City to Announce Program to Stimulate Business

Mayor Don Lane, in conjunction with fellow councilmembers, is announcing the launch of the City’s Code for America program and welcoming our three fellows, Tamara Shopsin, Ruthie BenDor and Jim Craner.  With the fellows’ assistance, Santa Cruz will develop an online “new business gateway,” designed to simplify the permitting interface for small businesses and entrepreneurs.

A national nonprofit, Code for America recruits top talent from the technology industry to build innovative web applications that make city governments more open, participatory and efficient. Santa Cruz, the smallest city ever to participate in the prestigious fellowship program, will host these three application developers over the course of February.  Utilizing their expertise in web development, GIS and graphic design, they will work with a number of business and government stakeholders to design, build and deploy an integrated permitting portal on the City’s website.

Streamlining the business permitting process is an issue faced by all jurisdictions, and recognizing the potential in the project, numerous public sector partners have stepped forward to help Santa Cruz in securing this opportunity, including the Counties of Santa Clara and Santa Cruz, the Town of Los Gatos and the cities of Watsonville and Scotts Valley. Project support has also come from the Community Foundation of Santa Cruz County and private sources.

Additionally, Code for America Fellows will participate in a City hack-a-thon, scheduled for February 25th. At this event, local technologists and the fellows will work together to develop civic “apps” that utilize public data to increase access to local services and information and will then be available to the public.

Expected Attendees:  Mayor Don Lane; Vice Mayor Hilary Bryant; Councilmember Ryan Coonerty; Councilmember David Terrazas; Economic Development Director Bonnie Lipscomb; Code for America Fellows Tamara Shopsin, Ruthie Bender and Jim Craner, Chamber of Commerce members, local business owners, local technologists and civics enthusiasts.