Your Opinion On Parks Needed
Jan 3, 2008 9:18 - 5 Comments
The City is working on revamping its “Parks, Recreation and Open Spaces” policies and it’s got a >dedicated spot on its website to tell you about it. The “PROS plan,” according to the City, guides:
In survey after survey, Rockville residents say they like our City’s parks and facilities. In my interviews with the candidates for city office in the most recent election, these facilities (like the one pictured to the right) popped to the top and were uniformly praised by candidates who disagreed in almost every other respect.
So, it is good news that the City is asking for your opinion as it moves forward. The City would like to know:
Unfortunately, in a classic case of government over-complexifying, the City’s most visible mechanism for finding all this out isn’t a quick survey with a handful of easily answered questions. No, it’s eleven separate surveys, each with multiple screens’ worth of questions. So, dear reader, it is up to you to decide which category of input you would like to provide, and you have until January 15 to do so. The good news? That is enough time, if you start soon, to whittle away the task by taking just one survey per day. Here is hoping that the City has other, more easily-acted-on and meaningful ways of gathering information for citizens on this important subject that is dear to the hearts of many. Surveys are good — but they don’t tell the whole story. Hopefully, there are public forums and (better still) professionally-conducted focus groups in the offing. In any event, as a public service, here are direct links to each of the PROS surveys:
- Parks, Open Space and Natural Environment
- Sports Fields and Programs
- Recreation and Community Centers
- Programs and Services for Preschoolers and Children
- Programs and Services for Teens
- Programs and Services for Adults/Families
- Programs and Services for Seniors
- Programs and Services for Persons With A Disability
- Special Events
- Arts and Cultural Programs and Events
- Administration and Operational Issues
I know the City is probably trying to make it easier for people to hone in on what matters to them, but breaking it all up into such little bits makes it appear daunting to the casual site visitor.
Just my opinion.
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The Department of Parks and Recreation is planning focus groups with the Human Service Advisory Commission, Human Rights Commission, Community Ministries of Rockville, Rockville Housing Enterprises, and representatives of the Latino and Asian communities.>
I was glad to know I could be in a focus group because I had already looked at all those online surveys and felt the task was too daunting. But I will answer a few anyway.
I doggedly filled out every single survey when I read about it in December (email? Rockville Reports?), because I love our parks. But my survey answers got shorter and shorter. I would rather have filled out one longer survey, but maybe they were afraid people would leave comments without specifying which parks etc. they meant. Maybe they chose the separate surveys because it would be easier to import the responses into a database that way.
I completed the survey questions except for the two sections that do not apply to me, the “Preschoolers and Children and Teens” sections.>
My answer to the reason why there are so many separate survey sections is that each survey section will go to a different responsible staff who will analyze the answers. Did the Rockville Parks and Recreation Commission review these questions?
I found completing all the sections annoying because I had to repeat myself over and over even with just my name, email and telephone number. The Sports Fields and Programs section repeats a question twice; one of them needs to be deleted.
What I found so annoying is that many of the questions could not be completed by me since they do not apply, at least not for the last six months. I did not have the opportunity to report with “NA” so I left the question unchecked.
Years ago my family used the city parks and participated in many of the City programs. My priorities have changed over the years and now many of the questions do not apply to me.
I believe few people will rate the programs because many are not using them. What is the percentage of the Rockville households using the programs and the parks? How much staff time is used in analyzing these surveys? Are we benefiting from these surveys? How is our quality of life better? Popular programs should continue and those less popular should be discontinued? The City should already have this information from the registration and participation.
Brad, can you tell us how many folks opened your link on this subject? This inquiry mind would like to know. Again, thanks for helping the City reach those of us who use computers. My computer was down for two days and I was devastated. It even looks like I need to purchase a new computer.
Brigitta Mullican
42-Year Twinbrook Resident
Brigitta, thanks for the comment (thank you to everyone, actually). I can’t give you an exact number of people who read this particular piece but in early evening 1/3/08 it appears to be a bit more than one hundred. There is some vagueness in that number though, as I know many people read the email announcements only. –Brad
Burt Hall, the City’s parks and rec director, sent me this update:>
Thanks for the coverage of the PROS Plan and for encouraging people to complete the on-line surveys. We admit that breaking it up into eleven separate surveys makes for more effort from respondents. I wanted to let you know that there are a couple of additional project elements coming up to provide more opportunities for public input. City staff, along with our consultant team, will be conducting approximately twelve focus groups over the next two months. We will be meeting with representatives from City Boards and Commissions, sports groups, environmental groups, ethnic minority groups, business representatives, senior citizens, teens, persons with disabilities, etc. In addition a scientific survey will be conducted by phone. Three hundred fifty, randomly-selected households will be surveyed. Hopefully, with the current surveys, our Open Houses conducted last fall, the focus groups, and the scientific survey we will have a pretty good idea of what people think of our parks and recreation services, and some good direction for the future.
Way to go!