Smart Cities

In a forecast, the Northwest Power and Conservation Council warns data centers could use up to 4,000 megawatts on average of electricity by 2029 — enough to power the entire city of Seattle five times over — setting up potential shortfalls.

The cities of Buffalo, Rochester and Syracuse collectively received funding via a “tech hub” competition run by the U.S. Economic Development Administration. They’ll use it to develop an area semiconductor industry.

Cities are no longer seeing their miles of streetscape as cheap parking spaces. Curbs are now considered some of the most in-demand pieces of urban real estate, and technology is stepping up to help manage them.

Some 75 percent of low-income residents in Philadelphia, for example, say that they cannot afford to pay more than $21 a month for a broadband subscription.

City officials said Tuesday they had deployed the first 100 cameras; the other 300 are expected to be on the street by July. The devices, paid for by a $17 million state grant, are intended to take on organized retail theft.

Ruling that the Fourth Amendment protects a person’s right to privacy, a Norfolk Circuit Court has granted a defendant’s motion to suppress evidence obtained by city-owned license plate reader cameras, but without a search warrant.

The Autonomous Robotic Pickup Platform, a project launching next week in Detroit’s Transportation Innovation Zone, will start by testing small sidewalk delivery bots to collect food waste for compost.

The two cities submitted the winning applications for the 2024 Mobility Insights Competition, organized by Lime and the League of American Bicyclists. The municipalities can now use Lime’s data to address mobility issues.

Recreational drone flights are, generally, legal in the Pacific Northwest city. However, hobbyists looking to fly in city parks must secure permission from the city parks director. Much the same is true in Pierce County, which includes Tacoma.

In 15 years as CIO and director of Information Technology Services, his work was foundational to internal areas like information security — but also to resident-facing services like 311 and free Wi-Fi.

The Environmental Protection Agency has warned against hackers affiliated with Iran and China who could sabotage drinking and wastewater resources — attacks it said are increasing in severity and frequency.

The Texas city, already known as Cyber City USA, failed to lure the Space Command. But some leaders are hopeful it has a shot at being home to the U.S. Space Force’s cyber warfare headquarters.

The city will work with technology company Populus and an urban design firm to digitize its streetscape. It’s part of a project known as The Curb Reimagined, which will create a real-time, digital city map.

A yearly assessment by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy knocked the city for inefficient transportation. Planned changes include buying more hydrogen-powered buses.

Officials have wrapped a $1.9 million project to help cut down on tall vehicles hitting underpasses leading to the north Grand Island Bridges in Niagara Falls. The electronic over-height detection systems rely in part on infrared transmitters.

Movements opposing changes to land use and transportation development policies can thwart initiatives capable of confronting urban quality of life challenges, city officials said recently. Some advised pushing back.

The Pacific Northwest city will launch a small zero-emission delivery zone later this year, to gather data and collaborate with service operators on effectively removing delivery-related vehicles with emissions from a section of downtown.

The online guide, accessible via the Bridgeport Police Department website, aggregates information from emergency dispatch to show burglaries and vehicle thefts. Residents can view incident dates, times and partial locations.