More shows in this subject heading:

Neighborhood Knowledge

Aired February 5 and 6, 2000

Listen to the show.

You must have RealAudio installed to listen to the show. Download RealAudio here.

This is Internet on the Air. I'm Joan Silvi. Using the Internet to fight slumlords. Details coming up.

Funding Credit: Internet On The Air is a production of the University of Michigan School of Information and Michigan radio, made possible by a grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.

The last time you needed a building permit or driver’s license, maybe you applied on-line. As governments make more information available on the Web, people in many places can access public documents over the Internet. In Los Angeles, students have organized publicly-available information on residential properties on the Web. Their goal? To help neighborhoods prevent urban decline.

The project is called Neighborhood Knowledge Los Angeles. The system tracks buildings with code violations, landowners with tax delinquencies, and people who don’t pay their utility bills. Punch any city zip code into the website’s database, and a map pops up with red stars pinpointing the violators.

According to Neal Richman, UCLA Urban Planning and Public Policy professor, the project provides powerful information to community residents and organizers. If a tenant’s roof is about to cave in and they file a complaint, the web site will tell them when the building is inspected. City inspectors use hand-held devices to report housing inspections in real time. The site also links street addresses with local representatives, enabling citizens to act politically to fight negligent landlords. 

Abandoned and poorly maintained properties can wreak havoc on neighborhoods. Neighborhood Knowledge Los Angeles fills an information gap that helps clean up neglected properties, and provides an early warning system to catch at-risk properties before they decline.

Find out more about Neighborhood Knowledge Los Angeles on our Web site, www.iota.org. For Internet on the Air, I'm Joan Silvi.

Top of Page

Related Links

For further information, try these Web sites:

• Visit the Web site for Neighborhood Knowledge Los Angeles to learn more about their project. You'll also find links to resources on community based organizations, technical support organizations, funding sources, and government programs.
  
  
• Other organizations doing similar work can be found on these sites:
  
  
  • The Center for Neighborhood Technology runs a program in Chicago called the Neighborhood Early Warning System.
    
  • The Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) serves as a "financial intermediary to channel grants, investments, and technical support to community development corporations (CDCs) rebuilding neighborhoods and rural areas throughout the country."
    
  • Neighborhoods Online provides "access to information and ideas covering all aspects
    of neighborhood revitalization" and is working "to create a national network of
    activists working on problems" that affect people where they live.
    
    

Top of Page

The Interview

IOTA interviewed Neal Richman, Associate Director of the UCLA Advanced Policy Institute, in January 2000.

Due to technical difficulties, the transcript and Real Audio of this interview is unavailable.

Please direct questions or comments to iota.webmaster@umich.edu.

Last Updated February 4, 2000