In an effort to link residents with their government, City of Lansing and Ingham County officials launched two new Web sites Friday giving area residents a better touch on the public pulse.
Intouchlansing.com provides Web users health data, links to the area’s city and county government, and direct connections to more than 350 agencies in the tri-county area. It also has a crime-mapping tool, allowing area residents to find out what types of crimes have been committed within a one-mile radius of any address in the city.
Its counterpart, CACVoices.org, provides health information, bulletin boards and a special section regarding black health issues.
David Wiener, executive assistant to Lansing Mayor David Hollister, said the Web sites have been in development for years.
“It’s been part of two different projects the city and county have been working on for several years,” he said. “(Funding comes from) a technology grant the city police department received from the federal government to develop crime mapping.”
He hopes Intouchlansing.com will keep residents informed of events in their neighborhood.
“This is a very important tool in the expansion of our community policing project,” he said. “This puts the neighborhoods in closer contact with the police department and it provides tools for up-to-date info.”
Lansing police Lt. Steve Treason said the Web sites work both ways. In addition to providing faster access to the police department, the city’s blue is able to communicate more easily with the citizens they serve.
“Every single police officer, sergeant, and detective are able to receive and send e-mail to citizens,” he said. “We hope that spurs an interest from the community so that they want to be more involved in solving problems in their neighborhoods.”
Terson also said those who don’t have computers at home will have access to the Web sites.
“We put in about 100 computers in the Ingham County area,” he said. “We put them in areas where we felt that they would be used by people who don’t have access to the Internet all the time.”
CACVoices.org was developed from a grant received from the Kellogg Foundation.
“The idea is to provide current information on many different subjects citizens can use for participating in policy decisions,” Wiener said.
Ingham County Health Department Planner Marcus Cheatham said the Web sites will greatly improve the quality of life for Ingham County residents.
“The Web sites have some forums and bulletin boards where people can go online and discuss issues,” he said. “We’re seeing this as a dialogue.”
Data from health surveys taken in the area will be posted on the Web sites, which Cheatham said will affect area residents and students.
“There are a lot of things - health and public safety concerns - that affect campus life,” Cheatham said. “You’ll know as much as we know about what people said and what they thought. We’re not holding anything back at all.”
He said putting the Web sites together was a lot of work, but he’s confident it was worth the effort.
“It’s been a lot of work to create these data tools,” he said. “It’s just really been a pleasure to work on this project because all the biggest players have really been completely unselfish. It’s just been tremendous.”
