Neighborhood Empowerment Team

NET stood for "Neighborhood Empowerment Team". Each Team was conceived as a 'mini-city hall' around town giving people local access to government features. NET was criticized by members of the community and was replaced by Neighborhood Service Centers on July 1, 2008.

Some historical information and discussion of the controversies may be found below.

In the May 16th, 2008 Budget Briefing ¹, Mayor Duffy reported:

Citizens in our quadrant discussions had mixed opinions on how our Neighborhood Empowerment Teams (NET) function. Some suggested eliminating NET while most appeared to support improving the consistency of enforcement at a lower cost. There was a consistent call for a “quarterback” for service delivery in each quadrant in the city. Some of our consolidation budget highlights include:


In this budget – we are proposing the consolidation of the Department of Community Development, Department of Economic Development and the Neighborhood Empowerment Teams into one department called the Department of Neighborhood and Business Development. The new department will streamline and expedite delivery of neighborhood and business services.


This consolidation is not a reshuffling of the deck. We will be providing more targeted service to our customers with overlapping duties and services eliminated. The most visible change from this consolidation will come from the current six NET offices evolving into to four quadrant Neighborhood Service Centers. This is not just a cut of two NET offices; it is a philosophical and operational shift in service delivery. This is a “team based” model - and each quadrant office will have a “quarterback” to coordinate city services to that neighborhood area.


The four quadrant Neighborhood Service Centers (are) located as follows:


• Northwest Center at 1099 Jay St.;
  

• Southwest Center at 923 Genesee St.;
  

• Southeast Center at 846 S. Clinton Ave.;
  

• Northeast Center at 500 Norton St.

I have begun to engage neighborhood leaders to obtain further input on where to permanently locate these service centers in the future and how to design the operation of the centers. Office moves are expected to save $146,600 in lease costs.


We will not renew our lease agreement for the NET offices on Webster Avenue and Lake Avenue. Lake Avenue and Lyell Avenue NET staff will be consolidated at the Westside Police section. Webster office staff will be consolidated into the Clinton Neighborhood Service Center.


The Neighborhood Service Centers will have a cross-departmental team. This will include police, fire, code enforcement, economic development, community development, 3-1-1 and other departmental representatives. The teams will meet weekly with neighborhood groups and organizations to better assess priorities and to better provide services. The Neighborhood Service Centers are, in essence, the evolution of NET, but the Centers will have decision-makers on-site to facilitate service delivery.

The Neighborhood Empowerment Team (NET) Office consisted of ten teams of City employees, with one team assigned to each of the ten Neighbors Building Neighborhoods (NBN) sectors. Each team included property inspectors and sworn Police personnel to focus on resolution and prevention of chronic quality of life, nuisance, and disorder issues. Traditional Certificate of Occupancy and property complaint services were also provided by NET. The NET teams were based in six site offices located throughout the City.

Locations


• A 1494 Dewey Avenue moved to 1099 Jay Street Building D/Suite 200 (date needed)
  

• B 492 Lyell Avenue moved to 1099 Jay Street as of June 17, 2008
  

• C 998 Genesee Street
  

• D 846 S. Clinton Avenue
  

• E 212 Webster Avenue Moved into 846 S. Clinton Avenue office
  

• F 500 Norton Street

NET was criticized for inefficiency and for discrepancies in the nature and severity of enforcement, both stemming largely from the decision to operate code enforcement via decentralized offices. (Most municipalities have a single centralized office, ensuring fair and uniform treatment of property owners, as well as allowing the consolidation of redundant infrastructure) On June 16th, 2008, it was announced that two of the NET offices would be closed, and another relocated, in order to address the high cost and very low return on investment.

It should also be noted that NET based their enforcement patterns on the Owner of Record entered at the assessor's office, which is updated using a slow and inefficient paper-based record-keeping system (unlike the modern computerized systems used by the County Clerk's office). This means that in some cases, NET may have issued fines to a person who was no longer the property owner at the time of the violation. In other words, should a property violation occur on a property that was recently sold, the seller would have to choose between paying a fine that has nothing to do with them, or trespassing on another person's property in order to correct the violation.

Comments:

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2005-07-22 10:11:28   And here I thought they were glorified police substations.... ? —TobinFricke

2005-07-22 10:50:29   Yeah, unfortunately it looks like that is what they are turning into. Plex neibhborhood group meets at the Gensee st. NET office —FarMcKon