City of Anaheim Mayor Curt Pringle announces launch of nationwide contest: “The Great Anaheim Apps Challenge” and invites the public to submit apps ideas for

high-tech enhancement of city services, attractions and resources

City of Anaheim Mayor Curt Pringle, along with his Mayor’s Technology Advisory Committee, today unveiled The Great Anaheim Apps Challenge, an innovative and nationwide online contest which will challenge the public to dream up creative mobile and Web-based “apps” for city services, programs and more.  The contest launched today and will run through Nov. 30.  Contest winners and the awarding of more than $5,000 in cash and gift prizes will be announced on Jan. 5, 2010.

“The Great Anaheim Apps Challenge creates a more transparent and interactive relationship between our customers and our City,” said Mayor Pringle to the media at today’s press conference held at City Hall.  “In a world where technology plays a major role in our lives – and in how we access just about everything – we want to generate ideas that will give us mobile and Web-based apps solutions for the best city in the country – Anaheim – and we want anyone in the country to tell us those ideas.”

At his 2009 State of the City Address, Mayor Pringle introduced the formation of a Mayor’s Technology Advisory Committee to bring the best technology minds together from Orange County and give the City of Anaheim the ideas, recommendation and solutions that would benefit not only residents, but businesses and visitors as well. 

The contest features five categories: Water & Power, Parks & Recreation, Public Safety, Tourism/Sports/Entertainment and Anything Anaheim. Participation is not limited to Anaheim residents.  Submissions will be welcomed by any U.S. resident age 16 and over.   Entrants are asked to provide a name for the app, a description and the intended benefits. 

Complete contest details can be found at www.anaheimapps.org.

Attendees at today’s Great Anaheim Apps Challenge kickoff included:

(City of Anaheim)

• Lorri Galloway, Councilmember
• Harry Sidhu, P.E., Councilmember
• Tom Wood, City Manager
• Marcie Edwards, Assistant City Manager
• Don Calkins, Assistant General Manager, Water, Anaheim Public Utilities
• Tom Morton, Executive Director, Convention, Sports & Entertainment
• Natalie Meeks, Director, Public Works
• Cristina Talley, City Attorney
• Sheri Vander Dussen, Director, Planning Department
• Bill Sweeney, Finance Director
• Barry Bettger, Anaheim City School District

(Corporate, Government, Education)

• Kristin Nolt Wingard, Senior Vice President, Public Affairs, Disneyland Resort
• Allen Fazio, Chief Information Officer, Disneyland Resort
• Chris Lowe, Director of Government Affairs, Disneyland Resort
• Dennis Kuhl, President, Angels Baseball
• Merit Tully, Director, Communications, Honda Center
• Safi Qureshey, President, Quartics
• Ki Nam, CEO, T3 Motion
• Rick Dutta, Founder/CEO/Chairman, Nexgenix
• Todd Ament, CEO, Anaheim Chamber of Commerce
• Sandra Lapham, Director, Educational Technology, Orange County Department of Education
• Sara Catalan, District Director, Congressman Ed Royce
• Dr. Parmis Khatibi, Anticoagulation/Antithrombotic Specialist, UC Irvine Medical Center
• Jeffrey W. Adler, Associate A.I.A, C.I.D., Principal, Bole' International, Inc.; Board Member, YMCA of Orange County
• Kevin Lisle, Vice President, Keenan SafeSchools Technology
• Brian Calle, President, Gambit Consulting
• Dr. P.K. Shukla, Ph.D., CPIM, Vice Chancellor for Entrepreneurship, Chapman University
• Sheila Shiebler, Director, Insight Schools of California
• Sinan Kanatsiz, Chairman, Internet Marketing Association
• Debra Cuadros, Vice President, Simeio Solutions
• Chris Winn, CEO of SSI and Technology Partner of Innovus Solar

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ABOUT ANAHEIM - The City of Anaheim, founded in 1857, is one of the nation's premier municipalities and is California's 10th most populous city. Anaheim covers 50 square miles with more than 345,500 residents and more than 3,200 City employees. The municipal corporation's annual budget is $1.4 billion. Anaheim supports a thriving business community with companies such as Carl Karcher Enterprises, Inc., L-3 Communications, Pacific Sunwear, and Disneyland Resort. Successful sports franchises call Anaheim home, including Angels Baseball, Anaheim Ducks, the 2008 Olympic Gold Medal winning U.S. Men's National Volleyball Team, and the 2008 Olympic Silver Medal winning U.S. Women's National Volleyball Team. Anaheim also boasts world-class meeting and entertainment venues with the Anaheim Convention Center, the largest on the west coast, Honda Center, The Grove of Anaheim, The Shops at Anaheim GardenWalk, and Angel Stadium of Anaheim. Annually, Anaheim welcomes millions of visitors to the city, truly making it where the world comes to live, work and play. For more information, please visit www.anaheim.net.