Civic Catalyst Newsletter
Summer 1999

On-Line Ventures

New Hampshire
More than 20,000 residents, about 2.5 percent of the state's registered voters, used their computers this spring to access New Hampshire Public Radio's On-Line Tax Calculator to see how tax bills being debated by the legislature would affect them. Once a new tax measure was passed in May, 3,000 citizens a week have been visiting the site to compare their old tax bill with the new one they'll be getting.

The project was developed by Jon Greenberg, New Hampshire Public Radio senior news editor, with help from the state's Center for Public Policy Studies and the Pew Center. "With the Web, we can say for certain that thousands of people took a positive action, logged on to our site, and got back a personalized answer," he said.

"This project has given us a sense of direction as we look ahead at how we can use the Web to provide unique services to our listeners and engage them directly in issues that have meaning in their daily lives."

Colorado
Independently, in Colorado Springs, The Gazette launched a similar Web site in late February to help citizens calculate how they would fare under two dozen legislative bills intended to reduce a huge surplus in the state's treasury. Several hundred people visited the site during its first weeks of operation and many offered comments.

Deputy City Editor Bill Vogrin says the newspaper developed a weekly series based on the responses, which "got real people with real numbers telling us about their experiences." Vogrin said because the calculator made the debate immediately relevant to folks, it "added a new dimension that got readers involved in a way that wasn't possible before."