Virtual tours of City Hall now available online

By: NICOLE SACK - Staff Writer | Thursday, July 5, 2007 9:50 PM PDT ∞

TEMECULA ---- Temecula City Hall is now only as far away as your computer screen. In one of a handful of video projects making a debut on the city's Web site, Councilwoman Maryann Edwards can be seen hosting a 12-minute tour of the city's departments and functions.

The impetus of the Web tour was the Temecula Achievement Program, which aims to educate elementary-aged children about Temecula city government. One of the requirements of the program, which has already graduated 25 students, is to take a tour of City Hall.

"We were getting so many requests for tours that we decided to create the video," said Temecula City Clerk Susan Jones. "Last year, we (at the city) were receiving daily requests for tours. Sometimes we would get one or two people at a time coming in or 15 people ---- it was becoming difficult to manage and it was very time-consuming."

She said since the city is trying to encourage an active citizenry, denying tours of City Hall was not an option.

Jones wrote the script for the tour that is hosted by Edwards. The segment was filmed in "homemade movie" fashion in about an hour using a tripod-mounted video camera.

"I think the video might actually be better than the live tour. The building itself is not all that interesting to children," Jones said.

The tour guides viewers inside the belly of the building where the city's work is conducted. Viewers can get a glimpse into the more obscure areas of City Hall such as the mapping room and the Traffic Control center. Edwards adds her own personal twists to the virtual tour aimed for elementary school children.

"Did you know that scene in 'The Pirates of the Caribbean,' when all the treasure is piled up?" Edwards queries the camera as she enters the public records vault filled with city documents. "Well, this is nothing like that."

The video not only shows the departments inside City Hall, but also correlating projects around town. Edwards said the use of media helps to bridge the gap between policy concepts and real-world results.

"There is only so much you can explain (about) the Redevelopment Agency to a third-grade student," Edwards said. "But when we can show them the theater or improvements in Old Town, the RDA makes a little more sense."

She said having the virtual tours available on the Web site might also spark some interest among adults in learning more about city government.

"It gives people a comfort level to know that there are real people working at the city," Edwards said. "We want people to know that the services are here for them."

Video began showing up on the city of Temecula's Web site in January 2006 when City Council meetings became available for on-demand viewing, said Jonathan Hall, the city's Web master. But in April, videos began to be embedded throughout the Web site, such as town hall meetings hosted by Mayor Chuck Washington and Councilman Mike Naggar, the Youth in Government mock council meeting and the State of the City address.

Hall said there are approximately 600 pages of documents available on the city Web site, which receives about 50,000 visits per month, "which is pretty good as far as city Web sites go."

Hall said the most popular area on the Web site are the employment and visitor pages.

In February, the City Council authorized $30,000 for Temecula Outreach 2007, which offers residents new Web site features, meatier city newsletters and amplified television programming. The upgrades to the city's public relations practices were spurred by the rapid growth of the city, which has more than tripled in population since incorporation in 1989. From 1990 to 2006, the population of Temecula has grown from 27,100 to an estimated 98,000.

To see the tour, go to www.cityoftemecula.org.

Contact staff writer Nicole Sack at (951) 676-4315, Ext. 2616, or nsack@californian.com.

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