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Scottsdale launches local information feature By Jonathan Athens, Tribune April 9, 2006

Crime. Construction. Code violations.

Instead of peering out the window or calling the city, Scottsdale citizens can now conduct a cybercheck of their neighborhood to see whats going on in their corner of the world.

Scottsdale recently launched My Neighborhood, a feature of the citys Web site that lists reported activities in various locations, said Robin Meinhart, customer service manager for the city planning department.

Users can type in street names to access the information, including crime reports, permits, code violations, and construction projects dating from the present to six months ago.

Its a great resource, Meinhart said, adding the site was developed by city employees at no additional cost to taxpayers. The site now gets about three hits per day, she said.

Citizen inquiries spurred the city to develop the site, which went up on the citys Web site about two months ago, she said.

If you sit at any reception desk in the city, youll get a call from a resident saying: Theres something going on in my neighborhood. Can you tell me whats going on? Meinhart said.

Although the My Neighborhood data is more meaningful to users because it sums up reported events and incidents in narrow geographic range, the citys one stop shop information telephone number still gets the bulk of citizen inquiries about 4,000 per month, she said.

Around your block

Check out whats going on in your neighborhood by visiting: www.scottsdaleaz.gov/projects/ myneighborhood/

Contact Jonathan Athens by telephone at (480) 970-2342.