Recomendações para elaboração, redação, edição e publicação de trabalhos acadêmicos em periódicos médicos

Abstract

Citizens contact city complaint bureaus not only to request or criticize city services but also to request assistance in resolving problems created by other citizens. Analysis of complaint data from Detroit's Ombudsman Office indicates that the proportions of citizen-citizen and citizen-department complaints vary with the issue area studied. Issue area also affected the geographical distributions of complaints; for example, building complaints were concentrated in low-income areas, while complaints about tree trimming were more common in middle-class neighborhoods. Complaint volume, as well as complaint type, was affected by neighborhood socioeconomic characteristics: a disproportionate share of complaints were received from low-income areas. An earlier study of environmental enforcement complaints in Detroit (Jones et al 1977) found high levels of complaints in both low and high income areas. The different pattern found in the present study can be explained by the greater visibility of a central complaint office compared with the departmental bureau studied by Jones et al. Centralization of complaint offices, it is suggested, can result in service to more low-income clients.