Cedar Rapids officials replacing the traditional town hall

The city of Cedar Rapids is replacing the traditional format of open houses with a new website it hopes will appeal to a larger, more diverse audience.

The city launched the site, CRtalks.com, on May 21. CRtalks.com is a crowdsourcing website where citizens can communicate with city staff and other residents on the future of the community, according to the city in a news release.

The idea is to get residents involved in the planning process, according to the city.

"It is gaining more popularity in cities across the country as a different way to engage people in public input," said Gail Loskill, marketing manager for the city's Parks and Recreation department. "The traditional format of holding open houses is successful, but it appeals to a certain type of a person who really wants to go out and get their information and talk to people that way."

Loskill said city officials wanted to make sure they were getting broad-based input into planning and decision making.

"We really want to make sure that we are communicating with people in the way that they prefer to receive their information," Loskill said.

Feedback from the site will be used by the city manager's office, parks and recreation department, utilities department, community development department, the Cedar Rapids Public Library and other city departments to lay out plans on a variety of projects.

On the city's site, participants can answer a series of questions. One question asks: "If you could make one improvement in one park in the next five years, what would it be?"