Tech-Savvy Leaders Push Honolulu Toward Gov 2.0

Michael Levine/Civil Beat

A national expert in technology in government says one of Honolulu Hale's lead technologists isn't just great — he's "awesome."

That's from Jennifer Pahlka, founder and executive director of Code For America, a public service nonprofit that helps municipal governments become more efficient and open. She's in Honolulu this week, talking up the virtues of "Gov 2.0" and checking in on her organization's work at city hall.

Honolulu is one of eight Code For America cities picked from a pool of more than 20 applicants. This is the second year of the program's existence. And Pahlka, visiting Civil Beat headquarters Monday, said Information Technology Deputy Director Forest Frizzell played a big role in bringing three fellows to Oahu.

"There's a number of factors that we look at, including the kinds of projects that the cities want the fellows to do, the ability to demonstrate broad support for it, especially at the executive level," Pahlka said. "We're not just trying to put these tech people in and fix government. We're actually trying to get people to understand what government does, and how important government is, and that there's all these wonderful people in city government who truly think of themselves as public servants. Forest is just a great example of that. He's open to lots of new thinking, but really gets that government's actually here to help people's lives be better."

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