CITY OFPORTLAND’S WEBSITE FULLY INTEGRATED
All City Bureaus Now in PortlandOnline
(Portland, OR ) What was once 30 different Internet sites with different looks, internet addresses, and navigation elements, is now the City of Portland ’s PortlandOnline. Started in June, 2003, with a few bureaus and elected officials, all bureaus are now fully represented in the portal, with many expanded services.
"We found that each bureau doing its own website was often a duplication of effort and information,” said Dan Bauer, Project Manager for the Bureau of Technology Services. "In addition, most sites were organized in a way that forced the citizen to understand how the city organizes itself and know which bureaus provided the services they were looking for.”
PortlandOnline is a single source of official information about the City that can be used by the citizens and provides city information by programs and services as well as bureaus. The amount of content available to citizens has increased dramatically over the past three years, as Technology Services staff created a system that allows City staff to post information without needing to know web programming.
Online applications and services that have been added to PortlandOnline include:
- eVolvement (North Portland Online) – A pilot project to create enhance interactions between the community and the City. Includes the Back Fence and online forum where neighbors and the city can discuss topics and issues.
- Business Portal - Online information and services for new and existing businesses. These services allow for online e-commerce transactions and payment such as:
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- Business Tax Return Filing
- Business Extension Request Filing
- Business Quarterly Estimated Payments
- Business Payments on Billings or Payment Plans
- Employer Quarterly Withholding Payments
- Park Finder – An interactive application that allows users to locate parks based on amenities view maps and other park information.
- Blogs and Online discussions – Several city offices use the blogging tools to gather feedback on issues and topics from constituents. Examples include the Mayors blog and the Water Bureau blog.
- Online Service Requests - The ability to request a variety of City services are now online including: graffiti removal, disabled vehicle removal, ordinance violations and nuisance complaints, and crime prevention.
- Online Building Permits – Building permits for electrical, mechanical and plumbing are now available online and available for online payment via credit card.
- PortlandMaps – An online mapping service that provides over 75 different layers of map and property information. As one of the City of Portland’s most popular sites PortlandMaps receives over 1.5 million page views a month.
- Online Video – A variety of city meetings are capture on video and available on PortlandOnline including City Council sessions, budget hearings and other key meetings and presentations.
PortlandOnline is already an award winner nationally. In 2005, the Center for Digital Government awarded “Best of the Web” in the Government to Citizen category for its work on eVolvement North Portland and was a finalist in “Best of the Web” for the PortlandOnline City Portal category.
Technology Services staff is currently working on services that will allow customers to pay their utility bills (sewer and water) online, an online application process for business licenses and portals focused on specific audiences such as citizen, services and visitors. In addition, Portland City Council just approved contracts with MetroFi to provide free WiFi access throughout the City. This is service is expected in the next two years.
Contact: Mary Volm, 503-823-7785
