Byline: By Ryan Konig, The Arizona Republic
Richard Fox of west Phoenix spent days mining the Internet for World Wide Web pages
containing information about any of the nation's 50 states, but he never found what he was
looking for.
''I was looking for a model, something to help me create a Web site that can be used by anyone in Arizona to get information about their elected officials,'' Fox said. ''And I simply couldn't find any, at least none that were comprehensive.''
So Fox created his own from scratch. His page, which may be the first of its kind, provides information about Arizona's federal, state and county lawmakers and can be found at www.nailem.org. The page also contains the following:
--> Information and links to nearly all West Valley towns and cities and information about their elected officials and ways to contact them.
--> Updates on bills being considered by the Arizona Legislature; the date, time and place for meetings regarding the bills; names and phone numbers of the state's lawmakers; and an explanation of how visitors can call up and read bills over the Internet.
--> Bulletin boards for neighborhood associations that want to post updates on community activities and scheduled meetings.
--> 101 things people can do to improve their communities.
--> Information about NAILEM, the Neighborhood Activists Interlinked Empowerment Movement, a statewide coalition of neighborhoods that lobbies the Legislature for pro-neighborhood legislation.
Fox created the page on behalf of NAILEM, an organization co-founded by Donna Neill and Paul Enniss, two northwest Phoenix neighborhood leaders.
Reaction from neighborhood leaders who have heard about the Web page has been positive.
''This is a really good idea and an invaluable resource,'' said Elaine Sullivan of west Phoenix. ''There are a lot of people out there who can benefit from something like this.''
Fox said he will refine the page during the next month and welcomes any comments from visitors on how to improve it. He simply needs more of those visitors.
''My biggest concern is that all this work has gone into creating this page but people don't yet know that it exists,'' Fox said.
The page has had about 2,000 hits since Jan. 1.
One of its more popular features is its information and links for more than 150 Arizona communities. By clicking on Phoenix, for example, visitors can find out which council district they live in, who their council member is and how to start a Block Watch.
It also lists municipal employees for several West Valley communities and their phone numbers. In many cases, Fox's page has more information about cities than do the Web pages created by those cities.
Photo by Tim Koors/The Arizona Republic Richard Fox created his Web site from scratch when he couldn't find any that were comprehensive enough about Arizona governments. The site contains legislative updates and information on federal, state and county lawmakers.