2000115-Strengthening-Communities-with-Neighborhood-Data

52 Strengthening Communities with Neighborhood Data
streamlined the data collection burden from over 5,000 discrete performance
metrics to 900. ICMA Insights is organized in seven service
area clusters (Community Attributes, Culture and Leisure, Internal
Services, Neighborhood Services, Public Works, Public Safety, Social
Services) that look at 18 key sub-areas.
Innovations in Service Delivery
Historically, local government service departments have tended to operate
in a vacuum, focusing exclusively on delivering their own programs
and services. Using GIS technology, 311 and CRM data, and other pertinent
information, departments can now place relevant data—such as
number of graffiti remediation requests, number of abandoned cars,
number of code violations, and number of public health complaints—
on maps to spot trends in neighborhoods. By examining what is happening
in a neighborhood in its entirety, service departments can work
together to provide early intervention to troubled neighborhoods. They
can also bring in neighborhood groups and community nonprofits to
identify other efforts that might be taken to keep neighborhoods healthy
and stable. Rather than functioning simply as service providers, local
governments are transforming into conveners and collaborators in finding
solutions to community problems, using technology to provide a
framework for understanding the nature of the problem.
In some cases, the simple act of moving local government data online
can improve service to citizens and realize new efficiencies for local government.
When the City of Saco, Maine, undertook a major update of its
website in 2001, it opted to make as many of the city’s business transactions
web-enabled as possible. The idea behind the website update was
to have constituents “online, not in line,” according to Dan Sanborn,
city assessor. He estimates that moving records online has reduced the
number of citizen inquiries to his office by 2,500 to 3,000 calls annually,
thereby enabling him and his staff to redirect their time to other projects
(Fleming, Shick, and Stern 2009).
Osborne and Hutchinson (2004) point out that government managers
need to actually use data in order to improve their operations and
that regular meetings with executive-level leaders provide an important
incentive for managers to learn how to analyze and use data. The need
for more oversight should not overshadow the drive for continuous
improvement or the desire to find creative approaches to achieve new