Who’ll START the Rain?*

In his West Palm Beat blog, Palm Beach Post political reporter Andrew Abramson has compiled the 20 Greatest “Rain” Songs of All Time (to stop the drought). West Palm Beach badly needs rain to fill Lake Okeechobee. While Abramson writes tongue-in-cheek that he’s heard a lot of people suggest rain dances,  that fact is that if that city’s estimates are accurate, it will run out of water by the end of this month.

That prompted one of our Boynton Beach city commissioners to question the status of our own water supply so that he could address any concerns constituents may have regarding the situation. In his response, City Manager Kurt Bressner said, “We are in good shape. We still could use some rain.”

Bressner went on to explain that Boynton’s water system is derived from using the shallow aquifer that responds fairly quickly to rain, principally via the system of canals operated by the Lake Worth Drainage District and the South Florida Water Management District. The City’s well fields, he said, are aligned in areas that can benefit from increased surficial water in the canals.

He reminded the commissioner that last year the cities of Lake Worth and Lantana over-pumped their shallow wells closer to the Intracoastal Waterway, which increased salt water intrusion. “Once that starts,” he said,”it’s like a salt water river cutting through a fresh water bubble. It is very hard to recover.”

That’s why four years ago Boynton Beach refurbished its east shallow wells to raise the supply (bowl) of the well to a safer area. The City’s ASR, or Aquifer Storage Recovery, wells have been a salvation for the dry areas. The geological formations under Boynton favored the construction of these recovery wells and has made Boynton one of the few cities in Florida that has been able to successfully use this technique.

Bressner credits former Utility Director John Guidry who guided the installation of the first well in 2000 followed by a second well that came on line two years ago. The current utility administration is building on this system by pushing the interconnect between the City’s East and West water plants to provide greater operational flexibility to shift water from the west to the east and vice versa.

While this is good news for Boynton Beach, it should not been taken to mean that we can be wasteful of water. We need to continue to be vigilant and conserve water where we can. And remember, irrigation is still restricted to two times a week: 2X or Fines. Please be considerate of this precious resource. For more information, visit the South Florida Water Management District’s site at www.sfwmd.gov.

Abramson’s pick for best rain song? Bob Dylan’s A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall, of course.

*With apologies to Creedence Clearwater Revival.

Posted by Wayne at 1:09 PM 0 comments

Community Pride Is the New Black

Community pride is the new black; it never goes out of style. I saw this statement recently on the Internet and thought how well it helps to describe our new Take Pride in Boynton initiative, a photo project designed to showcase everything that makes Boynton Beach a unique community through the eyes of its residents and visitors. Using the social media website Flickr, we have created several “groups” to which we are asking you to upload your original photos of Boynton Beach. The photos will be displayed on the City’s website; social media sites, including this blog; and be used in City publications. Although we’re unable to compensate you, you will be given credit where possible.

Take Pride in Boynton is a tremendous opportunity for us to show a worldwide audience the quality of life that we enjoy in Boynton Beach through photography. A similar project is being carried out in the borough of Walsall, near Birmingham, in the UK, where the group now has more than 100 members and a vibrant collection of 5,000 images. The inspiration to do this in Boynton Beach came from a friend at the Florida Fish & Wildlife Commission, which has also established a number of Flickr groups to call attention to some of that agency’s programs and projects.

We’ve established two groups for Boynton. The first, Boynton Around Town, is for general themes and topics. The second group, Go Green! Boynton, is meant to show what you, businesses and organizations in the City are doing to conserve resources and demonstrate environmental sustainability.

To take part, you’ll need to already have or create a free Flickr account. You’ll then upload your photos to your own account where you’ll be able to control them and the comments they receive. Next, you’ll join the City’s groups where you’ll also place a copy of the photo. We ask that you share where the photo was taken and to provide a description of the content. Finally, we have created some tags for each of the categories so that it’s easy for people to find pictures other than looking at the group pools. There are also special tags if you want your photo considered for use by the City.

Photo guidelines and other information are available on the City’s website.

Technorati Tags: Boynton Beach,social media,community pride,photo

Posted by Wayne at 5:33 PM 0 comments

Who You Gonna Call? 9-1-1 or Twitter

A new American Red Cross survey out yesterday shows many web users would turn to social media to seek help for themselves or others during emergencies—and they expect first responders to be listening. The online survey asked 1,058 adults about their use of social media sites in emergency situations. Results showed that 69 percent believe that emergency responders should be monitoring social media sites in order to quickly send help—and nearly half said a response agency is probably already responding to any urgent request they might see. Also, the survey respondents expected quick response to an online appeal for help—74 percent expected help to come less than an hour after their tweet or Facebook post.

As I read the survey, I couldn’t help but wonder if these expectations are mirrored in Boynton Beach. The survey comes at a time when the City is working to ensure that its emergency operations are both Homeland Security and Federal Emergency Management Agency compliant.

Earlier this week, I received the standard operating procedures guidelines for the Public Information Officer during an emergency for review. They were very complete and very thorough … with the exception of social media. I pointed this out to the Emergency Operations Center manager and sent a copy of the survey to her.

When I say social media, I mean Internet media that people have the ability to interact with in some way. Some people have gone further and specifically define social media as tools designed for the interaction of three or more people. I think social media is especially effective in government because it helps to facilitate two-way communication and transparency and allows government to reach out to people who don’t receive their news from traditional sources.

But to rely on social media to seek help during an emergency, I don’t know about that? Even Red Cross president and CEO Gail McGovern says, “The first and best choice for anyone in an emergency situation is to call 9-1-1. But,” she continues, “when phone lines are down or the 9-1-1 system is overwhelmed, we know that people will be persistent in their quest for help and use social media for that purpose.”

Boynton Beach was the first city in Palm Beach County to adopt social media for municipal government. Its use has been recognized as a “Best Practice” by the prestigious Fels Institute of Government at the University of Pennsylvania and the Learning Resources Network. The City’s social media policy has been requested by governmental and other agencies throughout the country.

Ironically, my thought in establishing the City’s presence on Twitter was to use it as another tool for communication during an emergency. I didn’t think of it in terms of receiving calls for help, though, but more as a nice addition to the City’s website, television and other communications tools that has the ability to be updated instantaneously, on the fly, from almost anywhere with an Internet connection.

While the City will use its social media tools during an emergency, the Red Cross survey has given us pause – indeed, I think, all emergency planners – to reevaluate the place of social media in emergency response. My question to you is: Would you turn to social media to summon help during an emergency? We’d like to know what you would do. Please feel free to leave your comments.

Posted by Wayne at 4:07 PM 0 comments