Civic Journalism: Six Case Studies
CHARLOTTE, N.C.
"Taking Back our Neighborhoods"

"It's unfortunate but it's reality that sometimes it takes a wrong being exposed by the media for something to finally happen," Kronley said.

Another Observer series published between the launch of "Taking Back our Neighborhoods" and the Seversville package made a difference, too. Reporter Ricki Morell spent months examining the role of absentee landlords and their relationship with tenants. Her research began before "Taking Back our Neighborhoods" but eventually was integrated into the project.

Morell's stories revealed that it had been three years since the city used the "public nuisance" laws to close down a crack house and reported details about landlords who paid little attention to their tenants. Her reports received a quick reaction. The mayor appealed for help and at least 18 private law firms responded with offers to file pro bono "public nuisance" suits to close crack sites.

Results were the fuel that kept project reporters going as the weeks turned into months and the intense pace took its toll and neighborhood problems began to sound alike.

"It's tiring and after a while [the series] begins to sound repetitive," said reporter Liz Chandler. "After a while it wears on you. It's depressing to be hanging out there, hanging in the 'hood talking to kids. Some part of me hungers to be back on GA (general assignment) or back on a project. But I know it's making a difference so I'd sign on again."

"We're actually seeing stuff happen," said her colleague Ames Alexander. "We're seeing these folks who have been kicking and screaming for years getting some attention. Like it nor not, public officials don't always listen when the average Joe calls."

As a police reporter, WSOC's Mark Becker spends most of his time reporting on the daily effects of violent crime, an almost entirely negative task.

His work on "Carolina Crime Solutions" offered a kind of antidote. "It's a nice switch -- the opportunity to stand back and feel good about what we're doing."

Few newsroom projects last so long that they become a beat of their own. In this case a six-month project stretched into a second year as the partners committed to doing five more neighborhoods.

"We know this is not a project we can walk away from," Buckner said. "We have begun something that must be continued."

One of reporter Wright's chief concerns is "keeping it fresh." The repetitive nature, the emotional drain, and the need to involve more people in the newsroom make good arguments for rotating in new reporters.

When Jim Walser, the assistant managing editor now overseeing "Taking Back our Neighborhoods," approached the project's reporters in January 1995, however, none wanted out. Walser was relieved. "I don't have to retrain people in what we're trying to get done." He said he would try to rotate other reporters into the project from time to time.

Besides keeping the project fresh and maintaining a high profile, the partners are grappling with sustaining interest in the neighborhoods they have profiled.

Price-Patterson continues to represent the Observer in the neighborhoods, returning for community meetings or just stopping by to check on volunteer projects or visit residents. The reporters revisit the neighborhoods from time to time for follow-ups.

When Price-Patterson begins work with a community, she said, "I tell them I hope that when we leave here, you will feel more empowered."

It is too soon to tell if the neighborhoods can continue to make progress after the media spotlight has moved on. It is not too soon, though, to see that officers Nobles and Burnette left a living legacy.