Going To City Hall Via Modem

The Age

Thursday November 25, 1993

IN THE Californian suburb of Cupertino, residents going to City Hall to get information on city permits, sign up for programs, obtain pet licences and receive a myriad of other public services will soon be a thing of the past.

Parents with a computer and a modem won't have to leave home to keep tabs on their children's progress at school, monitor tutoring sessions or confer with teachers.

Instead, within weeks, they will have access to their local government through CityNet, a local computer bulletin board.

Citizens in Santa Monica, in southern California, have used a similar computer link since 1989 to renew business licences, list their interest in city jobs and hold cyberspace conferences with city officials.

Next year, the state of California will install 100 electronic kiosks _computers similar to bank ATM machines, complete with laser printers _ in shopping malls and supermarkets where residents can renew driver's licences, register cars, obtain permit information and make payments with credit cards.

Watching with interest are federal and local government agencies that could ``piggyback" on the kiosks to deliver their own services. The Internal Revenue Service, for one, is considering making income tax forms available, erasing the need for long waits at post offices and federal buildings.

The explosion in communications technology is forging a quiet revolution in the way local, state and even federal governments are planning to deliver services, act on citizen complaints and reach out to a public disillusioned with government and public officials.

Within a generation, experts say, government will use interactive communications technology to allow citizens to circulate petitions, enact ballot measures, even vote. Knight Ridder