Hey … pssst … remember government of the people, for the people and by the people? Some crazy people in Tacoma are trying that old game again. And it sort of works.



Now a year in the making, the so-called Community Based Services program is an experiment in community involvement led by the City of Tacoma. Officials in charge of the program say their guiding principle is working in tandem with the communities where it’s implemented. In the end, community-based services are a more sustainable and effective way to clean up neighborhoods, reduce crime and build community, say proponents.



Edwina Magram, who self-identifies as a general troublemaker, says the ambitious notion has worked well so far. Magram was among several dozen people who gathered recently at Lincoln High School to touch base with local officials and her fellow community activists.



Alongside Magram sat police, a lot of them, city services workers, City Manager Eric Anderson and people from the far reaches of Tacoma. Of note was a marked absence of minorities, in a neighborhood rich with Asian, Hispanic and African American residents.



That little smudge aside, Magram says Community Based Services have had a substantial impact in her corner of the city. She tells the story of a recent effort that used 10 community volunteers with pickup trucks and several City-supplied dumpsters to clean up the yards of 70 homes in the East Tacoma area. The City also helped promote the event, which Magram says made several city blocks much nicer places to live. The effort also helped provide relief from the city’s more heavy-handed approach to cleaning up messy yards, which involves several written warnings followed by a mandatory visit from Public Works cleanup crews, who clean up the yard and send property or business owners a bill. So far, city officials have cleaned up 150 properties at an average $2,800 a pop. Magram says she’d rather  do it her way. City officials indicated they would too.



“We’re the carrot,” says Magram.



The City of Tacoma Web site indicates that local government officials have learned from a program in Des Moines, Iowa, where 15 neighborhoods now participate in its program. So far in  Tacoma four areas have been designated, with more on the drawing boards. When and how the program expands will    partly depend on neighborhoods reaching out and getting organized. On the city’s side of the equation, community-based services offer a chance to link up with and take advantage of city resources. This program also takes the bold step of being realistic about what a municipal government can achieve in a vacuum, and asking the community for help.



“Government always has built roads, enforced codes and pulled together civic and business groups, but we often focused on one issue or government service at a time, overlapping efforts by chance or for a limited purpose,” reads the City of Tacoma Web site. “This new way recognizes that government services shouldn’t come in one size or one at a time, but should be delivered comprehensively. We believe this approach helps provide more permanent solutions.” Community volunteer Marty Campbell, or one of the 19 clones he sends to community meetings, says that, unlike him, the City can’t be everywhere. In a city where officials and citizens often struggle to make neighborhoods and public areas safe and accessible, community involvement can make a difference that might not be achieved if respective groups acted alone. Community-based services is about real, measurable impacts, rather than boring platitudes about being a village, says Campbell.



“We need to make everything work together at once,” says Campbell. “The real sustainable change occurs when the community engages.”