[WEC-Com] Public perceptions survey?

[Rob Zako]

Dear WEC Communications Committee,

Charles' message below about public input reminded me that our WEC work plan
<http://www.efn.org/~rzako/wec/> calls for a public perceptions survey to be
conducted at the same time that the technical teams are preparing background
reports.

A perceptions survey is especially critical insofar as our working problem
statements talks about perceptions:

    "PROBLEM STATEMENT: The perception is that the current transportation
infrastructure does not meet needs for local and through traffic and that if
we don¹t do something now, the transportation problems will get worse."

Emily has indicated that a public perceptions survey will be conducted as
part of the City's and/or LTD's studies. But insofar as the WEC as a broader
Area of Interest than either of the two studies, it is likely that we will
be interested in some issues beyond what either of the studies is currently
planning to survey.

In any case, this message is intended to nudge our discussion about what
kind of survey would be useful for our work and how best to coordinate that
with one or both studies.

Thanks,
Rob



> From: Charles Snyder <chasnyder at yahoo.com>
> Date: Thu, 23 Aug 2007 09:49:43 -0700
> To: WEC Communications Committee <wec_com_com at westeugenecollaborative.org>
> Subject: [WEC-Com] model of public input
> 
> Hi Group
> I'm trying out Kevin and Rob's new email list to say how much I liked
> yesterday evening's public forum on downtown improvements.  The well
> attended event was held in the lobby of the Atrium building from
> 6:00p.m. until 9:00p.m.  I saw a number of familiar WEC faces there,
> also.  This event could well serve as a model for public events
> conducted by our Communications Task Force, which is charged to (among
> other things)/ "Ensure there are effective communications ...with the
> public at large."  /This is the evaluation I've emailed to the Mayor:
> 
>      I thought the public meeting yesterday evening was a great success,
>     at least from the perspective of a new participant. The hard work
>     and sincerity of the volunteer committee was obvious and impressive,
>     and the presentation was helpful without being suspiciously smooth.
>     The structure for participant input (the large sheets listing
>     various proposals to be evaluated) didn't work well for the table
>     where I was sitting, but the conversation was lively and productive,
>     the facilitator was light- and even-handed but helped us to reach
>     conclusions and moved the conversation along. We enlisted a scribe
>     who listed our recommendations and presented them well to the group.
>     Perhaps the most impressive quality of the experience for me was the
>     impression that the recommendations presented were the result of a
>     truly open public process, and that the presenters were truly
>     interested in receiving and using the input of the participants. I
>     plan to suggest last night's forum as a model for the WEC
>     Communications Committee to consider for whatever public
>     participation events it might conduct. I guess I liked it...thanks
>     for suggesting we attend.
> 
> Did others from this task force attend this event also?  Any impressions?
> Charles
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