section on supporting technology businesses. But it does not have the specificity of funding sources that we've just seen in Nutter's emergency management plan or Knox's crime plan.
Among his proposals:
He wants to bring public access TV to Philadelphia, and it's about time.
The idea that we don't have true public access TV in this, the strangest city I've ever seen, is just so wrong.
In a broader claim, he wants to modernize every classroom for grades six through twelve, with interactive digital Smart Boards (makes sense; it will be expensive but maybe we can find a sponsor?) wireless Internet connections (OK, that's smart and cheap) and ... laptops for every child.
Whoa!
All we get about how he'll pay for the laptops is "This effort will utilize various state funding sources as well as city dollars."
Now, Fattah is a pro at leveraging funding sources for education, and he's proved it. But laptops for every child was quite an undertaking when it was attempted at just one school, the $63 million High School of the Future in Parkside. As the Daily News' Mensah Dean pointed out, doing that even required the district to install laptop-Lojack-like technology in all the computers, in case they were stolen.
Sigh.
Fattah also said he "will use both traditional and new technologies, such as school loudspeaker systems, television and the Internet, to address all Philadelphia public school students regularly."
And he wants to start a Web site to connect teachers' needs in the classroom with donors who can meet them. Good luck. The Daily News tried hard to develop this with the Chamber of Commerce and the school district some years ago. The program became bogged down in a mess of district purchasing bureaucracy and general frustration.
Of much more promise are Fattah's plans to grow technology businesses, including seed money for firms in targeted industries, including biotechnology and nanotechnology. This is smart -- a small investment could have big payoffs, if only to send the signal to the marketplace that Philadelphia is interested in supporting entrepreneurs. (Again, though, there are no details as to cost.)
He also wants to form a emerging technology roundtable of leaders in the biotechnology, nanotechnology and other emerging technology fields to advise him on policy. Another good idea. (And it should be a free idea, too!)
Another ideas that seems to make a lot of sense: He wants to buy locally, prefering local tech companies (the city can now show geographic preference in purchasing thanks to a charter change spearheaded by then-Councilman Michael Nutter).
Finally, I'd like to know more about the idea to provide tech training to local businesses...that seems very interesting, but all the plan says is that Fattah would "encourage groups like Innovation Philadelphia, the Philadelphia Industrial Development Corporation and the Philadelphia Community Development Corporation to expand training programs."