[saosebastiao]

What I would love to see is an 18F-like organization that creates open source software that helps user-facing government organizations at the state and local level. All of these things should be simple but (typically) are not:

* Paying a utility bill online

* Registering to vote

* Finding out how to get from place to place using public transportation

* Paying for public transportation passes

* Signing up for unemployment benefits

* Proving residency

* Getting an ID card

* Registering a vehicle

* Paying taxes

* Entering pleas to local courts for minor offenses and infractions without taking a day off work

* Reporting non-emergency code violations (like construction noise after hours)

* Knowing who your representatives are

* Communicating with your representatives when you do know who they are

We actually use and interact with local and state governments far more than we do with the federal government. And yet when it comes down to it, they are the most difficult to work with because their resources are so constrained. I honestly believe that local governments could benefit from some resource allocation on their behalf at the federal level for the creation of highly scalable technological public goods that will only ever be used at the local level.

[ondrae]

I'm an engineer at Code for America - https://www.codeforamerica.org/ - a non-profit that does this kind of work with cities, counties, and states.

Its still pretty early days for civic technology. I think we'll see tech provide all the services you listed, eventually. It'll probably be a mix of outside vendors and local governments running their own engineering teams. There are still some legal barriers in the way, procurement for example.

Its happening, just slowly.

If you are interested in speeding up the progress of your city, I'd recommend checking out if there are any civic tech volunteer groups near you. https://www.codeforamerica.org/brigade/

[liyanchang]

Disclosure: I'm an engineer at USDS and these are my own opinions.

I absolutely agree that the interface that most citizens use to government can be better. President Obama agrees with you (from his sxsw remarks):

"I could change the politics of America faster than just about anything if I could just take control of all the DMVs in the country."

"If their primary interaction with government is the IRS, you just don’t have a good association with government when you’re writing that check."

USDS has been working with the IRS to help them get their Transcript service back online with better identity proofing though admittedly just a small step in a better online experience. (irs.gov/transcript)

A number of state and local governments have been making improvements as well (much harder to see if your state or your local government has not been). I'd encourage you to search them out or even start it.

[vonmoltke]

Granted this is one anecdote, but in my experience state and local governments in North Texas are generally much easier to deal with than the federal government. Some are better than others, but I haven't run into any yet that are really bad. Some, like the Dallas Police Department and Dallas Area Rapid Transit, even have mobile apps to facilitate activities that are often done from a phone but awkward to do via the web.