19721 NEWS IN REVIEW 375

Citizen Action . . . . Kim Taylor, Editor

Planning Board Educate; Citizens

Course on Participation Succeeds in Jacksonville

T H E Jacksonville (Florida) area plan- ning board, in an attempt to measure

citizen attitudes and understanding, held a 16-week course on citizen participation in planning. At its conclusion the staff reported on research and observations, and made recommendations to improve the process.

The class was composed of 42 adults representing all socioeconomic groups in the community. At the beginning and end of the session interviews were held with each participant to ascertain attitudes about the planning board and to deter- mine how the classes had changed per- ceptions. To supplement these efforts the staff surveyed other southern towns to find what conditions exist that might help evaluate their situation.

The researchers found that almost half of the participants believed that planning agencies were a waste of money and worked for a small group in the community. At the end of the session their attitude was more positive but more than half still believed that planning in- formation given to the public is inade- quate and incomplete and provides no assistance in evaluating plans of their own areas.

The staff found that other cities had similar problems: Since citizens often do not understand the powers of the planning board in the city government structure, they misunderstand the im- portance of items related to planning. On the other hand the staff found that citi- zens were not staying informed about the non-technical matters. For instance one

of the main complaints of the class was the poor quality of the city transit system. According to the staff none of them realized that it was losing money. When presented with this fact their attitudes changed and they began to examine trans- portation needs in a new light.

As a result of the study the planning board made several recommendations: The community should be taught more about planning. The board should use questionnaires, civic organizations and media to review and comment on pro- posals. New planners should be oriented to the city and various projects should have direct contact with citizens in the communities. The agency must be respon- sible for clarifying plans for the public. Technical information should be pre- sented in such a way as to inform the layman rather than confuse him. Meet- ings on general and specific plans, more media exposure and education programs in the schools can be used more effec- tively by the agency to involve citizens other than those already participating and knowledgeable about its functions.

Regional Citizenship Studied in Michigan

Regional citizenship reflects multi- community dependence of citizens in a metropolitan region, an individual’s rec- ognition of that dependence and of the regional problems of his daily life, ac- cording to the Metropolitan Fund (211 West Fort Street, Detroit, Michigan 48226). A recent research project, Re- gional Citizenship, examined the pos- sibilities for developing regional aware- ness among the residents of metropolitan regions (particularly southeast Michi- gan), through the establishment of re- gional organizations to deal with the problems affecting the suburbs and city.

376 NATIONAL CIVIC REVIEW [July The fund examined the problem of

citizen advocacy versus participation in solving regional problems. While it con- tends that no progress will be made until citizens are allowed to participate in planning and implementing the corrective projects, until citizens are aware of their role and responsibilities as regional citi- zens they will have no desire to par- ticipate. The fund notes the growth of councils of governments and comments that their role in planning is still advisory and gives the ordinary citizen little opportunity for participating in local and regional decision making. The report calls for the development of a regional advocacy as the first step in making people aware of their responsibility to the region.

To demonstrate the various existing and possible modes of participation and advocacy in a regional organization the fund examined the major metropolitan areas in the country, and the concepts of neighborhood government and region- alism. From this study the report finds that the time for regional citizenship has come for southeast Michigan. What the region needs, the report continues, is a focal point, an organization so that re- gional citizens can gather and identify with those who feel the same pull.

The report also notes the need to create a mechanism to provide a broad con- stituency for the many regional agencies now operating in the area. This would provide both the needed focal point and a reservoir of interested and concerned citizens to support projects. In the other cities examined these constituencies were found to have sparked the growth of regionalism. Such groups do not exist a t present in southeast Michigan.

New York Eetabhhes Citizen Feedback Unit

New York City has established a spe- cial task force, the citizen feedback unit, to monitor citizen complaints received at

the Mayor’s Action Center. After review- ing service and response systems in the various agencies, the unit has developed and released Guidelines for the Establish- menf and Monitoring of Service and Com- plaint Respotzse Standards. The guide- lines will be implemented by various agencies and monitored by the citizen feedback unit and office of administra- tion. By adhering to the new standards agencies can respond to requests and complaints within a reasonable length of time.

The administration office found that complaints were not handled in a con- sistent way, that many were left unre- solved, there were no controls to ensure response and no information existed about complaints so that preventive ac- tions could be taken.

The new guides provide all city offi- cials with timely information regarding service delivery so that prompt perfor- mance can be implemented, the mayor’s office will have an overall view of the types of problems and remedial action, and the number of misdirected service requests will be reduced.

The guidelines also call for upgrading personnel who deal with citizen com- plaints. The report notes that too often these employees occupy a low position in the agency hierarchy and that they re- ceive no training or guides for commu- nicating with the public. The report calls on agency heads to upgrade the status and salary of those employees. The citi- zen feedback unit and the Department of Personnel will hold a training session and issue a manual for those having fre- quent contact with the public.

Multnomah County Plans Citizen Information Centers

Multnomah County (Portland) is planning citizen information centers, according to County News: N A C O News and Views. The county community

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Pf orzheimer Interns at NML for Summer

Three Pforzheimer Foundation sum- mer interns began working at the Na- tional Municipal League office in June. They are taking part in three on-going League research projects as well as doing independent reading and meeting with governmental officials and civic ac- tivists.

The interns are: Richard De Sevo of New York City,

a senior at Syracuse University in the history honors program. In addition to his involvement in student affairs at Syracuse, he has also had experience in political campaign work as a staff re- searcher.

Karen Greene of Niagara, Wisconsin, a senior at Cornell University doing honors work in gpvernment and history. Her primary interest is urban politics. She is also involved in student affairs and hopes to enter law school after graduation.

Jeffrey Steiner of Levittown, New York, a 1972 graduate of Yale Univer- sity where he majored in administrative sciences. While at Yale he participated in the school’s Study of City intern pro- gram, a multi-disciplinary approach to the study of urban problems. He will enter law school in the fall.

In its seventh year, the program is supported by a grant from the Carl and Lily Pforzheimer Foundation and is be- ing supervised by League Senior Asso- ciate William G. Andersen, Jr.

Elections Trip In June, League Assistant Director

William J. D. Boyd and Richard J. Carl-

son, project director of the election sys- tems study being conducted jointly by the League and the League of Women Voters Education Fund, went to several European capitals to study registration by public authority firsthand. They met with election officials in Stockholm, Bonn, Zurich, Paris and London.

Cecil H. Underwood, former gov- ernor of West Virginia and president of Franswood, Inc., and a member of the League’s Council, has been named the 13th president of Bethany College in West Virginia, beginning July 1.

CITIZEN ACTION

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action agency handles 16 programs rang- ing through emergency housing, health care, legal aid, veterans’, youth and senior citizens’ programs. The complexity of services is confusing to the county com- missioners and the community at large. Thus a t a recent commissioners meeting, a system for disseminating information was proposed.

The first step will be the use of dis- plays placed conveniently for observa- tion and citizen comment. Tear-off mail forms and phone numbers will be avail- able for reaction and information rc- quests.

This citizen feedback will be the groundwork for the second step, estab- lishing communication centers in target communities. Board meetings would be held in these centers to give everyone a chance to hear, see and participate in the workings of county government. Then, as the board considers specific pro- grams, the facilities would be available for the citizens to easily attend the hearings and make their opinions felt.

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