Officials hoping for ‘smarter’ city
New technologies designed to help homeless, others
Las Vegas officials hope making the city smarter translates to being safer.
As the city works toward a courtyard setup where homeless people can access a range of services, officials also are testing cameras that will show whether the new facilities are putting a dent in the high number of Las Vegans who live on the streets.
Cameras can be placed in areas with high concentrations of people living in homeless encampments to see whether the city’s efforts are successful, said Chief Operations and Development Officer Jorge Cervantes at a Smart Cities panel on Monday.
Infrared cameras can be placed in city parks to determine when potentially illicit activity happens after hours. A message can tell the person or group to move along, and notify city marshals someone is in the park after the 11 p.m. closing.
Other Las Vegas smart city initiatives are focused on pedestrians and “near misses where people are crossing the street and not being seen,” Cervantes said.
A panel of experts on Monday agreed Las Vegas is uniquely positioned to get “smarter” but faces many of the same challenges — like financing — as other cities in weaving new technologies into how government delivers services to residents, business owners and visitors.
Local governments face challenges in changing policy from the ground up, said Kate Garman, Smart City coordinator for Seattle.
When Garman worked in Kansas City, Missouri, the city installed public Wi-fi along 52 square blocks, put sensors along a corridor for a streetcar and installed smart traffic sensors. This helped officials learn what kind of data the sensors could produce.
“If you don’t have people who
CITIES
and revenue from that is included in the Distributive School Account, which is used to fund schools statewide. But that distribution mechanism has attracted controversy, with Clark County Superintendent Pat Skorkowsky and others saying the money raised in Clark County should stay in the county.
That’s what Henderson aims to do with its plan. The business license fee is based on 3 percent of dispensaries’ gross revenue, collected every six months, according to the city. Recreational pot sales in Henderson started last month.
City officials expect marijuana business revenue to generate $500,000 to $1.1 million in 2018, as much as $3 million a year from 2019 to 2021 and $5 million after 2021. Under the resolution, 30 percent of the annual revenue would go to education.
Since the money would be distributed in a grantlike form, it likely will not decrease the amount Henderson schools get from the district. Instead, it will be additional money that schools can use to purchase technology or supplies they cannot afford with district funds alone.
The advisory board will submit a list of recommended awards each year to the City Council, which will have final approval. The first batch of money is targeted to reach schools in the summer, according to the city.
Derrick expects updated technology to be a popular theme because that’s what a lot of principals request from city redevelopment funds.
“I’m thinking we’re going to see those kinds of requests come forward again,” he said.
The advisory board will meet next in January.
Contact Meghin Delaney at 702-383-0281 or mdelaney@ reviewjournal.com. Follow @ Meghindelaney on Twitter.