2005 Tipping Point

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Neighborhoods at the Tipping PointStatus ReportApril 2005

JCCIi t iz en s bu i ld ing;la b e tt e r c ommuni ty~,.--.". Laura LaneUnited Way Plannerlaura@iccLorgSummaryJCCI released Neighborhoods at the Tipping Point, chaired by Randy Evans, on May 22, 2003.A task force of fifteen study committee members began their implementation efforts onSeptember 19, 2003. Since then, the Implementation Task Force has met six times and heldfour meetings with key decision makers in jacksonville.Recommendations & Responses1) Planning and Development DepartmentPrincipal ContactJeannie Fewell, DirectorRecommendation 1The City of Jacksonville's Planning and Development Department should provide the tools necessary forneighborhood associations to assess current conditions in their neighborhood and plan for improvements.To do this, the Planning and Development Department should continue to develop its neighborhoodindicator project, making it widely available for all neighborhoods to assess their health by 2004.Recommendation 2The Planning and Development Department should provide technical assistance to neighborhoodassociations to develop an expanded set of neighborhood-level, quality-of-life indicators. The expandedset of indicators should take into consideration all ten factors that can tip a neighborhood toward decline(see page 9, "Factors that tip a neighborhood").Recommendation 3The Planning and Development Department should develop a classification system for neighborhoods toidentify appropriate steps toward improvement, based on the ten factors that can tip a neighborhoodtoward decline. The classification system should not be designed as labels and should not be assignedwithout input from residents. The following are suggested classifications:

Characteristics of a stable neighborhood may Include a clean appearance, existence of an activeneighborhood association, and healthy commercial corridors. Characteristics of an at-risk neighborhood may include environmental threats such ascontamination, a concentration of pawnshops, package stores and other commercial activity thatdo not contribute to a healthy neighborhood, and decreasing homeownership rates. Characteristics of a declining neighborhood may include high crime rates, abandoned homes andstorefronts, and unsafe infrastructure. Characteristics of an improving neighborhood may include infrastructure improvements,neighborhood participation In leadership training opportunities, and community monitoring ofstreets through a Neighborhood Watch. Already identified characteristics of an Intensive Care Neighborhood include school performance,crime rates, housing conditions, condition of infrastructure, community development, andavailability of social services.

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The task force is asking decision maker(s) to ...I) Publish neighborhood indicators on the Internet.II) Ensure indicators generated for Neighborhood Action Plans are available to residents throughoutJacksonville.III) Assist residents who want to develop indicators of residents' health, education and theirneighborhood's environmental trends.IV) Develop a structure for responding to neighborhood changes that involves residents' appraisal of theirneeds.Responses

Since 1998, the Department has completed 6 Neighborhood Action plans. All completedplans are on the City's website and have passed City Council. For each plan, a relevant setof indicators are compiled. Some indicators include: crime events, fires, property safety violations, utility arrears, signviolations, and parking violations. Requests for data are met with resistance due to laws protecting confidentiality of residents,customers, victims, and perpetrators. Requests for a web-published set of indicators will be met with more resistance. Residents have not requested indicators for their area; the indicators are published onceand no one has asked for updates of them. While neighborhood-level indicators are useful to high density urban areas, in a relativelylow-density and frequently rural section of Jacksonville, the data sets are small. Residentscan use information against each other in these less populated areas. Both the Director of the Neighborhoods Department and the Planning and DevelopmentDepartment agree that classifying neighborhoods might erode the healthy relationshipcurrently enjoyed between resident leaders and the City. If residents think their neighborhood might be classified, they might not seek assistancefrom the City. Neighborhood pride might decrease if an area falls into a "declining" category. Neighborhood assets and liabilities would be measured by the City, not residents, in theprocess of defining the appropriate response to needs.

2) Neighborhoods DepartmentPrincipal ContactRoslyn PhillipsRecommendation 4The Neighborhoods Department should develop and distribute widely a toolkit for neighborhoodimprovement, based on the "Pathway to Neighborhood Improvement" chart from this study report'sAppendix. The toolkit should include existing materials about community organizing, this study report, andCity publications. It should also outline steps that stable, at-risk, declining, improving, and Intensive CareNeighborhoods can take to maintain or improve their health. The toolkit should also include:

A brochure, produced in partnership with homebuyers, realtors, title companies, andmanagement companies, explaining how residents can find information about future land-usechanges, covenants, zoning permits, and road projects affecting their neighborhood; A model timeline for neighborhood improvement, to illustrate the steps to be taken to improve aneighborhood; and A phone number reference list that residents can use to call the agency or organizationresponsible for specific neighborhood maintenance problems.

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Recommendation 5The six Neighborhood Coordinators should work with neighborhood associations to develop specificplans for improvement, based on the toolkit, and assist associations to obtain necessary resources toimplement those plans.Recommendation 6The Neighborhoods Department should provide callers to City Link with an anticipated timeframe forresolution of their problems and steps to follow up if problems persist.Recommendation 9The Neighborhoods Department should strengthen neighborhood associations by:

Offering more frequent leadership training opportunities and new programs to link seasonedneighborhood leaders as mentors for less experienced leaders; and Encouraging residents to get to know each other and interact through regular activities.

Recommendation 13The Clean It Up, Green It Up Division should: Develop a long-range maintenance and re-planting program that preserves and protects theneighborhoods' tree canopy; and Educate property owners as to appropriate tree planting for sidewalk maintenance.

Recommendation 16The Neighborhoods Department should recognize the Best Landlord of the Year at the annual Mayor'sNeIghborhood Summit.

The task force is asking decision maker(s) to ...I) Develop a toolkit for neighborhood organizations.II) Ensure neighborhood organizations have access to planning services.Itl) Increase the amount and specificity of information given to callers reporting neighborhood problems.IV) Offer more frequent leadership development workshopsV) Educate property owners concerning tree canopy and sidewalksVI) Recognize the Best Landlord of the Year annually.ResponsesSince the study's release, the Neighborhood Services Division has distributed 250 folders titled "Toolkitfor Neighborhood Organizations." In 2004, the toolkit was expanded to include resources from Portland,Sarasota, Chicago, and other cities. Neighborhood Coordinators tailor each toolkit to the group requestingit. It also Includes an Executive Summary of Neighborhoods at the Tipping Point.The Neighborhoods Department will offer a workshop in conjunction with its Toolkit.The Neighborhoods Department has added a performance objective for its Coordinators working in FY2004-05: "Conduct or assist with at least one neighborhood visioning session or assist with theimplementation of at least one neighborhood action plan in planning district."The Neighborhoods Department offers a Leadership Training Institute each summer. From now on, theInstitute will require three representatives from each neighborhood instead of just one. This will increasethe number of residents receiving training and increase the amount of interaction between seasoned andnew leaders.Complaints logged with the City's Citizen Active Response Effort (CARE) system might be backlogged.Customer service representatives can share the estimated date for resolution of an issue, but are nottrained to discuss actions taken to resolve it. If they were to be trained, divisions and departments wouldhave to share more information on workload and process. This information is difficult to get.

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The Neighborhoods Department is considering a "Best Landlord of the Year" Award. If developed, it mightbe awarded in 2006. The Department has scheduled workshops on landlord/tenant relations for its stateand local conferences as well.The Directors of both the Neighborhoods and Environmental Resource Management Departments metwith a JCCI volunteer concerning tree canopy and tree planting for sidewalk maintenance. The PublicWorks Department is developing standards for landscape design, including benches, signs, and otherstreet features.

3) City CouncilPrincipal ContactsElaine Brown, City Council President

Recommendation 10The City Council should pass legislation that permits a rebate on a portion of ad valorem taxes to newand existing businesses that demonstrate active involvement in neighborhood associations.Recommendation 12The City Council should amend existing laws and create new ones that stop the spread of visual blight.Specifically, the City Council should: amend City Codes so that the property safety code enforcement procedures resemble the zoningcode enforcement procedures and inspectors may cite a property without receiving a citizencomplaint; and

return responsibility for sidewalk and curb maintenance to the Public Works Department.Recommendation 14The City Council should require private landlords to hold an annually renewed occupational license, whichmust be held individually, not by a company.

The task force is asking decision maker(s) to ...I) encourage businesses to get involved in neighborhood associations.II) improve the process of citing and violating properties in violation of property safety codes.III) assume the cost of repairing sidewalks.IV) hold landlords accountable for good business practices.ResponsesIn a meeting with Roslyn Phillips and Derek Igou, Chief of Property Safety Division, volunteers learned ofimprovements to the complaint process.2003

6,000 to 7,000 inspections in backlog. Only Division Chief could authorize boarding up a house. 16 percent of inspections were generated by inspectors. 140 cases referred to 6 Municipal Code Enforcement Boards. 85,707 inspections completed. Thirty-two percent of complaints responded to within five days.

2004

54 inspections in backlog. Supervisors empowered to secure properties without prior approval of Division Chief.

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28% of inspections generated by inspectors. Mapping property safety complaints from residents. 592 cases heard by Municipal Code Enforcement Board.

New technology allows Property Safety Division to cross-reference violating properties sothat owners neglecting properties are identified quickly Utilizing ordinance targeting repeat offenders so that slumlords receive a hearing noticeimmediately. 88,219 inspections completed. Seventy percent of complaints responded to within five days.

In 2003, the Mayor forwarded a budget proposal to City Council that included $300,000 to inventorysidewalks in need of repair. Since 2004, the City has assumed responsibility for sidewalk repair.

4) LandlordsPrincipal ContactsPaul Howard, Executive Director, Jacksonville Landlord NetworkRecommendation 15The Jacksonville Landlord Network should be a positive force in neighborhood Improvements.Specifically, the Jacksonville Landlord Network should

Encourage private landlords to Improve property maintenance; and Encourage landlords to participate in neighborhood associations.

The task force is asking decision maker(s) to ...Encourage landlords to become a positive force in neighborhoods.ResponsesThe Jacksonville Landlord Network is Interested in reaching out to the landlords that allow rentalproperties to decline. Strategies for accomplishing this were not discussed; many landlords who allowtheir real estate investment to decline live out-of-town. Paul Howard suggested contacting the Real EstateInvestors Association (REIA) to discuss strategies for reaching out to investors in the low-income realestate market. Next steps might include drafting a short document for the Jacksonville Landlord website,"Why a Landlord Should Join a Neighborhood Association."Jeannie Fewell as well as Paul Howard suggested a strategy for holding landlords accountable. Bothpointed to empowering tenants. While the study committee did not identify a tenant association forduplexes and single-famfly homes, it did hear from a tenant organizer working in low-income apartmentcomplexes. The jacksonville Landlord Network will be constructing a section of its website dedicated totenants. These web pages will inform tenants as to their rights and responsibilities.

5) Housing non-profitsPrincipal ContactsCarolyn Ettlinger, Executive Director, Housing Partnership of Jacksonville

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Recommendation 11The Housing Partnership of Jacksonville, HabiJax, the Jacksonville Urban League, and the City'sHeadstart-to-Homeownership program should educate first-time homebuyers receiving down paymentassistance on the benefits of joining or starting a neighborhood association.

The task force is asking decision maker(s) to . ..Emphasize to first-time homebuyers the benefits of being involved with their neighbors in protecting theirinvestment in their home.ResponsesThe Housing Partnership of Jacksonville is not able to include a presentation on neighborhoodassociations in its day-long workshop. The Partnership and the Neighborhoods Department are workingout the details of future collaborations, including Neighborhoods Department brochures for first-timehomebuyers.6) Information technologyPrincipal ContactsCal Ray, Director of Administration and Finance, City of JacksonvilleMichael Stewart, Community Relations, BellSouthRecommendation 7JaxGIS should provide online maps detailing neighborhood roads and the public agency responsible foreach, including contact Information.Recommendation 8Following the Neighborhoods Department development of the toolkit, BellSouth and other phonebookdirectory companies should include the phone reference list of agencies responsible for neighborhoodmaintenance in their phonebooks.

The task force is asking decision maker(s) to ...Provide residents with contact information sa they might call more frequently concerning neighborhoodinfrastructure maintenance.ResponsesNo attempts have been made to implement these recommendations.

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2005 Tipping Point

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