Employee showers at Fort Worth City Hall make sense; a Congressional Record app should please open government fans

Room to change

Apparently at least one Fort Worth city employee was upset enough about a plan to spend $50,000 to install five showers at City Hall for workers who bike to the office or exercise during lunch that he or she tipped off the Star-Telegram's Watchdog.

The tip wasn't necessary; two local TV stations covered the story after the item appeared on a City Council agenda for approval.

The shower and locker rooms will provide two stalls for women, two for men and one that is accessible by people with disabilities. The money will come from the deferred replacement of an air-conditioning system at the Animal Care and Control Center that was scheduled for this year.

The shower project sounds reasonable and wise considering the city is self-insured and is promoting programs and activities to improve workforce wellness.

With a city staff the size of Fort Worth's (6,200 full-time workers), if just 5 percent of inactive employees begin exercising it could produce savings of $500,000 a year in increased productivity and reduction of workers' compensation and medical costs, according to a study by the Wellness Council of America and the National Coalition for Promoting Physical Activity.

Opponents of the expenditure, which turned out to be less than $40,000 according to the city facilities manager, argue that the showers will rarely be used since most employees live outside city limits and don't bike to work.

Actually, more than 60 percent of the general employees live within city boundaries; about 2,500 work in or near City Hall.

It's the majority of civil service police and fire employees who live beyond the city limits. And guess what? They already have access to city-provided locker rooms with showers.

In recent months, the city has created more than 10 miles of bicycle lanes as part of its Bike Fort Worth plan to help change the commuting culture. It makes sense to provide employee conveniences that might encourage others to use bicycles as a safe alternative to the automobile to get to work.

To bring about this change, bike commuters need a place to change.

Digital journal

Want to catch up on the latest House debate on the national debt limit, find out whether the Senate has done anything in January besides appoint an acting president pro tempore, look up a key vote or even read U.S. Rep. Brian Higgins of New York's floor remarks about Buffalo Bills TV blackouts?

Now there's an app for that.

The Library of Congress and Government Printing Office are making the Congressional Record available as an app for iPads.

Those who know their Constitution will recall that Article I, Section 5 requires that each house of Congress "shall keep a journal of its proceedings, and from time to time publish the same."

The Congressional Record serves that purpose, with detailed recounting of official proceedings, a briefer Daily Digest and an "Extension of Remarks" section for commentary that was too long for the floor time allotted or that members didn't get to deliver but wanted in the record.

The Government Printing Office (gpo.gov) maintains a searchable online database of the Congressional Record (1.usa.gov/dizksR).

And the Library of Congress keeps extensive information about congressional doings on its THOMAS website (thomas.loc.gov/home/thomas.php)

A Library news release touts the iPad app as providing added portability of data for elected representatives (and their staff, no doubt) and the public. Easier for members to read what they're voting on.

Pages of the record, starting with Jan. 4, 1995, will be PDFs that are searchable by keyword within a document or section and can be saved or shared by e-mail.

Government at your fingertips. What will they think of next?

The link is itunes.apple.com/us/app/the-congressional-record/id492077075.

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