Community surveys: A comparison of potential effort and result
Recently a group of unpaid community volunteers conducted a survey about the future of the Chevy Chase Commons.
The ANC engaged with nearly 3,000 Ward 3 & 4 folks.
As a point of contrast, a large well funded government agency — the DC Office of Planning (under the auspices of the Deputy Mayors Office of Planning and Economic Development) — conducted a citywide survey in 2019 about the critically important DC Comprehensive Plan. The DC Comp Plan is DC's central guiding document.
Despite the paid staff, massive PR budget, and significant resources, certainly far greater potential in comparison to ANC's, the Office of Planning got about the same number of people citywide to take a survey about the changes to the Comp Plan, ~3000 people.
Just a point of comparison of potential effort and result.
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