Website Update: PhillyNeighborhoods.org

Posted by on October 6, 2006

PhillyBlocks: 2006–PhillyNeighborhoods.Org Improved

As a first step to move forward after our successful PhillyBlocks: 2006 conference at the Convention Center, we have given the PhillyNeighborhoods.org (http://www.phillyneighborhoods.org/) web site a significant makeover. The ‘buttons’ that link to various pages are lighter and easier to read. The structure of the site is simpler. And we give
greater prominence to the banner inviting people to join our email lists.

Of special interest to PhillyBlocks members and block activists generally is the “Clean and Safe Blocks” menu on the home page and the PhillyBlocks.org (http://phillyblocks.org/) web page. On both menus, we include fast links to just about every Phila.gov resource to help block activists address specific problems raised every week on the list: L&I Code violations, trash dumping, neighbors who create public nuisances, drug dealing, and getting a permit to sponsor a block party. There’s a link to the Board of Revision Taxes database (buried on phila.gov) that enables you to find out who owns a particular property.

Also included are links to Philadelphia More Beautiful coordinators, Town Watch, Philadelphia Housing Programs and Housing Counseling Agencies, social services, and Hallwatch’s search engine that tells you who your elected representatives are just by inputting your address.

All of this has been on the web site for months–but not organized terribly well. This, hopefully, solves that problem. And for people who find PhillyBlocks useful, learning your way around PhillyNeighborhoods.org should be helpful as well.

ISCV will be conducting training sessions on the use of this web site in neighborhoods throughout the City in the coming year. For the moment, though, check out the web site itself. You should be able to find what you’re looking for right away.

Ed Schwartz, Institute for the Study of Civic Values, 1218 Chestnut St., Rm. 702, Philadelphia, Pa. 19107 215-238-1434
edcivic@libertynet.org