Shreveport, La., Mayor Adrian Perkins talked about the part surveillance cameras would play in helping to lower the crime rate in his community, but also highlighted the need to move deliberately when it comes to issues of citizen privacy. He said hiring the city's first chief technology officer has been an asset to that effort.
His conversations with other mayors at South by Southwest have also prompted him to reconsider how Shreveport handles recycling.
For Mayor Shane Bemis of Gresham, Ore., the mayoral gathering forces thinking outside the daily routines of government operations. He referred to the exchange of ideas as the “infrastructure of thought.”
The experience is one he said will help to spark new strategies.
