In the mail I received a "Miami-Dade County 2008 Community Survey". I filled it out, put it in the envelope provided by an Olathe Kansas polling firm and then thought: wait a minute. Let me read that, again.
I take the survey to be something concocted by the unreformable majority of the county commission-- led by Natacha Seijas--who is looking for certain outcomes and, so, the best way to understand those outcomes is to take a closer look at what the survey is asking and, especially, what the survey doesn't ask or skips over. Click 'read more', for my conclusions...
To understand what kinds of answers the commissioners are looking for, consider the questions being asked. There are 27 question groupings on the poll, but only a handful of questions are relevant to our review. (Some groupings have more than one question.)
Here are the groupings and number of questions:
Organization of Miami-Dade, overall ... 4
Water and Sewer ... 2
Public Safety ... 4
Social Services ... 7
Miami-Dade Communications and news information... 8
Community Planning and Development ... 9
Community relations ... 3
Community appearance ... 5
Transportation, streets, including potholes, trash and recycling ... 29
Foreclosure ... 1
OK. So what conclusions from this breakdown? Well, for one: the county wants to know if taxpayers are willing to take a service cut to save money: making taxpayers take trash to recyling centers instead of providing recycling bins as a service.
But the one that really jumps out at me: that the survey is really all about cosmetics and filling potholes. That's right: in the midst of the worst crisis since the Depression, your county commissioner wants to know how you feel about street appearance.
Could we really expect county commissioners to want to know how the public feels about the failure of the half cent transportation tax, or, the Miami Dade Transit Agency (see G.O.D. post below)? Or, how about a few questions on the big DRI "Parkland" or Sergio Pino's other project, rock mining at Krome Gold.
These obvious omissions help understand what the unreformable majority is really thinking: reduce services but keep fixing potholes to make taxpayers think we are doing our job.
This is entirely consistent with how the unreformable majority "does its job". It should also make you question what happens if and when federal "bailout" money is ever directed to the states and localities like Miami Dade County.
No one doubts for a moment that the money won't be funneled somehow into the pockets of the pothole fillers, the street beautifiers, the consultants who make sure that senior citizens vote for incumbents like VNS, the cement makers and rock miners who will argue for new roadways in the far west to accommodate more suburban sprawl; that's where the money was, and the vested interests in Miami-Dade will do everything in their power to make sure that is where the money will be once the taxpayer funded government printing presses start showering money this way.
Change we can believe in? Not until citizens change the County Charter by referenda to put people back in the equation of local government.
7 comments:
Good post. I didn't get the survey. I wonder who authorized it.
I did not get the survey either. Wonder how they decided who are the chosen ones. My guess is that the recipients were hand picked to provide the answers they want.
could this be a survey for Natacha's candidate for property tax appraiser? We didn't get the survey either. Who paid for it? If the county did, you should be able to track down the source and find out the reach of the survey.
Why do we even need the county. I live in the City of Miami and I already pay enough taxes for the services provided by the municipality. The county provides very few services to municipalities for the taxes we pay them. County government should concerntrate their taxes on nonincorporated areas. I'm tired of subsidizing the taxes paid by nonincorporated areas of the county.
The community survey being referenced is actually specifically designed to measure "satisfaction" with certain Miami-Dade County services. Many of the questions used in this particular survey instrument were selected in order to benchmark against other cities and counties across the nation. Additionally the survey is comparable to previous surveys, allowing the County quantify and target dissatisfaction with certain services.
The survey was distributed to a randomly selected sample of county residents, spread out across all districts.
That said, the blogger is correct in saying that the county should be doing more to address more specific, relevant, current resident issues.
It's important to note that the county does use other feedback mechanisms, that supplement the information from the community survey, to collect the type of information described - such as how residents feel resources should be reallocated during this time of economic crisis. For example, a focus group (also selected at random, and by a 3rd party) would likely be a better methodology to attain more detailed feedback of this kind.
Again, I agree with the blogger…this survey alone is not enough to present the whole picture. It should be part of a larger strategy that uses a variety of research tools - focus groups, blogs, online surveys, polls, operational data, community events. Let’s not assume because we only received this one effort in our mailbox that the county isn’t actively exploring these other avenues to provide residents a clearer voice.
Here's a survey.
1. A. How would you describe traffic as a part of your daily commute? B. Is mass transit an efficient alternative in your area?
2. How would you describe your quality of life living in Miami-Dade County in one word?
3. Do you believe that the County Mayor, Manager, Board of County Commissioners and staff are trustworthy stewards of tax dollars? If yes give one example where that has been exhibited by any person other than Carlos Giminez.
4. On a scale from 1 to 10 with 1 being the lowest and 10 being the best possible score could you give a rating to Miami-Dade County's environmental record, including water quality, overall long term growth planning including the Urban Development Boundary and the mantra of leaving the environment better than they found it?
5. Are you concerned that County Commission elections held in mid-summer are conducive to a low voter turnout which effectively keeps them on the political power treadmill?
6. Do you believe the County Board of Commissioners are concerned with any of your answers?
Thanks, you were smart to skip the first five questions, you are 100% correct they are not concerned.
Correction---the unincorporated area taxpayer subsidizes the city taxpayer. This has been admitted by county administrators under oath.
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