Contributor Opinion By Sean P. Carr: Brand On The Run

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By Sean P. Carr:

A brand should be something that ties a community together, that unifies its diversity, that identifies something special or unique about the community.

By a 3-2 vote, the City Council brought the community together — but against the brand. In news stories and online comments, people in Rockville have agreed on one thing: they just can’t “get into” the council’s choice. Sure, “Get into it” is simply awful. Uninspiring. Too begging of the question “Get into what, exactly?” As Brad Rourke wrote at Rockville Central, “I assumed that it was just the third option the consultants presented because they had to present three.”

But the choice’s dubious quality is not the real problem.The real problem is that the council asked the people of Rockville for their opinion — and more that four in five picked something else. Yet, three members inexplicably selected the least popular option. One can argue that the poll was not scientific. One can argue that there weren’t a lot of votes. But the council did ask the question. If you’re going to ignore the answer, don’t ask the question.

Actually, the council did worse than ignore the results — it voted in direct opposition. Out of four choices, it picked the least popular, one preferred by just 17% of respondents. This sets a bad example. Seventeen percent may be a higher percentage of the vote than any of them won in the last election, but it also means 83% preferred another option — such as the near-winner, “No choice made.”

Last year, a group of volunteer city residents served on a Communications Task Force created by the council. After months of meetings, interviews and reviews of city practices, we generated proposals to help city government speak with and listen to the people of Rockville. Two recommended principles were to clearly communicate how the the city is hearing feedback and addressing concerns and to solicit ideas “to encourage citizens to help improve the city and its operations.”

In Rockville Reports, Councilmember John Britton wrote about a “disconnect” between city government, residents and businesses and called for “increased communication and information sharing.” After all, he said, too often “we fail to address such issues and concerns through a long-term and community-inclusive approach.”

We couldn’t agree more. That’s why we call on the council to reverse its vote. If a branding initiative is to be continued, the process must be respectful of the perspectives of residents.

Noreen Bryan
Sean Carr
Sam L. Elowitch
Shashi Koduru
Steve Maroon
Waleed Ovase
Russ Rubin

Members of the Rockville Communications Task Force, 2010

This is a Contributor Opinion. Rockville Central encourages readers to submit such pieces for consideration — the more voices the better. Simply send them to [email protected]. We ask that all such contributions be civil and we reserve the right to edit (in consultation with the author) or reject. Contributor opinions should not be seen as reflecting opinions held by Rockville Central editors, as they are just as frequently at odds with our own views. That’s the whole point!