Copyright 2006
City to review research council's suggestions
Herman Wang
Staff Writer
Chattanooga Mayor Ron Littlefield said he values the input from a Community
Research Council report released today, while his Neighborhood Services
administrator said she wants to double-check the facts and figures used in
compiling it.
The report, titled "chattanoogaCITIZEN,"
urges city government to better communicate with residents on crime statistics,
road construction, job availability, housing affordability and neighborhood
service requests.
"There are some recommendations in there that I don't think will be
difficult for us to implement," Mr. Littlefield said, "things about
sharing data and upgrading our Web site. We certainly are under way with some
of that already, and we welcome this additional information."
Beverly Johnson, the city's Neighborhood Services administrator, said the
public's perception of how the city is performing often does not take into
account factors outside its control.
For instance, even though residents may think the city is not responding to a
reported problem, legal actions, such as court-ordered restraining orders, may
have limited the city's code enforcement powers, she said.
"I have some initial concerns about the data," Ms. Johnson said.
"We'll read the report, get with our staff and get with the Community
Research Council's staff to compare data to data. I'd like to look at the
specific city cases they reviewed and look over our case history."
Among its findings, chattanoogaCITIZEN recommended
having volunteers serve as citizen auditors in evaluating how 311 service
requests are handled, specifically those concerning blight issues.
The report also recommended the city publish monthly on its Web site
neighborhood-by-neighborhood data on crime and police misconduct allegations
and resolutions, provide information on road construction projects and convene
focus groups at least every three to four years to ensure performance
measurements reflect resident interests and concerns.
"Most residents believe city government is working well, but they want to
know more about how city government is performing in certain areas," said
David Eichenthal, president and CEO of the Community Research
Council, an agency that provides data analysis and policy research.
The report was compiled after an 11-month project that included town hall meetings
in each of the city's nine districts, as well as a meeting with representatives
of the city's Hispanic population and another with neighborhood association
leaders.
Faculty and students from the
"The result is a 60-page blueprint on the next step city government can
take and citizens can take in terms of measuring local government performance,"
Mr. Eichenthal said.
E-mail Herman Wang at hwang@timesfreepress.com
ON THE WEB
A copy of chattanoogaCITIZEN is available on the Community Research Council's Web site, www.researchcouncil.net.