Cyber town halls keep citizens up to date

Cedar Hills city councilman Jim Perry had never seen so much activity in his online discussion forum as what went on before recent controversial votes about beer and Sunday business.

"The last two months, it just grew exponentially," he said, reporting 500 to 600 daily visits from separate individuals at the peak of the controversy. That's pretty healthy for a town with 1,800 homes, he said.

During that time, residents, City Council members and the mayor all participated in online discussions, posting their opinions on whether businesses should be allowed to stay open on Sundays and whether they should be able to sell alcohol.

When the votes were counted, citizens said yes to both questions. But another lasting result of the debate was that Perry's Cedar Hills Forum established itself as an important place to talk about community issues.

Created by Perry two years ago, the forum is an example of an emerging trend of involvement by community officials in blogs and other online forums. Although at 185 registered users, Perry's forum may be one of the largest around, smaller forums, mostly community-oriented blogs, are attracting the attention of officials who see them as a way to check the pulse of their constituents and get their own views out to the public.

The idea is to bring people to a sort of casual town hall in cyberspace, where they can interact with officials and other citizens without the daunting feel of official meetings.

"It's a lot easier to check the forum and read things from your own home than to attend public meetings," Perry said, adding that people often feel freer to speak up in online forums.

He said the result is that people feel much closer to their elected leaders and are better informed about the positions they're taking.

Tom Feeny, a blogger for the Weber County Forum, said blogs have a great deal of potential as community forums.

"I think it's an ideal medium for discussion," he said. "It's better than an e-mail list, better than letters to the editor. I see it as a wonderful medium for local politics."

Feeny said on his site, public officials have been slow to post, but his tracking software shows they visit often.

And if an official's purpose is to keep tabs on what constituents are concerned about, watching these kings of blogs can be helpful.