by Jim Durham and Jonathan Krall
As we work together to support equity, we look for and support initiatives that increase civic participation for all Alexandrians. Fortunately, with the Duke Street in Motion project, Alexandria city staff has proven itself capable of effectively reaching previously-marginalized communities. Specifically, they used both Internet outreach (the usual method) and in-person outreach for the same project. They showed that only the direct method–several pop-up “tally poll” events at apartment buildings and public places in the project area–reached a population that represents both the project area and Alexandria as a whole. With this project, Alexandria city staff set a higher standard that should be followed in future projects. Put simply, all such outreach should be required to represent either the population of the project area, or Alexandria as a whole. Here’s how they did it for the Duke Street in Motion (DSIM) project.
DSIM concerns improved bus service, including dedicated lanes like those on Route 1, on Duke Street. To measure public priorities, Alexandria City Staff asked: “Is faster and more reliable bus service a priority, even if that means car trips on Duke Street take slightly longer?” They began with conventional outreach, using online polling and feedback forms to ask about travel time for buses versus cars on Duke Street. In a parallel effort, they visited the project area to conduct “pop-up tally poll” events, where people could enjoy snacks, ask questions about the project, and answer the central question: “Is faster and more reliable bus service a priority, even if that means car trips on Duke Street take slightly longer?”
These two approaches engaged very different populations. Here is the data:
- Tally-poll votes: 410 responses, 59 in Spanish, 26 in Amharic, 325 in English. That is, 79% of responses were in English.
- Internet poll and feedback form: 1228 responses; 9 completed in Spanish, 1219 in English; 99% of responses in English.
- Results: 69% of tally-poll respondents, but only 41% of Internet-feedback form respondents, say it’s important to make the bus faster and more reliable even if that means cars take slightly longer.
Using language data, we can compare the two respondent groups to Alexandria as a whole. We recommend that this type of analysis be applied to all such project outreach. In the tally-poll data, 79% of responses were in English. According to the census, 70% of Alexandrians speak English only. The other 30% speak languages other than English, including 11% Spanish. This suggests to us that the tally-poll data (69% in favor of bus lanes) is representative of Alexandria as a whole.
Continue reading “We can, and should, hear the underrepresented people of Alexandria”