I monitor economic development ICE - Information Community Effectiveness - of the 50 largest cities in America and see many exceptional practices I'll begin sharing here. Today, I received an outreach from the city of Phoenix sent to their "Neighborhood Legislative Updates Mailing List", to which I subscribe. It points out "The State Legislature will convene next Monday, January 10! Through this e-mail alert system, we will provide information on the state legislative session and will continue to share information on neighborhood-related bills that the city of Phoenix is tracking." This is a city governance best practice, both in using IT to communicate with community stakeholders (and they provide many categories of such electronic outreach) and by involving the city community with legislative matters impacting their city and neighborhoods. Consider how important it is for our state to work effectively as a community, yet how often NEOs complain that Columbus doesn't understand our needs - and how little we do about becoming empowered as a voice in state-wide issues? Phoenix uses the internet to empower the people of that community - in more ways than this.

After receiving this email I revisited their website and was pleased to see it has been redesigned and it is very effective. Most important, from the announcement of their new site, they highlight their improvement process - "The redesign is the result
of more than two years of research, including focus groups with citizens and
city employees, on how to provide greater access to, and participation in,
city government." It is also worth pointing out they have more content in Spanish than any other American city website I can recall. Compare this with the ICE in your community and consider, does your community help you participate in your government and have a voice in your state? Feel free to add your thoughts here, or go to your city, county and state websites and share your concerns with your elected officials.

-----Original Message-----
From: bridget [dot] schwartz-manoch [at] phoenix [dot] gov
[mailto:bridget [dot] schwartz-manoch [at] phoenix [dot] gov]
Sent: Wednesday, January 05, 2005 5:12 PM
To: norm [at] icearth [dot] com
Subject: City of Phoenix, Neighborhood Legislative Updates Mailing List

Happy New Year!

The State Legislature will convene next Monday, January
10! Through

this e-mail alert system, we will provide information on
the state

legislative session and will continue to share
information on

neighborhood-related bills that the city of Phoenix is
tracking.

**********************************************************

If you don't know who your state legislators are, go to

www.vote-smart.org 

*************************************************************

Neighborhood Day at the State Legislature is scheduled
for Wednesday,

February 2 11:00 -
2:00 p.m. The program will start at 12
noon. 

Free lunch will be provided. The Governor, Speaker of the House and

the President of the Senate all have been invited to
speak at this

event.

In addition to an informative program, there will be
tours of the

House and Senate and a free lobbying workshop to the
first 100 people

to register!

To RSVP for the lunch, please call Barb Gonzales at
602-261-8587

To register for the lobbying workshop, call Matt Lore at
602-258-5786.

*******************************************************

To subscribe to other City of Phoenix Electronic News and
Information Services, visit http://phoenix.gov/subscribe.html.

The information being mailed to you is a result of your
subscription to

the City of Phoenix Electronic News and Information
Services. To unsubscribe, visit:

http://phoenix.gov/MAILLIST/ETREE/unsubscr.html