Sunday Special: City of Angels municipal website

City of Los Angeles Website: http://www.ci.la.ca.us/

Transparency:  Los Angeles provides an archival video feed for its City Council meetings which is what I thought other cities such as Chicago and New York would also feature and didn’t.  My only quibble is from the home page, the link to City Council video isn’t found under “City Council” but “LA City Clerk Connect” which isn’t where I would expect to find it.  “A-“

Feedback:  Like New York and Chicago there is no interactive feedback allowed on the site.  You can’t see what others have said about City services or experiences.  However, they do allow citizens to report on many aspects of city life; graffiti removal, street lighting, trash pickup etc.  The forms tend to be single pages where all the information can be provided rather than multiple and unclear pages.  “B+”

Richness of Information:  I went to the “Department of Building and Safety” and was immediately impressed both by the amount of information made available from that page but also the easy-to-use layoff.  They provide a “what’s new” section, a sidebar called “I want to get” featuring more than a dozen links, a main section with forms, a “frequently requested publications” section as well as related departments and links.  “A”

Transacting business:  A new business can’t file a “Doing business as” (DBA) form online but its very easy to find the forms, conduct a search on business names, find the publications to file a notice and obtain the cost of filing for a DBA.  You can download the form and mail it to the correct city agency.  “B+”

Overall: The Los Angeles City website is the best of the three largest U.S. city websites.  It provides a wealth of information that is easy to find and to read.  It also allows citizens and businesses to interact more with city officials about basic issues like trash and the like.   Its not Web 2.0 but given the wealth of information and it is not a messy or intimidating site.  “A-“

Tags: City of Los Angeles, Linkedin, municipal website, Sunshine Laws