November 12, 2003
City Auditor Likely To Include Questions About ONI In Future Citywide Surveys
Parenthetically, one other topic that came up at this morning's meeting of the GREAT Committee was the question of whether anyone had ever done an independent evaluation of Portland's neighborhood system -- or, for that matter, has the City Auditor done so, since they're responsible for various citywide surveys. So I put that question to the Auditor's office. Here is their reply:
Responding to your email question about surveys the City Auditor's office has conducted, our office has not conducted a citywide survey of how Portland residents see the City's institutionalized system of neighborhood involvement.
However, we are considering adding ONI to our annual Service Efforts and Accomplishments (SEA) Report in the future. The SEA Report includes an analysis of performance of the City's major service areas, a comparison of those service areas with several comparison cities, and also results from our annual Citizen and Business surveys (public opinion about the major service areas).
If we do add ONI to the Service Efforts and Accomplishments report, some questions about ONI would most likely be added to the Citizen or Business Surveys at that time.
Alternatively, someone at the meeting also suggested the possibility of turning to a group such as Neighborhoods USA for an outside evaluation. But in the meantime, it would appear likely that future Auditor surveys will include the gathering of some set of data regarding public opinion of the City's system of neighborhood involvement.
Comments (1)
Jason Newell on 13 Nov 2003
Although no City sponsored survey was conducted on the Neighborhood Associations and their citizen involvement, there clearly has been evaluations done the neighborhoods themselves.
On August 23, 2003 eighteen NA's and four community based organizations participated in a dialog about what the focus of NA's should be, and their relationship to the City and one another. South-East Up-lift (SEUL) compiled a document that outline their results from the day long session.
The result: The "current concensus is that we are passive and don't have power. Our commonality is that we are frustrated and lack access to power."
The NA's found three main issues: 1) the need for development and planning processes that engage citizens from the very earliest steps. 2) the need to make neighborhood associations a more integratedpart ofthe city's governance and its infrastructure and increase their overall organizational capacity. 3)the need to impact development projects or processes that are already in the pipeline and are contentious and to get longer-term more comprehensive issues that are dsired by neighborhoods in the coalition area on the docket when good processes for doings so are not in place yet.
These are all common issues facing many of the Neighborhood associations. One of my four goals as a candidate for City Council and will continue to be so, if I am elected, is to empower and support neighborhood associations and support strong, safe neighborhoods through citizen involvement. I will support all of our neighborhoods by helping to resolve all three of these issues with the help of all of the neighborhoods.
To support this plan, endorse Jason Newell for City Council as I run for Portland City Council against the "Business as usual" crowd. Sign up on my website: www.newellforcouncil.com