2010file[122]

Recommendations to StrengthenRecommendations to Strengthen
Neighborhood Associations
Council Citizen Involvement Advisory Committee
Recommendations to:Recommendations to:
Neighborhood Coalitiong
Gresham City Manager
Gresham City Council

ContentsContents
 Summary of Recommendations
 Introduction
 Focus – Strong Neighborhoods
 N i hb h d A i ti Ob ti Neighborhood Association Observations
 Recommendations to Neighborhood Associations
 Recommendations to Neighborhood Coalitiong
 Recommendations to City Manager
 Recommendations to Mayor and City Council
 Conclusion
 Appendix
4/2/2010
City Council Citizen Involvement Committee
Recommendations2

Citizen Public Testimony before Citizen
I l t C ittInvolvement Committee
 Carol Rulla – President; Gresham Neighborhood Coalition
 Julie Smith President Kell Creek NeighborhoodAssociation Julie Smith – President; Kelly Creek NeighborhoodAssociation
 SuzanWells – President; SW NeighborhoodAssociation
 Ken Stine – President; Centennial NeighborhoodAssociation,
M b G h Pl i C i iMember; Gresham Planning Commission
 Kris Feiermuth – Chair;Wilkes East NeighborhoodAssociation
 Scott Forrester, Member; NW NeighborhoodAssociationg
 JohnVandermosten, Vice Chair; ASERT Neighborhood
Association,Vice Chair; Gresham Citizen Involvement Committee
 Mads Ledet, Vice President; Gresham Butte Neighborhood, ; g
Association
 Sue Ruonala, Member; PowellValley NeighborhoodAssociation
4/2/2010
Recommendations3

Neighborhood Public Testimony
Q tiQuestions
 What are your neighborhood association’s priorities?
 Do you feel that the city is supportive of your neighborhood association?Do you feel that the city is supportive of your neighborhood association?
 What do you find is wrong with the city?
 Give an example of a key recommendation your neighborhood association has
given the city?g y
 Do you feel the size and/or boundaries of your neighborhood are appropriate?
 What type of education is being provided for neighborhood leaders?What type
of training do you feel a neighborhood leader should have?
h d d l hb h d What incentives do you use to draw people to neighborhood meetings
 Besides neighborhood meetings, does your neighborhood association hold social
events or activities? How do you communicate/promote these to residents? Are
there events that you could have that you don’t have now?y y
 What are your priorities for effective public safety?
 What should the neighborhood association’s purview be?
(for testimony regarding these questions, see minutes dated Sept – Nov 2009)
4/2/2010
Recommendations4
( y g g q , p )

Summary Recommendations for Strengthening
 NeighborhoodAssociations
 l C T Sk llDevelop CitizenTestimony Skills
Utilize EarlyActive NeighborhoodTestimony
Use District Structure to work on Common Issues
Create Neighborhood Impact Plan
Develop Local LeadersThrough Projects
Utili Cit W b it C i ti O t itiUtilize CityWebsite Communications Opportunities
Utilize Councilor Relationships via Roundtable Meetings
Design New High Involvement Meeting Format
Early Involvement in City Budget Review/Priority Setting
Process
4/2/2010
Recommendations5

4/2/2010
Recommendations6

Neighborhood Associations to Neighborhood Coalition
 Neighborhood Coalition
Continue to address City-wide Issues
With involvement of NeighborhoodAssociations Develop
Follow Up Mechanisms on Recommendations to Coalition andFollow Up Mechanisms on Recommendations to Coalition and
City Hall
Monitor & Evaluate CCAC Recommendations
Co-sponsor with City of Gresham anAnnual Citizen
Involvement Congress and Deliver State of Neighborhoods
AddressAddress
Utilize CityWebsite Communications Opportunities
4/2/2010
Recommendations7

Neighborhood Associations to City Manager
 City Manager
Establish an‘Office of Neighborhoods’
Adopt aVoluntary Position of Ombudsman
Provide minimum administration support fundingProvide minimum administration support funding
Co-sponsor with Coalition anAnnual Citizen Congress
Continue to coordinate Citizen Outreach and Engagementg g
Increase Neighborhoods CityWebsite Communications
Opportunities
P d l f N hb h d B d RProvide early engagement of Neighborhoods in Budget Review
and Evaluation Process
4/2/2010
Recommendations8

Neighborhood Associations to City Council
 Gresham City Council
Update City Code (2.60) this includes recognition of
Neighborhood Coalition CityWide Role
Assign Council Liaisons to NeighborhoodAssociations/DistrictsAssign Council Liaisons to NeighborhoodAssociations/Districts
Work with City Manager’s effort to devise new funding options
in support of NeighborhoodAssociations
Schedule Quarterly Updates to City Council by Neighborhood
Coalition and/or NeighborhoodAssociations
4/2/2010
Recommendations9

I d iIntroduction
h d l Three Legged Stool:
 The Gresham City Council Citizen InvolvementAdvisory
Committee has been studying for the past several monthsy g p
best practice models for improving neighborhood association
effectiveness for involving citizens at the local neighborhood
level. It conducted several hearings soliciting input andg g p
suggestions from current and past NA Leadership and general
citizens. This is a summary of observations, problems, and
recommendations addressing the “Three Legged Stool” ofg gg
citizen participation; the Neighborhoods, City Management
Structure, and the City Council.
4/2/201010
Recommendations

Focus
 Strong Neighborhoods:
 The focus of these recommendations is to support and sustain Strong Neighborhoods with an
emphasis on building community partnerships. The primary mission is to collaboratively
identify and solve problems and to provide a broad representation of the community Theidentify and solve problems and to provide a broad representation of the community. The
four recommendations toward this goal are:
 The Individual Neighborhoods Associations
 The Neighborhood Coalition
Th C M The City Manager
 City Council
 Goals and Criteria for Recommendations:
 Results oriented
 High attendance
 Leadership Development
 Increased effectiveness of two-way communications
 Effective citizen recruitmentEffective citizen recruitment
 Encourage creation of Social Capital (Citizen/community interaction and influence)
on the neighborhood level
 Change the current culture from representative democracy to participatory
ddemocracy
4/2/201011
Recommendations

Neighborhood Associations Observations
 Advantages:
Develops Citizen Leaders
Increases interaction and influence with City Hall
I i t ti ith i hbIncreases interaction with neighbors
Contributes to safety and crime reduction
Promotes community livabilityy y
Develops a consistent public involvement process
Performs watchdog functions over City Hall
4/2/2010
Recommendations12

Neighbor Association Problems
 Limited funding, limited volunteer time, limited
it f N i hb h dA i ticapacity of NeighborhoodAssociations
 NeighborhoodAssociations focus primarily on city-proposed
actions (mostly land use) resulting in reduced efforts( y ) g
toward:
 Schools, criminal justice, social services and economic and
community developmentcommunity development
 Street and block social events and newsletters that identify
community needs and proposed actions to strengthen
communit tiescommunity ties
 NeighborAssociations are more reactive than proactive,
resulting in less citizen input to front end of projects
4/2/2010
Recommendations13

Neighborhood Association Problems Continued
 Lack of Neighborhood involvement in city code
communication, education and enforcement (e g moneycommunication, education and enforcement (e.g., money
for fines could go into neighborhood association livability fund)
 Limited neighborhood and citizen participation in the
City’s budget approval processCity s budget approval process
 A Lack of sufficient information until projects are underway
prevents effective inclusion in the planning process
 Failure to involve citizens of diverse populations - Failure to involve citizens of diverse populations -
barriers include:
 Lack of funding for broad base communications
 Cultural orientation of some groups incompatible with neighborhoodCultural orientation of some groups incompatible with neighborhood
association meeting formats
 Single issue interest promotion is usually only temporary
4/2/2010
Recommendations14

 Lack of equity throughout much of the system
 Different wealth and resources of neighborhood associations impact Different wealth and resources of neighborhood associations impact
engagement and influence
 City Hall support allocations don’t take into account the variance in
neighborhood size, capacity, existing infrastructure, or extent of
development pressure and changedevelopment, pressure and change
 Neighborhoods need to determine if size and/or boundaries are
appropriate (e.g., some think Gresham Butte NA is too large and is really a
district with three (3) separate neighborhoods)
 The uninformed population make it difficult for community leaders to
interact meaningfully in political debate and deliberation
 Current at-large election format for City Council members
disenfranchises the average citizen from participating in the democraticg p p g
process due to a lack of financial resources to run for office. It also
encourages special interest groups to bankroll selected candidates
and eliminates diverse population segments from any representation at all
4/2/2010
Recommendations15

 Disconnect and discontent between citizens and government at federal and
state levels is at an all time high, spilling over to local government which further
d ff f h hb h dundermines effective engagement of citizens in their neighborhood
 For multiple reasons, neighborhood associations have difficulty communicating
effectively with their residents
 Low attendance at most neighborhood meetingsg g
 Resident’s resistance to development in their neighborhood – particularly in
the cases where unpopular proposals such as Big Box Retail Stores or CellTowers aren’t
often proposed in “well-connected” neighborhoods
 City Charter is woefully out of step in encouraging participatoryCity Charter is woefully out of step in encouraging participatory
democracy therefore by default the neighborhood associations are in the best place
today to give citizens a voice in decisions impacting their neighborhood and quality of life
 Weak and inactive neighborhood associations enable the worst aspects of our
political systems in undermining decision making opportunities at the neighborhoodp y g g pp g
level and encourage special interest control over elected officials and city hall staff
4/2/2010
Recommendations16

Significant Change is Required in Neighborhood
Association Meeting Format
 Redesign meeting format to increase community interest, variety
and involvement
 Strengthen outreach by effectively utilizing City media resources telling
the story of neighborhood associations potential for community improvement
(e.g., City Quarterly Newsletter goes out to 42,000 households)
 E d i hb h d t d l b ti Expand neighborhood events and celebrations
 Utilize ‘WelcomeWagon concept’ to facilitate block and street neighbor
introductions
 Establish partnership with groups representing more diverseEstablish partnership with groups representing more diverse
populations
 Engage community youth groups and encourage membership by neighborhood
youth in new CouncilYouth Advisory Group and subcommittees
l hb h d i l i i hb h d Involve neighborhood associations in planning neighborhood
development
 Deal with NIMBY (Not In My BackYard) reaction by communicating
projects early and getting residence support
4/2/2010
Recommendations17
p j y g g pp

Encourage Neighborhood District and City-wide
Coalition Development
 Help adjoining neighborhoods work together on common
problemsproblems
 Adopt ‘inactive’ or ‘near inactive’ neighborhood associations
to get them back on their feet
 Broaden fund raising support through event sponsorship and Broaden fund raising support through event sponsorship and
by direct appeal to residents
 Recruit volunteers for neighborhood staff functions
based on interests and skills identified through communitybased on interests and skills identified through community
resources assessment (see Multnomah County Rockwood
Assessment Process)
 Coalition sponsorship and support of citizen leadershipCoalition sponsorship and support of citizen leadership
development programs utilizing local and regional resources for
ideas, staff assistance and funding.
4/2/2010
Recommendations18

Neighborhoods and Coalition Involvement in
Ci B d PCity Budget Process
 Provide opportunities for neighborhood associations to
b it l di th i i it d l isubmit proposals regarding their priority needs early-on in
the budget process as a visible commitment by the City to
insure neighborhood voice in these proceedings
 Propose that Council Finance/Budget Advisory
Committee hold committee meetings in neighborhood
settings and draw membership from neighborhoods withoutsettings and draw membership from neighborhoods without
any single neighborhood dominating the appointments
numerically
 Encourage Metro East Media to cover Gresham Finance
Committee Meetings
4/2/2010
Recommendations19

Recommendations to Neighborhood Associations
 Develop CitizenTestimony Skills:
 All NeighborhoodAssociation Meetings should have a regular All NeighborhoodAssociation Meetings should have a regular
scheduled times for citizen testimony.
 Monitor and evaluate Council Citizen Advisory
Committee recommendations to City Staff and CouncilCommittee recommendations to City Staff and Council
 Coalition and/or Neighborhood Associations could establish
committees that mirror Council Citizen Advisory
Committees to take full advantage of CCAC’s research and
d l b Th C l ld f ll h l fdeliberation.The Coalition could follow-up on the quality of
recommendations to the City Council and action implementations.
 Use Early Active NeighborhoodTestimony:
C i d i N i hb h d A i i d C li i Continue and increase Neighborhood Association and Coalition
active role at City Council, City Staff and CitizenAdvisory
Committee Meetings providing early testimony from local
community leaders and citizens on current issuesy
4/2/201020
Recommendations

Recommendations to Neighborhood Association
 Create Neighborhood Impact Planningg p g
Implement a community planning process at the
neighborhood level that would provide short and long
term visioning for the neighborhood identifying strengthsterm visioning for the neighborhood identifying strengths,
weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Utilize community
planning expertise to develop a planning template
d i d hi hi hl i i fdesigned to achieve a highly participatory process for
creating the neighborhood vision and plan document.This
would create ownership and provide the City with additionaly
neighborhood planning knowledge for input into the City-
wide planning process
4/2/201021
Recommendations

Recommendations to Neighborhood Association
 Neighborhood District Structure:
 A tl d d i Cit C d tili t /di t i t As currently recommended in City Code: utilize sector/district
organization within neighborhood association’s
boundaries and identify local, unique and common neighborhood
issues (e g neighborhood crime economic development workforceissues (e.g. neighborhood crime, economic development, workforce,
zoning, abandoned large retail stores, quality of life needs and assist
inactive neighborhood associations to become active)
 This will help overcome bureaucratic barriers that areThis will help overcome bureaucratic barriers that are
common in a City-wide focus and give greater voice to unique
sector’s issues and concerns thereby increasing staff and elected
officials awareness, involvement and accountability, y
 Improved district/neighborhood structure will increase local
interaction and influence thereby engaging a disengaged citizenry
4/2/201022
Recommendations

Recommendations to Neighborhood Coalition
 Develop local leadership through City-wide project involvement:Develop local leadership through City wide project involvement:
 Utilize Neighborhood and City-wide projects as a leadership development
vehicle to engage citizens, staff and elected officials early-on in project planning,
implementation and evaluation (e.g. chicken raising, transportation focus
groups, etc)groups, etc)
 Communications:
 Establish a citizen customer focus group to continue to improve the current
City webpage, dedicated to Coalition and Neighborhood Association
C i i Thi ld b i h f f b ll i b dCommunications. This could be in the form of bulletin boards.
 Volunteer neighborhood web developers (as members of a focus group)
could assist City’s webmaster in refining the current website and improve
citizen participation (this needs to be coordinated across departments so
lti l ti d t t h d l d i fli t ith h th ) Amultiple meetings and events are not scheduled in conflict with each other). A
chat room where the system requires participants be identified would be a great
tool for discussion and deliberation) See e-democracy.com
4/2/201023
Recommendations

Recommendations to Neighborhood Coalition
City-wide Issues:
 Continue to utilize the Neighborhood Coalition to address City wide Continue to utilize the Neighborhood Coalition to address City-wide
issues
City Council Roundtable Meetings
 Bring Coalition and Neighborhood Association issues and Bring Coalition and Neighborhood Association issues and
recommendations to the Roundtable Meetings for the Mayor and
Council’s deliberation and input
Establish formal customer focus groups and reactiong p
panels to provide feedback on City services:
 This would provide information that can be evaluated from a
customer perspective regarding delivery and cost performance
4/2/201024
Recommendations

Recommendations to City Manager
 Establish ‘Office of Neighborhoods’
 Thi ld t d th Cit M ’ di ti ith t ff This would operate under the City Manager’s direction with staff
support. It might make cost-saving sense to utilize the
‘askGresham’ information clearing house on the City’s website, the
Community Services Manager and staff for both neighborhood andCommunity Services Manager and staff for both neighborhood and
individual citizens questions and inquires. (Continue to utilize citizen
volunteers by the Community Service Department which has already
demonstrated the ability to aid and supplement city staff resources).y pp y )
 Support Funding:
 Each Department could dedicate funds in the annual budget
process to be utilized in supporting neighborhood associations andprocess to be utilized in supporting neighborhood associations and
coalition administrative needs and for special projects. Fund raising
projects directly tied to neighborhood support by way of matching
grants needs to be explored. (Foundations etc)
4/2/2010
Recommendations25
g p ( )

City Volunteer OmbudsmanCity Volunteer Ombudsman
 Citizen Recruitment Panel made up of Neighborhood
Associations, Coalition and Citizens at-large. Select a citizen
volunteer ombudsman to be housed in the City Manager’s
‘Office of Neighborhoods’ This position would provide theOffice of Neighborhoods . This position would provide the
‘linking agent’or‘central liaison’leadership to convene relevant
parties from City Staff, Neighborhood Leaders and Citizens
at-large to overcome informational and bureaucratic barriers
to resolve problems and to serve all organizations in
designing and implementing a new model of communicationsdesigning and implementing a new model of communications
and mutual respect
4/2/2010
Recommendations26

Recommendations to City Manager
 City Citizen Outreach and Public Engagement:
 Continue work with Neighborhood Associations and Coalition in City-g y
sponsored community workshops, leadership training, information open
houses and volunteer opportunities.
 Utilize Quarterly Newsletter with a circulation of 42,000 resident homes, larger
than the Oregonian and the Outlook as a dynamic key communications link for bothg y y
NeighborhoodAssociations and the Coalition
 Utilize City Public Relations Manager to design and deliver a basic training
module on press relations. (e.g.,“How to write a press release and call a news conference”)
 Utilize currentWeb Site to deliver basic neighborhood association leadership training
d l / l ( li Ci d R i l R f ki dmodules/manual (e.g., list City and Regional Resources for guest speaking engagements and
training}
 If possible these events should be coordinated and not scheduled during the day
or simultaneously. Citizens should be able to see the full array of meetings and
see the relevance to their neighborhood and individual needs When crosssee the relevance to their neighborhood and individual needs.When cross-
departmental issues are similar (appeal to the same segment of the population
e.g. urban forestry, parks, sustainability) community events should be
planned efficiently avoiding duplication (combining events if
possible).
4/2/2010
Recommendations27
poss b e).

R d ti t Cit MRecommendations to City Manager
 Create City Code EnforcementWebsite:
l “ k d ” d f d Utilize “work order” procedure for documentation
 Neighborhood leaders and citizens could directly enter code
complaints
 Utilize a work order complaint map that would show where complaints
are located
 Website would list code enforcement action (cases pending and closed)
 Recommend that fines collected could be directed to neighborhoods for
community beautification funding
 Establish Citizen volunteers selected from individual neighborhood
associations to serve as members of customer focus group Group wouldassociations to serve as members of customer focus group. Group would
meet twice yearly to review success of current community code
inspections program and allow for citizen follow-up and feedback
4/2/2010
Recommendations28

Recommendations to City Council
 Update City Code (GRC-Chapter 2.60):
C C d dd h d d l Approve new City Code to address growth and development
needs of Gresham Neighborhood Associations as an
independent vehicle that plays a key role in citizen
d h f ll dengagement and governance with full encouragement and
support by City Council.
 Formally recognize the Neighborhood Coalition as any g g
independent citizen leadership group that coordinates
neighborhood association information identifying City-wide
issues and recommending solutions while developing citizeng p g
leadership for effective engagement and deliberation with City
staff and elected officials. (May want to strengthen Coalition
name to Council orAssembly)
4/2/2010
Recommendations29
y)

Recommendations to City Council
 Councilor Liaisons:
 Assign Councilors to Neighborhood Associations and
/or districts as Liaisons with the target of attending local
meetings on a quarterly basis.This would demonstrate the Cityg q y . C y
Council’s commitment to and their support of citizen
involvement and might help with increased attendance and
i t i tiimprove two-way communication
 Work with the City Manager and Staff to research and
discover new options for funding neighborhoodp g g
association administration and special projects
4/2/2010
Recommendations30

Recommendation to City Council
 Quarterly Update to Council:
 Schedule quarterly reports to the City Council by the
Neighborhood Coalition- updating projects, surveys, and
neighborhood events and general items of interest to Council.g g C .
This could be in the form of a panel presentation and/or
PowerPoint with accompanying citizen testimony. Special
emphasize could be on new forms and methods ofemphasize could be on new forms and methods of
citizen participation. (At times it could be an individual
neighborhood association with something significant to
communicate).
4/2/2010
Recommendations31

Conclusion
 Why is this important?
 Effective Neighborhood Associations are organized around the concept ofEffective Neighborhood Associations are organized around the concept of
building meaningful and sustainable power in our communities. City Hall’s role
needs to be perceived as taking action to empower communities and citizens
 For Neighborhood Associations to be meaningful, they have to provide real
solutions to real problems, they must involve the people who are impacted in thesolutions to real problems, they must involve the people who are impacted in the
decision making process, making them aware of their own power.The City needs
to be seen as enabling and not controlling
 To be sustainable, Neighborhood Associations have to have a formal structure
that will live longer than any campaign around a single issue. City needs tothat will live longer than any campaign around a single issue. City needs to
engage the neighborhood in a proactive manner and not wait until issues grow
into major crisis’
 The work of a Neighborhood Association, Coalition and Citizen Interest group is
ultimately about power. Power in a community happens at three levels:ultimately about power. Power in a community happens at three levels:
individual, organizational and community. An‘Office of Neighborhoods’ can
easily engage at all three levels without being seemly predisposed to any
exclusive level or party
4/2/2010
Recommendations32

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