Asheville taxpayers pay for Spanish language survey
by Leslee Kulba

Back in February, by a 4-2 vote, members of Asheville City Council approved a $23,200 contract with National Research Center in Boulder, CO, for a scientific citizens’ survey. Vice Mayor Jan Davis and Dr. Carl Mumpower voted against funding the endeavor. Mayor Terry Bellamy was absent.

Last month, I received a post card from the mayor reading in part:

“Su hogar ha sido seleccionado para participar en una encuesta anonima de ciudadanos sobre la Ciudad de Asheville. Usted recibira una copia de la encuesta la proxima semana por correo con instrucciones en completer y regresar la encuesta. Gracias de antemano por su ayuda con este proyecto importante.”

It came as a surprise to some that we had people in this town who had become citizens without having to learn to speak English. Others asked if the city was going to spend taxpayer dollars to say they would send a survey, send the survey, and then announce that they had sent it.

I stewed over what to do with the survey the next week. The questions were so ambiguous and out-of-context for government. I wrote a couple paragraphs one night diciendo que tendra que conducir un estudio muy costoso antes que podria responder. I decided that was too mean, and so while I was still struggling over what to do, tax dollars were spent to send me a duplicate survey in the mail.

Ambiguities –

The problem with legislating ambiguities is that it leaves the interpretation of the gobbledygook up to those in power. The survey asked me to rate “Asheville as a place to live,” and “characteristics” like “sense of community” and “overall image or reputation of Asheville.” The next-to-last question asked, “Asheville is creating a new Downtown Master Plan. When you’re thinking about Downtown Asheville’s identity and its character in the future, how important, if at all, is each of the following dimensions?”

We are endowed by our Creator with rights. Most people have no problem delegating a decisive power to government for situations in which people are prone to be stepping on each others’ rights. However, people need to know what the law is so they can make decisions accordingly. If the force of government is used to maintain “character” and “identity” along “dimensions,” a citizen trying to stay out of trouble with the law, like developers in Asheville’s planning process, may as well be playing roulette. People today like to think those in elective office are too enlightened to usurp power. One is considered a fool for following the counsel of youth that taught one to be wary of him who considered himself above checks and balances.

Another form of disconcerting ambiguity in the survey was questions asking me to rate things like street lighting and land use, planning and zoning. I dislike the street lighting. My reason is that I don’t like the conspicuously-consumptive, fluted, Asheville-green lamp posts with bases that look like cuspidors from the sheik’s tent. A “poor” rating from me, however, might be interpreted as a vote in favor of adding more expensive artistic stylings, like statuary and fountains, to the supports. Similarly, a vote against land use planning might be construed to mean I want more controls.

Then, there were questions that were so open-ended as to be meaningless, such as “What impact, if any, do you think the economy will have on your family income in the next 6 months?” and “Please rate . . . the overall direction that Asheville is taking.” If this had been an essay question, my answer to the latter would be something to the effect that as long as Asheville is rotating in an easterly direction, making one full turn per day, orbiting the Sun with the rest of the earth, and whizzing through the Milky Way with the rest of the solar system, I guess we’re OK.

Suppose I were to give “crime prevention” a “poor” rating. Would the city understand that I do not think that using sworn officers to play tiddlywinks with boys and girls was a good strategy?

I acknowledge that surveys need control questions, and the statisticians who prepared the document probably employed subtle techniques of which I am not aware. Still, a scientific survey asking respondents to quantify subjectives should not only define ambiguous terms but establish psychological baselines, a process fit only for the makings of a sci-fi thriller.

How Can I Know?

When elected officials have to make controversial decisions, they can save face by commissioning a study with taxpayer dollars. Yet, the survey expected the average citizen to be able to make informed statements about the speed at which the population, retail, and employment were growing in Asheville. Respondents were also asked to rate various city departments and have an awareness of the community’s overall openness “toward people of diverse backgrounds.” Necesito mis estudios costosos.

None of Your Stinkin’ Business –

It should go without saying that the role of government in a free society is to protect my rights. Period. Three questions asked me to rate Asheville as a place to worship. I’ve been attending church in Skyland, but that is only because our church is under construction due to expansion. That special case didn’t quite fit in with the questions, but what business is it of government to know, anyway? The only question I would want government to ask is something like, “Has anybody or anything in Asheville obstructed your ability to worship according to your conscience?” Questions asking about my involvement in civic clubs, volunteering, and interactions with my neighbors evoked a similar resentment of intrusiveness into my freedom to assemble.

Unfortunately, most are comfortable accepting that the United States has been philosophically transmogrified from a Land of Liberty into a welfare state. Gone are the days when it was considered wise to promote classically liberal governance structures that leveled the playing field to grant no privileges to special classes. The survey asked for a ranking of services to seniors, youth, and low-income people.

Though nobody claims to be practicing socialism, it is implicit that government is responsible for looking after the economy. According to the survey, Asheville city government has a need to know what people think about the “variety of housing options,” “availability of affordable quality housing,” “overall quality of business and service establishments in Asheville,” “shopping opportunities,” and “employment opportunities.”

Why I Took the Survey –

I decided to play along because of the question that asked, “To what degree would you support or oppose each of the following capital improvements funded with a property tax increase?” Respondents were given five choices ranging from “strongly support” to “don’t know;” “don’t know” being on the extreme side of “strongly oppose.” If the survey truly was scientific, half those mailed out would put “don’t know” on the extreme side of “strongly support.”

Options offered for tax increases were:
Affordable housing developments
Construction of new sidewalks and greenways
Maintenance/renovation of existing public buildings
Public transportation
Renovation of existing recreation facilities
Roadway improvements.

Prior to that question, the survey asked how respondents would rate certain city investments. “Road repair” is important, but unlike the average second-grader, I had difficulty weighing Powell Bill proceeds against rising costs of asphalt and the accelerated decay resulting from increasing deferred maintenance. “Recreation centers” may be fine, but government “youth programs” were considered dangerous only half a century ago, as they were embraced by dictators trying to mold young minds. “Sidewalks” might be good but it was lumped in with “greenways.” Posh, but no cigar.

I shouldn’t have voted on “maintenance of public buildings” until I had conducted a thorough inspection. I do not support raising taxes to renovate the Civic Center. “Environmental protection and renewable energy” is as much a role of government as “providing orthopedic cushions and opportunities for networking high-voltage experimenters” (my personal sources of income). “Public safety including police and fire” would have gotten a vote of support if it didn’t have an “emergency preparedness” rider tacked on. That opened up a can of worms that includes flood mapping, stormwater programs and inspections, private holdings being rendered unusable but not considered takings, invasions of privacy in the name of Homeland Security, uniformed police officers coloring fairy princesses with little girls and playing basketball with little boys, maybe even a government storehouse like pharaoh had in Egypt.

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Leslee Kulba is a Tribune Staff Writer on the City Hall beat.