Yesterday Mayor Mike McGinn and Seattle City Councilmember Bruce Harrell announced the launch of a new public engagement and customer service website called My.Seattle.Gov. The City invites the public to make it their new personalized home page as the website allows Seattle’s residents to create and customize their own unique homepage with a selection of widgets.

The website is intended to make it easier to receive information from the City and do business with the City. Users can add a widget to receive important crime stats for their neighborhood, have quick access to multiple news feeds, see what events are occurring in their community, and view Seattle Channel videos.

“Last Saturday we held an open house at City Hall to express our commitment to open effective government and to better connect the public with their government. Today we launch My.Seattle.Gov as the latest step in the process of making government more accessible through technology,” said Mayor Mike McGinn.

“This tool gives users the power to customize their experience of the services and information available through the City’s website.”

“The launch of My.Seattle.Gov is just the beginning in our efforts to completely transform the way Seattle communicates and does business online with its residents,” added Councilmember Bruce Harrell, chair of the Energy, Technology and Civil Rights committee. “2011 will be an exciting year as we introduce new and robust online tools to enhance customer service and optimize communication with the public.”

Some featured to be looking forward to on the site include utility billing, permitting, customer service requests for potholes or graffiti, and support for mobile devices.

Other website to be launched this year are:

· Seattle Speaks, a new tool where constituents and City officials can discuss issues in an open and online forum;

· Ask.Seattle.Gov, a new site for Seattle residents to directly engage decision-makers in city government.