Many People are saying…Community Surveys Need Demographic Context
To effectively address community needs it is essential to understand both community sentiment and community composition. Hundreds of earnest stakeholders with reasonable arguments have engaged with the Town of Vail to advocate for action for the betterment of ‘our community’. To understand our conflicts we could make assumptions about the intelligence, motivations, and value of individual stakeholders – but might we be better served by recognizing that ‘our community’ is simply talking about different sub-communities?
Acknowledging that communities are comprised of diverse groups with distinct challenges and differing priorities isn’t divisive – it’s the foundation for effective policy and planning. Good public policy seeks to define issues and implement strategies that will produce a measurable and positive result for the general public. Inconveniently, data suggests that the general public may not be sufficiently homogeneous to view as a single group.
If we insist on framing complex outcomes in the 1980’s business negotiation 101 context of ‘win-win’; we must be transparent about who is doing all this winning. There could be losers living amongst us. Being accountable to them starts by counting them.
What do we Want?
The amount of data collected in the 2022 Community Survey and the broad scope of the topics addressed is impressive. If you wanted to justify an action by pointing to public support, you could find it in this document. If you were looking for guidance on tough decisions, this data will not save you.
The two top priorities for respondents were “Housing for resident occupied households” and “Actions to protect wildlife habitat”. In hindsight, this might have been more effective if it were an either/or instead of multiple choice. The runner up was the seemingly innocuous “Actions to protect Gore Creek”, which garnered a staggering 90% consensus as a high priority. Unsurprisingly we all agree that a healthy river is extremely important. However, in light of the East Vail Affordable Housing condemnation to protect wildlife habitat, there might be a sizeable portion of respondents that are wondering what they just agreed to.
The first questions from the council after the presentation of the results were probing a decline in public perception of the accessibility Government. In summary the old guard was confused that in a time when the quantity of communication to/from the Town of Vail is at an all time high, why does the public feels less informed and included. The new guard asked if there is a way we can condense and distribute information to a wider audience of average citizens in more relevant bite sized chunks. Behold the problem and the solution in an one two punch.
Different community members. Different needs. One firehose.
If you aren’t an absolute data nerd and didn’t catch the action mid-afternoon Tuesday June 7th, you can relive the excitement on Facebook (which starts at 39:56).
Who Are We?
The bi-annual Community Survey in Vail is used to evaluate municipal service levels and to identify community priorities. The survey is a critical tool for communicating community concerns and values to our representative government. The information enshrined in the ‘final report’ is the most publicly accessible snapshot of looking at how priorities have changed over time.
The primary analytic lens is “right track” and “wrong track”. But who is on first?
The problem is the published Final Report summarizing the survey fails to provide important demographic context to the results. The 2022 Community Survey is particularly sparse on respondent demographic data.
2016 dedicated 7 pages to demographics.
2018 one paragraph.
2020 Two paragraphs, one of which acknowledges the underrepresentation of younger residents and renters. Plus one graphic on the last page capturing the age of respondents.
2022 One paragraph
On the primary areas of concern that are most likely to impact the current, future, and former residents of Vail - the survey is light on the language we need to talk about these issues. In reviewing 179 pages of Community Survey Final Reports over the years, the frequency of the words used to summarize the nature of who we are is worth knowing.
Age
2016 - 59
2018 - zero
2020 – once
2022 – once
Race – Zero (excluding references to ski race and bike race)
Diversity - 4 times. (2 in reference to opinions, 2 in reference to events.)
Equity – Once
Inclusion – Once in relation to fire services
Source: (CTRL+F) + “search term” on the Community Survey Final Reports 2016-2022
Shortcomings of the Data
2022 Community Survey Respondents, (https://www.vailgov.com/home/showpublisheddocument/2898/637901297880730000) The last slide of Appendix A.
2019 ACS Data (the last reliable results) Source: Age by Nativity https://datausa.io/profile/geo/vail-co
Good data is hard to come by, that’s why it’s so valuable. Google, Facebook, and Instagram have made data accessible and actionable - but they capture it in a convenient way that is designed to ensure you don’t think about.
The public sector requires a higher standard for data, and a higher standard of privacy. The United States Census Bureau, Town of Vail, and RRC associates depend on citizens having/taking the time to be counted. That’s not a representative sample of the customer base. Government has the unenviable task of figuring out how to account for the people that do not participate in the counting.
Census data and American Community Survey estimates for 2020 are also flawed – especially for small towns and rural counties. The 2020 census results are being challenged by Eagle County (and Pitkin) (Source: Colorado Sun “Colorado mountain towns feel more crowded than ever. But census data show the population has barely changed.” Jason Blevins; May 17, 2022 (https://coloradosun.com/2022/05/17/colorado-mountain-towns-census-population/)
A lack of vision
If ‘our community’ of Vail is failing to see eye to eye – it might be because we’re not really seeing each other. Let’s explore the idea that the ‘others’ are not in fact lizard people wearing skin suits, and instead might be people different than we are, with legitimate needs and interests that are different than our own.
Quantifying who we are and acknowledging our differences is only scary if we believe we are the subjects of a zero sum game in which the majority wins. We are not.
If we expect win-win, and expect winners to take all, then there is no place in this valley for non-winners.
Many people are saying that’s bullshit.
