When I visited Phoenix in the early 70s it was an awesome place. Then everybody moved there and it became the Chicago of the Southwest.
Atlanta followed a similar path.
Here we just call town hall or your local council person, but in Phoenix...
http://phoenix.gov/employment/descrip/code/60680.html
http://phoenix.gov/nsd/programs/compliance/index.html
Atlanta is the Detroit of the south,without the neighborhood decay.