City Hall On Call Shows Major
Interest in Events
Carolanne Sudderth
Mirror Staff Writer
Based on figures
accrued during the first three weeks’ operation of City Hall on
Call, Special Events is by far the subject uppermost on Santa Monica
minds followed (at some distance) by Noise, Housing Issues and Barking
Dogs.
City Hall On
Call, Santa Monica’s new automated telephone system allows callers
24-hour access to 300 subjects ranging from City Council to City Dog
Licenses.
A total of 2617 calls were received between the system’s
inception on July 2, and July 23. Of these, the 1955 calls (74% of the
total) received during City Hall business hours were tracked and notes
made of the sites accessed and a calls-per-site summary released by
the city. Sites receiving less than 20 sites were not included in the
list. These numbered 249, indicating that over 80% of the sites ware
accessed by less than 20 callers, if any.
Of the 51 sites that were “hit,” by far the most
popular was Special Events which ran head and neck in front of the
rest with a total 203 hits (10.38% of the 1955 calls). Only two other
sites were visited more than 100 times: Noise Ordinance with 125
calls(6.39%) and Permit Parking with 108 (5.52%).
The number of calls to the next most highly visited
sites dropped by almost half. Three sites fell into the 50-60 visit
range. Y2K preparedness was hit 56 times (2.86%) The other two sites
falling into this category both dealt with events: Civic Auditorium,
50 (2.56%) and Santa Monica Pier, 51 (2.61%).
Although none of the housing-rent control related
sites was visited more than 41 times, as a group their total of 347
hits (17.75%) put them second only to “Community Events, Activities
and Attractions” with 364 hits (18.62%).
It should be
noted that a request for a new parking permit area came before the
Santa Monica City Council during this period which may have been the
basis for the higher numbers received by the permit parking site.
Among other popular items were Refuse and Recycling
Services (167)(8.54%), Parks and Recreation (107) (5.47%). Parking and
Traffic Issues maintained the lead begun by Permit Parking with Public
Parking adding 29 hits to its 108 (5.52%) for a total 137 (7.00%).
Similar numbers on some of the sites may indicate that
they were accessed by the same callers seeking information on similar
subjects. For instance, both Adult Sports and Tennis received 23 hits
and Aquatic Sports was right beside them with 24.
Although agendas are available for almost every city
agency, the only ones accessed were those of the City Council and the
Landscape Commission.
Some groups of
sites notable for having received less than 20 hits in any one
category include Library Services, Fire Department (except for
Fireworks) and Environmental Groups.
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