THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, August 19, 1994 TAG: 9408180232
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 04 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY TOM HOLDEN, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 75 lines
Pressed for time but anxious for public comment, Virginia Beach City Council last week turned to the granddaddy of all labor saving devices for help - the telephone.
In a first-time experiment, City Council gauged public opinion on its proposed changes to Oceanfront parking restrictions by conducting a telephone straw poll of Beach Borough attitudes before voting.
Using the city's telephone information service, the council asked residents to press one number on their telephone keypad if they favored new restrictions and another number if they were opposed. People from throughout the city responded and the answers were recorded automatically.
Of the 416 calls logged, 209 were opposed to the plan and 207 favored it.
As scientific polls go, it was not a thorough survey, but it did give the city a glimpse into what local residents thought and it's a technique the city hopes to use again.
``That was the first time we used that capability,'' said City Manager James K. Spore, ``and there are some real implications in using that approach on other issues, in terms of getting a feeling for public opinion.''
Getting a feeling for public opinion is about all Spore and other city planners expected of the quick poll technique. But it was input that Spore considered valuable.
``In your typical budget hearing, in which we're spending hundreds of millions of dollars, you might consider yourself lucky if you get two dozen people to show up,'' he said.
Unscientific polls have limitations. They do not provide an accurate measure of attitudes and opinions. They can have hidden biases, depending on how questions are phrased and in this case, they rely on citizens understanding complicated city problems.
``A lot of the issues we're dealing with are more complicated than `Press 1 if you agree and 2 if you disagree,' '' Spore said.
After the unanimous vote to extend the nighttime parking ban to an 80-block area of the borough, a vote some residents felt was rushed through, street signs were in place almost immediately.
Although covered in plastic the signs' presence so quickly after the vote left some wondering if the council's actions had not been decided in advance of the vote.
``We did a lot of contingency planning,'' said Henry Ruiz, the city's parking administrator. ``We did not have the time to implement 700-odd signs over a couple of days, so we staked out the places where the signs would go if it was approved and got it cleared in advance from Miss Utility,'' he said, referring to the program run by the region's utilities that asks people to call for the location of buried utility service before digging.
``Then we put the metal stakes in the ground,'' Ruiz said. ``When we got closer to the final word, all we'd have to do was unveil them. So the concept preceded the vote. If they had voted against it, the only thing that would have been lost was a couple stakes in the ground.''
Enforcing the new parking law will fall to a private company that monitors a similar parking program adopted two years ago in a 22-block area concentrated between 23rd and 25th streets.
The person will be in a city vehicle in a uniform. Motorists with three outstanding tickets will find their cars ``booted'' and eventually towed.
Spore said turning parking enforcement over to a private contractor has been tried in other cities. ``It's been well received in other cities where it's been tried,'' he said. ILLUSTRATION: Photo by PETER D. SUNDBERG
Council gauged public opinion on its proposed changes to Oceanfront
parking restrictions by conducting a telephone poll of the Beach
Borough.
KEYWORDS: VIRGINIA BEACH CITY COUNCIL PARKING
by CNB