Parting Thoughts from Dennis Gakunga — Reflecting on 8-years of Smart Cities Work in Chula Vista, CA

Earlier this month, Connected Communities LLC had the opportunity to catch-up with Dennis Gakunga. Since 2016, Dennis has served as Chief Sustainability Officer for Chula Vista, California and has spearheaded Chula Vista’s efforts to advance “Smart City” initiatives. As Dennis has announced his pending departure from Chula Visita, we were excited to ask him to reflect on his eight-years at the city and share learnings/recommendations from his time as a municipal Smart City champion.

Dennis described Chula Vista’s smart city strategy as an interconnected set of goals, objectives, and initiatives designed to help ensure that Chula Vista is a connected, responsive, transparent and innovative city. For Chula Vista, “Smart City” is a journey not a destination. Dennis pointed to three key initiatives that reflect a central focus of Chula Vista’s Smart City journey and illustrate Chula Vista’s leadership as a Smart and Connected Community.

Chula Vista Bayfront

Spanning more than 535 acres of vacant, former industrial land, the Chula Vista Bayfront is a brownfield development that will include a 275,000-square-foot convention center, a 1,450–room hotel, commercial office buildings, parks, walking trails, a marina and an RV park. The City of Chula Vista, the Port of San Diego and private developers are transforming Bayfront via an innovative Public Private Partnership (PPP). Phase I of the development is slated to open in 2025.

The Bayfront development advances several key goals of Chula Vista, including sustainability, expanded parks and open space and expanded economic development.

· Sustainability. Each building on the Bayfront site must be at least 15 percent below state energy efficiency standards and the entire site must be at least 50 percent below state standards.

· Open Spaces. 230 acres of the project’s total acreage is dedicated to parks, open space and habitat restoration/preservation, including promenades, bike trails and other public access areas linking the entire bayfront.

· Economic Benefits. In the project’s ­first 20 years, it will generate an estimated $1.3 billion for the regional economy, including more than $11.5 million in annual tax revenues. It also will create more than 2,200 permanent jobs and nearly 7,000 construction jobs.

The Bayfront PPP is a valuable reference document for municipal leaders who are looking to add “Smart City” language and benchmarks to their PPPs. The PPP was finalized through a years-long process and is informed by best-in-class urban planners/engineers and by a multi-year stakeholder engagement process. In particular, Dennis encourages municipal leaders to review the PPP document language related to energy efficiency and smart communications technologies.

Chula Vista Privacy Protection and Technology Transparency Policy

In November 2022, Chula Vista adopted a privacy and transparency policy designed to provide additional safeguards and oversight mechanisms for technologies that involve the collection, use and management of sensitive personal information. The establishment of the privacy policy and advisory commission reflects a growing trend in other US cities. According to Dennis, developing a best-in-class municipal transparency and privacy policy was one of the most challenging and rewarding initiatives during his time at Chula Vista.

“If we, as municipal leaders, continue to expand the use of technology and automate our processes, we have to spell-out how we maintain that data, how we protect that data, and who has access to that data.”

The core elements of the Privacy Protection and Technology Transparency Policy include:

• Prohibiting the sale or unauthorized access to sensitive personal information.
• Requiring City staff to create written policies that limit access to certain technology systems, limit how those systems can be used, and specify how the system collects, manages and protects city data.
• Creating a special acquisition process for surveillance technologies that include enhanced oversight, community review and City Council approval.
• Studying the potential impacts of surveillance technologies, identifying specific measures to mitigate any impacts, and providing regular reports on how surveillance technologies have been used.
• Establishing a Council-appointed Privacy and Technology Advisory Commission.

A copy of Chula Vista’s Privacy Policy is available here.

Chula Vista’s Digital Equity and Inclusion Plan

In Chula Vista, Broadband internet service is available to more than 98 percent of Chula Vista residents and approximately 90 percent of residents have broadband internet subscriptions. Chula Vista’s Smart City efforts include activities and initiatives designed to close the gap and connect more of its community members to the Internet using a variety of strategies. The City Council adopted a Digital Equity and Inclusion Plan in May 2020.

Chula Vista’s Digital Equity and Inclusion Plan consists of three overarching goals, supported by 37 strategic actions. Under the plan, Chula Vista has expanded and improved the technology services it provides to residents, such as computer classes offered through the library and senior center, as well as enhancing the accessibility of the city website for people with disabilities and people who speak a language other than English. Additionally, Chula Vista has pursued grants and partnerships with outside organizations to offer new programs and services to residents, such as mobile WiFi hotspots and free or low-cost computing devices.

According to Dennis, engaging the City Council on the Digital Equity and Inclusion Plan was a key to the plan’s success. While engaging the City Council added to the work required to finalize the plan, digital equity is a topic deserving of engagement from the highest level of municipal government. Dennis recommends that all Smart City champions push to ensure that their communites’ digital inclusion efforts and plans be assessed and approved by the entities (e.g., Mayor, City Managers, City Councils) who can provide the resources required to execute the plan(s).

Thank you, Dennis, for your leadership and years of service to your community. And thank you for sharing these recommendations with Connected Communities LLC and our readers. Best of luck with your next endeavor!