Planning made easy on the Net

Editor’s note: Marlene Feist is the city of Spokane’s public affairs officer.

As warm weather approaches, I begin to feel a bit like a cruise director, planning week by week the summer calendar. My sons are too young to stay home alone, and piecing together a plan for the summer takes time. There are camps, trips to Grandma’s, and a weekend trip to Seattle that must include garlic fries at Safeco Field.

I do nearly all of this ridiculous scheduling online now. Armed with a calendar and a credit card, I stop at www.ymcaspokane.org to register for day camp and the beloved week at Camp Reed. Then, it’s off to www.skyhawks.com to find a football camp and a trip through www.spokanefalls.edu/yc to check out the Youth College offerings from Spokane Falls Community College.

Simplicity

The Internet certainly has made parts of my life easier. I was in San Francisco a couple of weeks ago and wanted to buy some wine for my husband. I Googled “wine shops + San Francisco” on my Blackberry. Up popped a bunch of options. There was one on a street that I thought I recognized. I mapped it. It was three blocks away. Cool.

Watching the blogs

As I was putting this column together, I realized that my primary Internet usage is rather pedestrian. I don’t have a MySpace page or regularly blog about my favorite hobbies. I don’t have the time.

But I have come to appreciate the power of the so-called “blogosphere.” A site like www.blogpulse.com provides a glimpse of what I’m talking about. Recent statistics on that site reported the total number of identified blogs surpassed 47 million, with more than 100,000 new blogs created in the previous 24 hours along with nearly 1 million new posts. Blogpulse and technorati.com are interesting because you can search what people are saying about your business or product or an issue that you’re tracking.

Tracking media

In my job – handling public information and communications for the city of Spokane – one issue I find intriguing is the changing face of the media, both print and broadcast. A great compilation of this sort is the Romenesko column prepared by Jim Romenesko of the Poynter Institute at www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=45.

Get involved

Another thing I’ll be watching this summer is the municipal elections. City officials are elected in odd years – opposite county, state and federal leaders. Spokane County’s Elections Office puts together an on-line voter pamphlet at www.votespokane.org. Check back after the election filing deadline of June 8 as information, including candidate profiles, starts to come in for the new early primary on Aug. 21.

To find out what council district you’re in, the city’s Office of Neighborhood Services has a great tool at www.spokaneneighborhoods.org/ neighborhood_councils.htm.

Click on the link that says “What Neighborhood Council Do I Live In,” and then type in your address. You’ll find out your neighborhood, your council district, even what day your garbage is picked up.

And if you’re wondering what the traffic’s like around the summer construction, check out live feeds from the DOT’s traffic cameras – at http://wsdot.wa.gov/traffic/ during morning and evening commutes. Progress on the city of Spokane’s street projects is reported at the bottom of the city’s home page at www.spokanecity.org.

Now let’s bring on those garlic fries.