Byline: By Ryan Konig, The Arizona Republic
News in Ed Davis' neighborhood used to travel about as fast as he could walk door to door
with his newsletters.
But after wearing off the tread of his shoes in his Rancho Encanto Neighborhood Association, Davis came up with the idea of creating a World Wide Web page to update neighbors on local issues.
''When you're out there delivering newsletters to 1,200 doors, you can't help but think that there must be a better way to communicate,'' Davis said. ''That's where the idea of the Web page came from.''
The page - its address is www.goodnet.com/(tilde)ej17975/ - went online a year ago with an extensive collection of articles explaining to residents how they can reduce crime and improve the look of their neighborhood, bounded by Bell and Greenway roads, Interstate 17 and 35th Avenue.
The page tells people whom to call to report graffiti, how to get involved in a Block Watch and how to contact city, county and state elected officials. It also has volumes of neighborhood news and a calendar of events.
Davis didn't know it at the time, but he was a pioneer, one of the first in the Valley to create a Web page for a neighborhood association. Nor did he know that his page would receive international attention.
''We get hits from our neighborhood, throughout the city and around the world,'' he said. ''People obviously are passing around our address.''
Davis recently learned that Web-site managers in South Africa, Great Britain and the Netherlands have taken note of the page as well. In fact, a Web page promoting South Africa offers a link to Davis' page as an example of how neighborhoods can set up their own sites.
Davis jokes that despite the page's international attention, it has yet to eliminate the need to deliver 1,200 newsletters door to door each month.
''Not everybody has a computer just yet,'' he said.
But someday, when Internet access is as common as television, Davis will be able to keep from wearing out his shoes so quickly.
Soon after he began his page, a few other pioneers, including Richard Fox, Dave Siebert and Dean Howard, pursued similar paths.
Fox started up a business of creating Web pages for neighborhoods and other groups a few months ago. He is in various stages of developing a Web page to showcase 18 historic districts in downtown Phoenix, as well as a separate page for his Fairview Place historic neighborhood, near McDowell Road and 19th Avenue.
He also is creating a Web page for NAILEM, which stands for Neighborhood Activists Interlinked Empowerment Movement. It is a statewide coalition of neighborhoods that lobbies the Legislature for pro-neighborhood legislation.
That page eventually will allow people throughout the state to keep track of neighborhood-related proposals working their way through the Legislature. It also will list dates for committee hearings and telephone numbers for lawmakers.
''Web pages for Phoenix neighborhoods are very, very new,'' Fox said. ''There are communities on the East Coast that have been doing this for some time, although many of their pages are geared toward promoting themselves to potential home buyers.''
Fox would like to see Phoenix take a different direction. As a longtime Block Watch advocate, he would like to see Valley neighborhoods use the Internet to trade ideas on reducing crime.
''The potential is incredible. Imagine being able to post the description of a burglar's vehicle on a neighborhood page, just moments after you witness the crime. With that kind of communication, we really could take a bite out of crime.''
Siebert, a Phoenix councilman, also sees the potential for Web pages to reduce crime.
''A lot of neighborhoods use their newsletters to publish information about crimes within their boundaries. If they were to put that information on a Web page, then the surrounding associations would be able to see what's happening on the other side of their boundaries.''
Earlier this year, Siebert and Howard created a Web page that lists details for about 80 homeowners associations in northwest Phoenix. The page also has links for six neighborhoods that have their own Web sites, including the one Davis built for Rancho Encanto.
Other Phoenix City Council members have expressed interest in creating versions for their council districts.
''Eventually, I would like to see neighborhoods throughout all of Valley being able to communicate with one another online,'' Siebert said. ''Who knows what kind of impact that could have?''
Photo by Mona Reeder/The Arizona Republic Richard Fox has started a business of creating Web pages for neighborhoods. He is developing a page to showcase 18 historic districts in Phoenix.