05/13/2003 - Commiity Assessment Progran (CAP) - Coming to a Neighborhood Near You! CITY OF TIGARD PRESS RELEASE
13125 SW Hall Blvd. May 13, 2003
Tigard, Oregon 97223
For Immediate Release
Contact: Liz Newton
City of Tigard
503-639-4171, ext. 2412
Coming to a Neighborhood Near You!
Even though Tigard continues to grow in population, we hold many of the original small town
values. With this in mind, Tigard staff are beginning a new adventure which will help them
connect more with the citizens of Tigard and enhance their knowledge of every area of the City.
The program is called the Community Assessment Program (CAP). As part of the program, the
City has been divided up into approximately 45 sub-areas that can be walked within a couple of
hours on Wednesday afternoons. Each week, representatives from City departments (Public
Works, Engineering, Community Development, Finance, Police and Administration) will be
walking an area and evaluating its needs and opportunities. The intent is to walk all areas of
the City each year. On the walks, if an issue is observed, follow-up action will be assigned.
Follow-up action may be immediate (a street sign that is missing may be replaced) or delayed
(needed street improvements are placed on the City's CIP list.)
The City representatives have walked 16 areas so far. Examples of the type of issues that
have been observed so far include: drainage issues, sidewalks in disrepair, signs that need
repair, basketball hoops in the right of way, and areas of potential neighborhood vandalism. By
making observations in an area, we can target actions to help the citizens and to help make the
community better. For example, when it was observed on one of our walks that a sprinkler
head was broken resulting in lots of water loss, we were able to send our water crews out to
assess the situation and notify the property owner, potentially saving them a lot of money in
water bills. If we see that a specific problem is occurring throughout a neighborhood, we will
look for ways to help educate residents in the area. For example, many people are unaware
that sidewalk maintenance is their responsibility and a potential liability for them. One area had
many reports of portions of sidewalk in need of maintenance. By making people aware of the
observation and that it is their responsibility, we are not only making the pedestrian environment
safer, but we are also helping residents realize the potentially costly liability issues.
Log onto the City's web site at www.ci.tigard.or.us or watch upcoming issues of the cityscape to
see when we will be coming to your neighborhood. If you see us outside in your area, feel free
to come up and talk to us, ask us questions and share your own observations.
Page 1 of 1 FAX TO: ā¯‘TIGARD TIMES O OREGONIAN O REGAL COURIER
1:\CITYWIDE\PRESS RELEASES\2003\MAY\CAP PRESS RELEASE.DOC 0 CITY WEB PAGE 0 OTHER: