Dearborn Mayor Hammoud opens portal for resident feedback; nearly 200 ideas posted in first weeks

Dearborn is one of four cities nationwide to test a new digital platform that lets residents pitch and vote on ideas for improving their community.

Through a partnership with Change.org, the city launched an Ideas for Change portal in January, giving residents an open-ended way to suggest changes they want to see, said Mayor Abdullah Hammoud.

"This was an opportunity to do just that, to take input, input and feedback directly from residents, to try to learn about what's happening outside the halls of City Hall," Hammoud said.

The platform works in two ways: residents can post their own ideas or review suggestions from neighbors and vote whether they agree or disagree. So far, close to 200 ideas have been submitted and have drawn more than 10,000 votes, according to city officials.

Topics range from traffic concerns to other quality-of-life issues.

"For anybody in public office, the first thing you want to understand is, what are people saying on the ground, what conversations are residents having in their neighborhoods, in their homes, as it pertains to the issues that are impacting them on a day-to-day basis," Hammoud said.

Unlike traditional surveys that ask for feedback on predetermined topics, the portal allows residents to raise any issue they choose.

"We want to take the best of ideas and figure out a way to actually implement them to help improve the quality of life for our residents," Hammoud said.

Community Relations Director Alia Phillips said the data-driven format helps city leaders identify patterns in what residents want.

"The fact that this is a data-driven project, and it catalogs what people are posting and what people are voting on, it's nice to be able to put the numbers to the ideas," Phillips said.

Dearborn is the only Midwest city in the first group of communities testing the initiative, which Phillips says only underlines the community's impact in the region.

"I like the idea of us being kind of a baseline for the rest of the country," Phillips said.

The portal is scheduled to remain open until April 19.