Section 5. Community Impact

Section 5. COMMUNITY IMPACT

Assessing the community impact of this project is a somewhat subjective process. There are no accepted numerical standards for "impact" and even the term "community" is subject to various interpretations. Nevertheless, there has been a noticeable increase in awareness of and participation in the abagOnline related activities by citizens, businesses and local governments. This perhaps can best be discussed from the regional and local perspectives.

REGIONAL COMMUNITY

The San Francisco Bay Area is as large as the State of New Jersey and has the population of Massachusetts. In this region there are nine counties and 100 cities, with widely varying social, economic, and geographic ties. This large region is, nonetheless, a community bound by shared access to San Francisco Bay, economic interdependence of the cities and counties, a common resource of news media, and it is stitched together daily by hundreds of thousands of commuters crossing from one jurisdiction to another.

abagOnline has created an easily accessible resource of regional information that may not be readily found in city offices or libraries. Citizens and businesses accessing abagOnline receive region-wide information on local issues common to all local governments. They also receive regional information on issues common to all Bay Area citizens; issues such as the health of the San Francisco Estuary or the development of a bicycle trail around San Francisco Bay. In this manner, abagOnline, and participating governments, help to create a sense of belonging to the larger community of the region.

Regional community-based organizations, such as the Save San Francisco Bay Association, have written to ABAG staff explaining their use of abagOnline as a resource for their members. Similarly, local groups such as the East Bay Bicycle Coalition have asked for regional linking with other bicycle organizations and recognition through abagOnline. Thus abagOnline provides an example and a focal point for electronically based regional convergence and collaboration by local groups with common interests.

abagOnline has aided in the development of cooperative efforts in improving the economy of the San Francisco Bay Area. The Bay Area Economic Forum was created in 1988 through a partnership of the Bay Area Council and the Association of Bay Area Governments. The Bay Area Economic Forum is a catalyst for collaborative actions to ensure and enhance the vitality of the economy of the Bay Area of Northern California. The Bay Area Council, founded 50 years ago, is a CEO-led public policy organization representing approximately 300 major employers in the region. The Board of Directors of the Bay Area Economic Forum is composed of leaders from business, government, labor, academia, and community organizations in the region-people focused on achieving results.

One program of the Bay Area Economic Forum is BAYTRADE, a new export promotion and international trade program. The program represents an unprecedented regional partnership among the US Department of Commerce; the California Trade and Commerce Agency; the Bay Area Economic Forum; the cities of San Francisco, San Jose, and Oakland; and international trade associations and serve providers in the 12-county Greater Bay Area.

One service of BAYTRADE is TradePort, an electronic information system that enables companies to obtain on-line export assistance and international trade and market research information. TradePort, accessible through abagOnline, was created at the urging of ABAG staff and assisted by the example of abagOnline.

Another way abagOnline has created a regional community impact is through the ABAG Contracts Exchange (ACE). By providing local governments with an Internet-based posting area for requests for proposals and bids, ACE has extended the local pool of contractors used by any city-county to include new contractors from elsewhere in the region and the state. By helping to increase business and trade across local boundaries, abagOnline extends the universe of local communities.

LOCAL COMMUNITIES

For purposes of this project, local communities are defined as the cities, towns and counties of the San Francisco Bay Area. The impact of abagOnline has been greatest among the local communities.

The primary impact is that local governments now accept that the Internet and the World Wide Web are not a fad and must be faced, dealt with and used. This acceptance is clearly demonstrated in the ever-increasing participation by local governments in abagOnline. Growing from two in April 1994 to 80 in June 1996, abagOnline governments and agencies are experimenting with and demonstrating their increased usage of the Information Superhighway.

As of June 1996, 90 public libraries, and 12 PAN sites, have installed terminals for public access to the Internet. As related by the City of Oakland's Information System Director, abagOnline was one of the first and few hot links established on the library terminal. Due to its centralized, region-wide access to government information, abagOnline became a justification for expanding community access to the Internet using library-based terminals.

One change evident in many communities is the increased expectations of the citizens. Citizens expect and demand to see more local government information available via the Internet. Comments emailed to ABAG often echoed the plaintive request, "Where is my city's information?"

The City of San Carlos has been very progressive in its use of the World Wide Web for citizen outreach. The San Carlos site delivers local city news, events and announcements, calls for bids on upcoming projects, FAQs, helpful information on voter registration, safety tips and economic development. The site also links to the local chamber of commerce, service clubs, and a host of private and public organizations. Uniquely, San Carlos provides a Web-based form for citizens to report infrastructure problems to City Hall. The Assistant City Manager, Brian Moura reports, "[the reaction among citizens has been] universally positive. The key benefits are the ability to report problems and issues to City Hall 24 hours a day-and during times convenient to the public when City Hall is closed. The fact that we personally respond to each message/request is also a big factor in the program's success." Thus, in just the City of San Carlos, the community impact has been significant and positive. This impact includes the more favorable perception among citizens of the responsiveness and value of local government.

Some communities have noted increased participation with government as a result of the World Wide Web. The participation may be through donated Web sites or from local businesses or citizens as is the case with the cities of Brisbane, Cotati, or Fremont. The sponsors both recognize the value of local government presentations on the World Wide Web and also hope to receive public recognition of their ability to provide Internet services.

Participation also may be through the donation of time by citizens to a city's home page. The City of Belmont acknowledges a team of volunteers who actively maintain the City's Web presence with new or updated presentations. The City of Orinda was developed as a Girl Scout Gold Award Project. A city's (or county's) Internet/Web project can be a community building experience. There is a new sense of adventure and accomplishment as citizens volunteer to help their jurisdiction, often capturing new participants who previously had not worked to help local government.

Business organizations are forming new partnerships with cities to promote their communities to visitors or new business investments. Chambers of Commerce are rapidly joining the Web on behalf of their communities and sponsoring their city's presence on abagOnline. Two examples are Cloverdale at www.cloverdale.net and the City of Mill Valley at www.millvalley.org. This commitment of time and resources by businesses is clearly a community impact of the Information Superhighway.

Finally, we wish to present a community impact not from abagOnline but the publication of specific information on abagOnline. The earthquake damage hazard maps offered by ABAG at www.abag.ca.gov/bayarea/eqmaps/eqmaps.html represent the best and most recent modeling efforts of ABAG and the U. S. Geological Service. The maps predict hazards to dwellings from earthquakes along existing Bay Area faults. Upon publication of the maps, ABAG staff received telephone calls of complaints from realtors who had lost a sale because a prospective buyer found the new property to be in a geologically risky area. Quick and easy Internet access to information which previously was obscure or hard to find has the potential to change the actions of individuals and communities. With an individual the action may be as simple as a purchasing decision. For a community, the issue may relate to land use, transportation plans or election information.

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