Cities populating World Wide Web

Cities are quickly joining the electronic government craze by providing

information and services online, an informal National League of Cities poll

has found.

The poll, conducted at the March 11-14 Congressional City Conference,

found that 89 percent of the 395 respondents said their city has a World

Wide Web site.

The respondents' cities were not tracked, so some cities could be represented

more than once, said Randy Arndt, a NLC spokesperson. However, Arndt said

he doubted there was a lot of overlap and more than 300 cities likely were

represented.

Although unscientific, Arndt said the survey is still useful. "In terms

of indicating the extent to which municipal cities have gone on line, it's

a good indicator that there's a lot going on," he said.

In 1996, a survey of cities found that 38 percent had a home page.

Of the 89 percent who indicated their city had a Web site, the survey

also found:

* 72 percent said requests and comments could be submitted online.

* 58 percent said forms and other information could be downloaded from

the site.

* 31 percent said people could complete and submit forms and applications

online.

* 8 percent said that people could conduct financial transactions online.

* 79 percent said municipal staff members manage their Web.

* 6 percent said they allow advertising on their site.

The survey also showed that the larger the city is, the more likely

it is that it has a Web site. Following is a breakdown of respondents, showing

the percentage that have Web sites within certain population groups:

* 99 percent with a population of 100,000 and above.

* 95 percent with a population between 50,000 and 100,000.

* 93 percent with a population between 25,000 and 50,000.

* 87 percent with a population between 10,000 and 25,000.

* 60 percent with a population under 10,000.