Abe Levine joined the Telecom Advisory Commission for the City of St. Louis Park, MN, an adjacent suburb to Minneapolis.  The commission’s charter was to oversee the various cable franchise agreements.  As that was a perfunctory activity and with a commission of highly talented technical and management commissioners, Mr. Levine proposed to the City Council that they change the commission to a smart-cities oriented commission which explored potential technologies in tune with the city’s strategic plan which included climate, transportation, affordable housing and internet, smart roads and others.

The City Council unanimously approved the proposal, and the commission became the Community Technology Advisory Committee (CTAC).  CTAC met several times and developed committees which would focus on discreet items including database integration and GIS, connectivity, and environment.  CTAC was the only commission of its kind in Minnesota.  Initial output was Use of Force and Affordable Housing websites, development of public information for low-income families to receive discounted broadband (very important during the pandemic for stay-at-home students), and research into smart and electrified roads and use of technology to reduce electric consumption and reduced electric bills.  The commission also worked with County and State agencies in addition to other cities.

Abe attended several smart city conferences including a large one in Israel where, over Zoom, he met with several companies offering ideal products for such areas such as smart traffic signal technology, phone apps to warn of impending collisions (for both drivers and walkers), and electrified roads which would reduce or eliminate the need for electric vehicle charging stations.  He attended a demo in Tel Aviv where riding on an electric bus, he saw it being charge while driving over the charger underneath the road.

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