City Council E-Mail: The Mouse That Roared

Chris Anderson, the Spokane City Council’s firebrand and chief source of controversy, can claim another title: council computer nerd.

Anderson is the first city politician to embrace computer technology as a tool to reach the public. He produces an electronic newsletter about city goings-on and encourages people to contact him via e-mail.

A month ago, Anderson started sending weekly summaries of council events by e-mail to people who request it. Response has grown slowly but steadily.

Called “What’s Hot,” he sends 50 copies of the summary by fax to residents. Another 20 people get the newsletter by electronic mail, which sends messages from one computer to another via telephone lines.

No city money is involved, he said.

Except for Councilman Joel Crosby, no one else on the seven-person council uses computers and modems to find information and send messages.

Spokane County commissioners don’t even have computers on their desks.

Coeur d’Alene Mayor A.J. Hassell III, on the other hand, uses a computer frequently in his civic duties.

Crosby has a home computer but he does not use the personal computer recently installed for council use at City Hall. “Not yet, anyway,” he said.

Behind his back, some council members call Anderson’s electronic newsletter a publicity ploy or a way to spin opinion over controversial issues.

Anderson, who’s worked with computers for a dozen years, doesn’t deny “What’s Hot” lets him say what he wants. But it’s also a way to get quick summaries of important news to citizens who can’t find it otherwise, he said.

He’s said other council members will be on-line before long.

“In a year’s time, we’ll all be queued up, trying to use that one computer” at City Hall, Anderson predicted.

Reactions by citizens to the e-mail service are positive, if not overwhelming, he said. He’s mentioned the newsletter several times during recent council meetings.

Anderson said he sees computer networks and e-mail as a way to cut costs and still reach a broad section of the public with useful information.

“What’s Hot” usually runs four or five pages, tapped out on Anderson’s home computer, then transmitted to his list of recipients.

Spokane audio-visual technician Eric Smith began getting the newsletter three weeks ago. He’s interested in local politics “for the first time in my life,” he said.

Smith said he hopes the council starts providing more information through computers, the way some cities provide copies of ordinances or schedules of snow removal or other services.

Dave Laird, a computer consultant and founder of Phoenix, a Spokane bulletin board, credits Anderson with being ahead of the pack.

“His involvement in the spread of information through computers is like a breath of fresh air,” said Laird, a regular City Council watcher.

Crosby, who has had recent run-ins with Anderson, agreed the city needs to give people access to government information through computers. He said City Manager Roger Crum has begun plans to create a council “home page” - a collection of information and graphics that can be reached by computer and modem.

But Crosby is not ready to produce a rival council newsletter.

“I don’t think we have enough of an audience out there. It’s still something people are just learning about and getting comfortable with,” he said.

Anderson is convinced the number of people ready to tie into City Hall electronically is bigger than most think.

“The appetite for this information is very strong,” said Anderson. “It may be at the embryo stage. But it’s growing by leaps and bounds.”

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with story: Council e-mail To get Chris Anderson’s “What’s Hot” by e-mail, send a message to: Canderson@spokpl.lib.wa.us and leave your name and address in the message. An alternate address is: chris-anderson@eznet.com For a faxed version, fax request to: 466-4350. E-mail can be sent to any council member by using the following form: initialNAME@spokpl.lib.wa.us For instance, messages to Bev Numbers go to: bnumbers@spokpl.lib.wa.us.