Ft. Wayne, Ind., Mayor Graham Richard, One of Government Technology's 25 'Doers Dreamers and Drivers'

March 4, 2005 By Jim McKay, Justice and Public Safety Editor

Just a few years ago, Ft. Wayne, Ind., boasted one of the highest numbers of manufacturing jobs per capita in the nation, but economic shifts slashed employment in basic manufacturing and spawned advanced manufacturing opportunities that demanded more knowledge and skills from workers.

Under Mayor Graham Richard's leadership, the city is using technology to improve government effectiveness and drive the development of that new economy. Richard has overseen the implementation of a range of technological innovations, including automated meter reading and a broadband system that allows cops to use in-vehicle computers wirelessly and securely. The city is embarking on a partnership with Verizon to further develop broadband in the city.

"To move it to the innovation economy, it's not just about being in high technology," Richard said. "It's about how do you create initial new companies, and help the older companies grow and prosper with innovation and both technology and training."

The mayor said his biggest challenge ahead is getting people in the city to think big. "I've got to continue to get the people to be excited about the future," he said. "To see the sort of future you won't see looking in the rearview mirror. Technology that we've invested in the city and now this broadband; all of that helps people look forward."

Richard said optimism is taking hold in the city.

"I think there's a sense that Ft. Wayne is on the move. There is a can-do attitude, a more optimistic spirit. Even though we've had significant job losses of old-line manufacturing companies, it's a community awareness or sense that we are moving, that good things are happening."

Congratulations to this year's group of "Doers, Dreamers and Drivers," who appear in the March issue of Government Technology magazine.

You may use or reference this story with attribution and a link to
http://www.govtech.com/public-safety/Ft-Wayne-Ind-Mayor-Graham-Richard.html

| More

Comments

Add Your Comment

Name *

Comment *

You are solely responsible for the content of your comments. We reserve the right to remove comments that are considered profane, vulgar, obscene, factually inaccurate, off-topic, or considered a personal attack.

Latest From Justice and Public Safety

GovTech Papers and Case Studies View Library

Follow @govtechnews

Government Best Practices

Accelerate and Protect Your eLearning Initiatives With Akamai’s Cloud Based Intelligent Platform

IDC: Delivering Customer Value with Enterprise Flash Deployments

The Legacy Play

Five Myths of Cloud Computing

Secure Access to Your Data in a Bring-Your-Own-Device (BYOD) World

Disaster Recovery

Big Data, Big Promise

Protecting Government and Citizen Data

Virtualizing the Government Desktop

Service Virtualization: Streamlining Development of Complex Applications

Uncovering Costs in Towing and Impound Services

Mobile Government: Getting your employees the right tools for the job

Secure Mobile Productivity

Collaborative Video Solutions in Healthcare

Collaborative Justice: Transforming Criminal Justice Services Through Unified Collaboration

Most Viewed

This Section | Whole Site

Most Commented

Cellphone Blocking Moves Ahead in California Prisons

"It's funny that the state of California would pay millions for something that they could get for fre"
Crime Scene Investigation

"This information is almost identical to the information on HDS in my Introduction to Criminal Justic"

Collaboration for the Public Sector

Collaborative Justice: Transforming Criminal Justice Services Through Unified Collaboration
This issue brief examines video collaboration in every stage of the human justice process, demonstrating how this technology can not only make services more efficient, affordable, and accessible.