On Tuesday, November 15, from 1:00-3:00 p.m. at the Booker T. Washington Center (401 Monroe Street), Macon-Bibb County and its partners will have a virtual and in person demonstration of its new blight tracking and reporting application, which was developed as part of the community’s participation in The Opportunity Project for Cities. The presentation can also be watched by clicking here.

Macon-Bibb is one of only four cities nationally – along with Detroit, Miami-Dade, and Long Beach – selected for this program, thanks to a grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. Macon-Bibb will be the third city to present during the demonstration.

Blight is very prevalent in Macon-Bibb County, with an estimated 6,000 properties currently considered blighted, and removing blight is one of the top priorities for people, the consolidated government, and many partner organizations.

“We have a long way to go before all blight is removed from our neighborhoods, and we are bringing every person, organization, tool, and resource that can help together to focus on it,” says Mayor Lester Miller. “We all have a role to play, and I’m proud of our departments for being selected for this program and being able to work with national experts on data mapping, tracking, and reporting. This will be a major tool in helping the public join us in our Blight Fight.”

The new interactive and online tool is being piloted in the Historic Pleasant Hill Neighborhood and is supported by several community groups and leaders who have come together to bring the neighborhood together to be part of the Blight Fight. To determine what the public wanted from such a tool, and to incorporate that into its design, the group help several public forums in the Historic Pleasant Hill Neighborhood, and even took an early version to an Open Streets event to let people see it, ask questions, and provide feedback.

“We really wanted to engage residents in fighting blight, and that meant going to them early on to hear their concerns, explain the process to them, and include their thoughts,” says Tonja Khabir. “What we found is that people wanted to be part of this important work, and that meant having an easy way to report blight, have an understanding of the full process, and being able to follow a property from start to finish.”

“People told us they wanted to help, but they needed an easy and accessible tool that also helped them explain the process to other people,” says Macon-Bibb GIS Manager Barbara Marlin. “So we used a human-centered design process that sees the residents as the end user and allowed them to be proactive and not reactive.”

The application will allow people to report properties, upload photos, see a map of other blighted properties, research blighted properties, sign up for notifications on progress steps for a specific property, and follow a specific property through the different stages from reporting to demolition or sale to a new owner. The program will also be used by the Code Enforcement Department to track the status of the properties, communicate with people in the area about progress, and help educate the public about the entire process.

“Our primary focus is to improve our neighborhoods by working to get blight issues corrected or even removed from the area, and this tool will help us move that effort along more quickly,” says Rodney Miller, Code Enforcement Assistant Director with the Code Enforcement Department. “We know people are very supportive of our work, and we want to make sure they have a way to easily see what’s being done to help. Working with these groups is making our work more transparent and easily accessible by all people.”

“This is another major step in our ongoing Blight Fight, and it’s great to see that not only do people want it to happen…they are ready and willing to help make it happen,” says Mayor Miller. “Our community is truly stepping forward at every level to make our neighborhoods stronger.”