For starters, Griggs said, the graphics and images on the main pages are too bulky, which bogs down slower modems. The site also lacks continuity, he said, meaning a user could go from one department page to the next without a sense that it is all part of a common web site. Another example of poor maintenance, Kurtzman noted, comes from the mayor's anti-gang page. Despite design problems and outdated information, Internet experts tabbed the city site's lack of interactivity as its biggest flaw. On the Sacramento, Calif., home page web surfers can study crime statistics for their neighborhood.
Indianapolis drivers can pay their parking tickets via the Web.
Indianapolis Mayor Stephen Goldsmith also holds monthly electronic town hall meetings on that city's site. On the Austin web site, rated far above Houston's by the local experts, web surfers can view transcripts from City Council meetings and even listen to past meetings. This is a wired town. We have a lot of techies here, and they love it. The city's Finance and Administration Department, which originated the city's web site in April 1995, manages the staff responsible for developing, coding and updating the site.