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.
Because the Internet-based online feedback form included demographic questions, we can look more closely at this group of respondents. We find that households with incomes less than $100,000 were under-represented in the online feedback form; households with income greater than $150,000 were over represented:
- 4% of responses indicated a household income less than $45,000 versus 20% less than $50,000 city wide (census data), 20% in the corridor (also census data)
- 58% of responses indicated a household income greater than $150,000 versus 31% city wide and 28% in the corridor
People of color were under-represented in online feedback form responses:
- 3% of responses were from Asian or Asian American people versus 6% city wide, 7% in the Duke Street corridor
- 6% of responses were from Black of African American people versus 21% city wide, 24% in the corridor
- 8% of responses were from Hispanic or Latino people versus 17% city wide, 14% in the corridor
- 78% of responses were from White or Caucasian people versus 52% city wide, 50% in the corridor
Renters were under-represented; homeowners over-represented:
- 16% of responses were from renters versus 55% city wide, 58% in the corridor,
- 84% of responses were from homeowners versus 45% city wide, 42% in the corridor
Notably, while Alexandria is often represented using images of Old Town, people living on or near the Duke Street corridor are very representative of Alexandria as a whole. Reaching marginalized communities during public planning is, of course, hardly a new problem. Barriers to participation include unequal resources, such as free time, technological challenges, and differences in what the International City/County Management Association calls “civic literacy”.
Fortunately, by evaluating the results of two engagement approaches, including the demographics of respondents, alongside the census-data demographics for Alexandria as a whole, we can infer the results of a more inclusive survey, if such were possible. We hope that city staff agrees and, in future outreach efforts, will build on this success.