Put Technology to Work January 2020 | Page 2

HIGHLIGHTS Downtown Arlington Open Coffee Club Arlington Named Finalist for Two Route Fifty Navigator Awards The City of Arlington was recently named a finalist in two categories in the annual Route Fifty Navigator Awards, a nation-wide competition that highlights innovation in public service. “ Every month, the Downtown Arlington Open Coffee Club meets to discuss technology, business startups and the digital lifestyle. Open to all members of the public, the meetup encourages cross-discipline collaboration and community-building through moderator-led discussions and guest speakers. In 2017, the meetup’s founder, Matthew Taylor, developed the “Is Today Trash Day” app (http://istodaytrashday.com/) using public data available through http://OpenArlington.com and through the Open Coffee Club, has continued to provide a community-based platform for the City of Arlington to share information about the open data program while brainstorming new ideas for public collaboration. Through groups like the Open Coffee Club, the City of Arlington hopes to continue the discussion around open data and provide the public with new information.” Route Fifty is an online publication aimed at municipal, state and federal government leaders. All the Navigator Award finalists were honored at the National League of Cities conference in San Antonio this month for “their ability to implement a great idea that improves public sector services and the communities they serve.” Monsur Ahmed, an ITS coordinator for the City’s Public Works and Trans- portation Department, was a finalist in the “Next Generation” category for spearheading the deployment of smart technologies to improve Arlington’s traffic signal system. Additionally, the Arlington Water Utilities Sanitary Sewer Overflow Core Team was a finalist in “The Leaders” category.