Effective Public Involvement Using Limited Resources (2010)

Below is the uncorrected machine-read text of this chapter, intended to provide our own search engines and external engines with highly rich, chapter-representative searchable text of each book. Because it is UNCORRECTED material, please consider the following text as a useful but insufficient proxy for the authoritative book pages.

39 APPENDIX C Summarized Survey Results ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE QUESTION 1: What is the mission statement for your organization? Departments of Transportation Metropolitan Planning Organizations Transit Agencies Local Governments To provide a safe, efficient, environmentally sound multimodal transportation system for all users especially the taxpayers of the state. Improving mobility across the state. To provide a safe transportation system that insures the mobility of people and goods, enhances economic prosperity and preserves the quality of our environment and communities. Provides a safe, seamless, and sustainable transportation system that supports the state’s economy and is sensitive to its citizens and environment. Plan, build, maintain, and operate a superior transportation system enhancing safety, mobility, and economic growth. Provide a statewide transportation system to meet the needs of our citizens. Providing the highest quality integrated transportation services for economic benefit and improved quality of life. Provide a world-class transportation experience that delights our customers and promotes a prosperous state. Yes, it’s a DOT one. Improving lives by Delivering transportation projects, providing public information and serving as a dynamic forum for regional planning and collaboration in the greater MPO area. Planning efficient transportation for the community. No. On the website. On the website. Improve the quality of life and the economic vitality in the region by working collaboratively together. (We don’t have any mention of humans but we are all working to improve the quality of life here). We serve the governments of the Mississippi Gulf Coast, including Hancock, Harrison, and Jackson County as the Metropolitan Planning Organizations for the programming for federal transportation funds within the urbanized areas and perform various urban and regional land use and comprehensive planning activities. Build a stronger regional community through cooperation, leadership, and planning. Uniting the region’s elected officials, planning professionals, and the public with a common vision of making a great region even greater; shaping the way we live, To build and operate the total transit system. Will send it. No. Is not aware of one. improving transportation. work, and play; building

ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE QUESTION 1: What is the mission statement for your organization? Departments of Transportation Metropolitan Planning Organizations Transit Agencies Local Governments Provide leadership in the protection, preservation, and enhancement of the natural, social, historic, and visual environment while actively involving the public, resource agencies, and other interested parties in planning, developing, and maintaining the state’s transportation system. consensus on improving transportation, promoting smart growth, protecting the environment, and enhancing the economy. On the web page. To ensure that our transportation tax dollars are spent effectively to improve mobility, support economic progress and safeguard the environment and provide opportunities for public input into the transportation planning and project development process. ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE QUESTION 2: Is the agency centralized/decentralized? Departments of Transportation Metropolitan Planning Organizations Transit Agencies Local Governments Centralized. Centralized (headquarters and 12 districts). Decentralized (seven districts, turnpike office, central office). Centralized. Central office and 6 districts. Decentralized (six districts)/ administrative work mostly centralized. Decentralized with a structure of seven regions. Central office and 10 district offices. Centralized (six district maintenance offices and the Turnpike office). Centralized (headquarters and three regions). Centralized. Centralized. Centralized. Centralized. Centralized. Centralized. Centralized. Centralized. Centralized. Centralized. Part of a joint city/county agency. Centralized. Centralized. Centralized. Centralized. Centralized. 40

41 ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE QUESTION 3: Is authority for public involvement held at headquarters/regions/districts or all? Departments of Transportation Metropolitan Planning Organizations Transit Agencies Local Governments Authority held in headquarters with nine divisions responsible for coordination. Guidance/training comes out of headquarters with districts conducting public involvement. All. All (headquarters, regions, seven districts). Headquarters w/district assistance as needed. Headquarters w/district assistance as needed. Headquarters and regions (shared on Environmental Assessments and Environmental Impact Statements/regions handle Categorical Exclusions with assistance from headquarters). Both. Headquarters. Headquarters. Headquarters. Headquarters. Headquarters. Headquarters. Headquarters. Headquarters. Headquarters. MPO (collaborate w/local jurisdictions on individual work). Headquarters. Headquarters. Headquarters. Headquarters. Headquarters does agency-wide outreach. Work closely with counterpart for stakeholder affairs offices targeted to construction. Press Secretary for public affairs and Public Relations. Headquarters (partner with DOT and FHWA).

ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE QUESTION 4: How are public involvement responsibilities distributed throughout the agency? Departments of Transportation Metropolitan Planning Organizations Transit Agencies Local Governments Joint effort between central office and divisions. Central office serves as oversight. In environmental, the environmental planner is responsible for organizing public involvement. Central office for statewide plans; districts/individual departments (planning, environmental, design & right-of-way) within the district for planning studies, corridor studies, NEPA studies, design and construction. Split into various areas— NEPA, environmental planners have some responsibilities; district planning and programming —engineers have some of the responsibilities. Headquarters, but each of the districts has a public involvement person and a communications person. Staff of three dedicated for public involvement. Regions and Transportation Service Centers with assistance depending upon the level of controversy. Distributed throughout the agency. Project managers and lead staff are generally in charge. All at headquarters. Headquarters, but the regional Public Involvement Officer does help them out with public involvement. Director of External Affairs and Member Services with assistance from communications staff; project manager(s). Public Involvement Manager and Public Information Officer; project managers; consultants. Everybody (except Financial Officer). Team effort—Manager of Public Outreach; Department of Support Services; Department of Community Services; Department of Comprehensive Planning; Department of Communication; Workforce Development; Aging Division; Governmental Services Division. Project team(s). Not officially distributed throughout the agency— based on collaboration. Operationally—mandated to maintain open records; programmatically—develop and maintain a public participation plan for the MPO planning process; project level—develop public participation plans for individual studies. Directors of media and public relations are primarily involved in community relations. Most of the staff is involved in some aspect of public involvement. Public affairs office focuses on the media aspect and there are other staff members who engage in public involvement, but it is not their main responsibility. Two-fold responsibility— one with broader umbrella and one with the projects. There are totally different people involved in these divisions. Two groups in the agency that do public involvement. Various people in the agency have public involvement responsibilities. Project managers handle public involvement responsibilities with assistance from government liaisons. Consultants also provide assistance. Everyone does other things. 42

43 ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE QUESTION 4: How are public involvement responsibilities distributed throughout the agency? Departments of Transportation Metropolitan Planning Organizations Transit Agencies Local Governments Two branches of public involvement—Air Quality group does outreach for specific programs (vanpool/carpool, telecommuting); Transportation Planning and Programming side deals with LRTP and Transportation Improvement Program. ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE QUESTION 5: What phases of transportation decision making in the agency have public involvement components (policy development, systems planning, project planning, environment, design, right-of-way, construction, and operations and maintenance)? Departments of Transportation Metropolitan Planning Organizations Transit Agencies Local Governments Project planning, environment, design, and right-of-way. Systems planning, environment, design, right- of-way, construction. Planning and policy, NEPA, environment, systems planning, environment, design, right-of-way, operations, maintenance. Project planning, pre- construction, construction (on some projects). Planning and programming section, project development, design, right- of-way, construction, operation and maintenance. Policy development, systems planning, project planning, environment, design; small amount with construction, operations and maintenance. Policy development, systems planning, project planning, environment, Policy development, systems planning, project planning. Policy development, system planning, environmental planning, project planning. Policy development, systems planning, project planning, environment, design. Systems planning, project planning, environment. Policy development, systems planning, project planning, environment. Policy development, systems planning. Policy development, systems planning, project planning, environmental. Policy development, systems planning, project planning. Environmental, design, and right-of-way would be done through DOT. Policy development, systems planning, project Capital projects and service planning. Policy development, systems planning, project planning, environment, design, right-of-way, construction, operations and maintenance. Policy development, transportation systems planning, project planning. Policy development, systems planning, project planning, environment, design, right-of-way, construction, operations and maintenance. right-of-way, construction, operations and maintenance. planning. Policy development, systems planning.

ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE QUESTION 5: What phases of transportation decision making in the agency have public involvement components (policy development, systems planning, project planning, environment, design, right-of-way, construction, and operations and maintenance)? Departments of Transportation Metropolitan Planning Organizations Transit Agencies Local Governments NEPA, policy development, systems planning, project planning. Policy development, systems planning, project planning, environment, design, right-of-way, construction, operations and maintenance. Policy development, systems planning, project planning, environment, design, right-of-way, construction, operations and maintenance. Project planning, environment (during NEPA), design, right-of- way. Policy development, systems planning (large corridors) 44

45 STAFFING QUESTION 6: How many staff in your organization conduct public involvement? Departments of Transportation Metropolitan Planning Organizations Transit Agencies Local Governments Varies with the divisions and need for special expertise. All of approximately 200 environmental planners have the authority. There are so many and we have consultants—guess about 50. Not counting central office, eight districts. Districts rely on consultants. One or two districts have a designated public involvement staff person, but not all. No one designated public involvement, also do other social, environmental, air, and noise studies. Central office—about 20 (eight person section in public hearing office plus planners). About 15 people. One or two people at each Transportation Service Center have responsibility; one or two people at each of the regions do face-to- face. Headquarters has between 50 and 75 people; approximately 45 project managers statewide. 25–30 people. Three people—one person in each region. Five of NEPA staff are most involved with public involvement within the Environmental Division; Community Relations office helps (public affairs). At least half of our staff is involved in public involvement regularly. Two people are dedicated public involvement, but additional staff is trained. Staff of eight people. Four full-time staff, but many other staff members conduct public involvement also. Four staff members help with public involvement, but others assist if needed. One staff member with primary responsibility. Another staff member works on communication (press releases, etc.) All 13 staff members do public involvement in some capacity. Five people are attached to the public involvement tasks. In the work program there is an element dedicated solely to PI— Citizen Participation and Public Information. Budgeted time for eight people. Everyone. The MPO Administrator and three planners. Fifteen people on staff who conduct public involvement. Sixteen people. A director, six outreach reps, four stakeholder affairs reps, plus contractors that were hired with public involvement knowledge during design build. Eight planners. Twelve people and the police department conduct public involvement also.

STAFFING QUESTION 7: What are their qualifications (academic training and work experience), professional designations (e.g., register engineer), or memberships in professional organizations (AICP, APA, IAP2) others? Departments of Transportation Metropolitan Planning Organizations Transit Agencies Local Governments Preconstruction engineer ultimately responsible (almost always PE); varying degrees under that; planners help with meetings as project managers. Besides marketing and customer service, hire from a variety of approved majors, including all sciences and social sciences. Some planners belong to National Assn. of Environmental Professions; some planners are AICP. Some project managers are engineers, some are AICP, some have been certified; some staff have the experience and are very serious about doing a good job involving the public. Degrees vary; generally a Bachelor’s is required. Communication skills— engaging, like working with people, communicate effectively, flexible, adaptable, clear thinkers. Pretty diverse group from other disciplines environmental documentation and right-of- way. Journalism degree helps; when screening applicants, look for things like human services skills or experience or training. Can’t answer—only conjecture. Unknown. No. In CIA, at least a degree in planning; membership in professional groups is an added bonus; will pay for professional license; ability Communications staff has different backgrounds in public involvement; community outreach specialist has teacher/volunteer background and is a member of IAP2; organizational membership with IAP2. Primary PI personnel— environmental science/marketing. Senior planner has Masters and is AICP; GIS person has Masters and is AICP; Bike/Pedestrian guy has a Bachelors and eight years experience; Transit planner has a Masters in Public Administration. Backgrounds in education, planning, public administration, marketing, environmental; most of the planners have AICPs; NTI courses, leadership strategies training, meeting facilitation, conflict resolution. No specific training or background in public involvement—two have AICPs. Bachelors and Masters in social work. Professional memberships like AICP, APA or other professional organizations —AMPO, NARC; attend TRB. Person that heads up public involvement has some media background. Others are primarily professional planners, most with a graduate degree in planning and social science background; we are conscious of those with the ability to communicate. Two keys are good oral and written communication skills and a sense of understanding that we are a public agency and that the public has a right to be included in and it is our responsibility to include them in all of our decision making. So many of the staffers were staffers with an elected official and are very familiar with public engagement and public involvement. Professional license required; require all members to be members of APA and most have AICP or PE. Both have PEs. 46

47 STAFFING QUESTION 7: What are their qualifications (academic training and work experience), professional designations (e.g., register engineer), or memberships in professional organizations (AICP, APA, IAP2) others? Departments of Transportation Metropolitan Planning Organizations Transit Agencies Local Governments to go to national conferences (TRB, AASHTO), training (NHI, NTI). PE, NEPA group has a registered geologist. Backgrounds in marketing, working with the press and other media. Public administration; planners have Masters Degrees in City and Regional planning. Some staff has backgrounds in marketing and public relations; others are largely planners with Masters degrees and many are AICP; push membership in professional organizations.

STAFFING QUESTION 8: What training have these staff received in Community Impact Assessment, Environmental Justice, Public Involvement, or Context Sensitive Solutions? Departments of Transportation Metropolitan Planning Organizations Transit Agencies Local Governments NHI course on public involvement. Future plan is to develop training for staff; get a little in their CIA workshop (two day), but most of it is on- the-job experience. Public involvement, Title VI, Sociocultural Effects Evaluation; environmental conference every two years; planning conference; design conference; project management conference. Primarily public involvement and environmental justice, context sensitive solutions, Title VI, DOT sponsored training; NHI classes. Internal soft skills training, NHI public involvement, CSS, CIA. NHI or NCHRP courses; in- house training/experience; IAP2 (one person). NHI effective public involvement techniques; environmental clearance process; limited participation in conferences like TRB, APRA, AMPO. In-house/external training on CIA, environmental justice, public involvement, context sensitive solutions; project development; NEPA (every other year); Systematic Development of Informed Consent; limited participation in conferences like TRB; requirement to become a member of APA, AICP or joining IAP2. Context sensitive solutions; various outside courses; limited participation in conferences. Send all staff to at least one conference a year; community outreach specialist attended EJ training; member of California Public Information Officials Assn. —attended annual conference; member of AMPO and NARC. NTI courses, IAP2 training, the agency allows us to go to conferences. We train whenever possible. Try to attend conference out of state to get training on Title VI and CIA. Due to funding, try to get training to come to them. Participated as a presenter in the statewide sociocultural effects evaluation training. Staff member that did attend training no longer with them. No formalized training. Everyone reviews the public involvement plan and participates in coordination meetings; send staff members to conferences. NTI courses on public involvement and environmental justice; FHWA trainings; conferences. Continuing education units through NHI or APA; attended CSS and Complete Streets training; specialized technical training through consultants. They use all available external training, go to AMPO meetings, TRB, and Texas MPO conferences. Internal and external training; customer service classes for all levels; try to be involved in professional organizations—marketing, Women’s Transportation Seminar, APTA; attended TRB. Don’t have much internal training—able to go to conferences and do off-site training. Attend conferences and seminars. EJ and Title VI training; attend different training classes; members of American Public Works Assn., Institute for Transportation Engineers; attended CSS courses. 48

49 STAFFING QUESTION 8: What training have these staff received in Community Impact Assessment, Environmental Justice, Public Involvement, or Context Sensitive Solutions? Departments of Transportation Metropolitan Planning Organizations Transit Agencies Local Governments EJ and Title VI training; Planners Methodology— how to ensure federal mandates in EJ and Title VI are met and how to prepare a public participation plan. EJ, public involvement and CSS conferences held by DOT. NHI public involvement course; EJ training; attend all conferences. AASHTO); NHI and NTI courses for PI, EJ, Title VI, public speaking; in-house training from experienced staff. CIA course by FHWA; internal CSS class; NHI NEPA class. National conferences (TRB,

STAFFING QUESTION 9: How long has each of these staff members been in their current position? Departments of Transportation Metropolitan Planning Organizations Transit Agencies Local Governments Probably averages 5–10 years. Varies—one person with a lot of experience and several with very little; average length of an environmental planner about 9 years. Unknown. Air, noise and public involvement staff average about 2 years. 2–6 years (last person hired 2 years ago, pretty stable). Some for 10 years and some for 2–3 years. Public involvement is a secondary task to most employees—only one employee with public involvement as primary task. They have had a lot of turnover in the last 3–4 years, not many people left with 20 years experience. Experienced folks do public involvement, but take some of younger staff to night meetings. 5 years, 17 years, 20 years. 10 years. 1–6 years. Doesn’t know. 6 years. 2–26 plus years. Two are long term planners, but haven’t been here that long. One a recent graduate with a Masters in Public Administration, fourth is a current grad student. Prior experience at volunteer center. 5 years. 1–20 years. 6 months–30 years. 28 years. 8 years. 7–13 years. 7 years. 2–20 years. Average is between 5 and 15 years. 50

51 STAFFING QUESTION 10: What was their previous position in this agency or another organization? Departments of Transportation Metropolitan Planning Organizations Transit Agencies Local Governments Almost always promoted into this position. People come to them from other organizations and right out of college. Most project managers started with DOT; some worked with DOT, left, and then came back. Right out of college; transferred from other part of the department. Variety of different backgrounds, some within the organization and some outside (three of eight staff from outside). One or two that started out in other positions at agency; most hired from outside the agency. Within the organization who has worked their way up, usually engineers. Community relations— generally come from outside; engineering side— project managers have generally worked their way up through the organization. Generally with the department a few years to get familiar with what’s going on and what is being discussed. College, consulting firm after college. Come up through the ranks. All were external hires. Another position with our agency. State agency and NASCAR. Different organizations. They were planners at another agency, in school, still in school. Volunteer center serving the region. Promotion from within; other agencies and organizations. Junior staff straight from school, others from some sort of municipal planning background. Outside the region; it’s a mix—other agencies. School. Half of the employees came directly from college and half from other organizations. Hired from internship; typically would hire someone with a couple of years experience out of college. Outside the agency. Graduate school; other jobs in the field. Outside.

STAFFING QUESTION 11: What is the total full time equivalent staff positions devoted to public involvement? Departments of Transportation Metropolitan Planning Organizations Transit Agencies Local Governments Don’t have full time public involvement staff. 800 folks in environmental (total) and 200–250 are project specific planners and would all be doing that or have the authority to do that. No full time public involvement people. Unknown. Six staff members do public involvement and other things; 17 NEPA staff members also do public involvement (none full time). 8 persons. 10%. 10% or less. 75% of day doing public involvement. Depends on project. 1.25 persons. 1 person equivalent. 1.5–2 persons. 2 persons. 1.0–1.5 persons. 4 persons 0.5 person. 1 person and others as needed. 3 persons. 13–14 percent. 1.5 persons. 0.75 person. 9 persons. Employees are full-time public involvement. All of them are full-time. 0.2 person. More than 1.0 person equivalent. 52

53 STAFFING QUESTION 12: Do you use consultants to conduct public involvement? Departments of Transportation Metropolitan Planning Organizations Transit Agencies Local Governments No, never for state projects; there are a lot of MPO projects where small cities hire own consultants, state personnel assist. Yes, at times for public involvement on larger projects; also have on-call consultants. Yes, they rely heavily on consultants; if consultant hired to do environmental, then public involvement is included in that contract. Yes, as part of the consultant’s environmental responsibilities. Yes, certainly for Environmental Impact Statement projects. Yes, extensively. Yes, particularly on major action documents like Environmental Impact Statements. Yes, depends on the project. Yes. Yes, not enough staff to go around. Yes. Yes. Yes. Florida International University. Yes. Yes. On occasion. Yes. No. Not as a rule. Yes, for last LRTP. Yes. Not in the last 10 years. Yes. Yes, for transportation. Yes.

STAFFING QUESTION 13: What certifications or pre-qualification requirements do you have for consultants that conduct public involvement? Departments of Transportation Metropolitan Planning Organizations Transit Agencies Local Governments None. Respondent is sure they do, but has never seen the statement of qualifications submitted to department to get on the on-call list. Districts do look for consulting firms that have expertise or experience in public involvement. None. Do have a certification— ask all consultants for environmental document to participate in 3-day training course and public involvement is one of the classes in the training. Have to have certification showing training and been certified to put together the environmental document and conduct public involvement on behalf of DOT. None required, but looks for qualifications and experience. High regard held for those with IAP2 training or demonstrated skills training. None. None. Experience. Project Manager required to have a master’s degree in transportation planning, background dealing with socioeconomic issues, public involvement, and community impact assessment; trying to tailor qualifications and looking for experience in marketing, public relations due to skill set. No. None. None. None. None—do Requests for Proposals and review qualifications at that point. Tend to focus on hiring minority or disadvantaged business enterprises when possible. Qualifications are based on each project. No. Look at experiences and references. They do a request to qualifications. No. Follow the Request for Proposal process. None. Looks at experience, requires some disadvantaged business enterprise participation. Do not hire consultants. Consultants retained primarily through planning department. Pre-qualified by DOT; in terms of public involvement, do not require pre-qualification. Do not advertise specifically to be pre- qualified; have a professional services roster that they can be pre- qualified on. 54

55 COST QUANTIFICATION QUESTION 14: Have you quantified the cost for doing public involvement in your agency? Departments of Transportation Metropolitan Planning Organizations Transit Agencies Local Governments Never have quantified the cost of doing public involvement, it just costs whatever it takes. We have not quantified the cost of doing public involvement. Public involvement is a part of the project contract and part of the project cost so it is not really broken out—it costs what it costs. Internally we do not quantify the cost of doing public involvement. No. We have not been able to do that. I haven’t ever been asked to quantify public involvement costs. I do not think they have quantified the cost of public involvement—it takes whatever it takes. We have not quantified the cost of doing public involvement. No, start out with what is thought to be needed to get the job done and cost it from there. It is ever changing. Not that is known. No, it has not been broken out. No, not ever. Budget of $200,000, excluding salaries and stuff. If ever a need for more, they have been accepting, but PI Manager is very frugal and doesn’t ask for much. No. Never tried to quantify how much something cost, but there is always. It is nebulous because it is soaked up in so many line items. No. No, probably not. We do whatever we have to do. We have never done a formal exercise. Not really. We have not quantified the cost of doing public involvement in our agency. They have never done that. I think we more look at the complexity of the project and try to size it around that. For us, some projects are much more complex simply because they are more intrusive into a neighborhood, there is more property taking, there is complexity around a bridge, or something else. No. No. Yes—allocate costs between staff and consultant/share costs on some activities.

COST QUANTIFICATION QUESTION 15: How are these costs allocated (staff salaries/benefits, consultant costs, marketing expenses, website development/maintenance, etc.)? Departments of Transportation Metropolitan Planning Organizations Transit Agencies Local Governments They do not allocate these costs. Unknown how those costs are allocated. Cost allocations are not broken out. Do no allocate costs this way. No. It depends. Don’t allocate costs. Doesn’t think they do this. Doesn’t do this. Costs are broken down and reviewed with consultant to identify staffing hours/salaries/tasks. Isn’t sure they do this. It has not been broken out. They spend $100,000 on their annual newsletter, $60,000 on FIU, and $40,000 every two years on their booklet. They aren’t. Don’t break it down. Don’t do this. Allocated costs only in the unified planning work program as a line item in the budget that covers public involvement and EJ. General operational responses to public requests billed as overhead; the rest would be direct to public participation tasks or direct charge to a contract. Estimate and tweak. Unknown. Never done that. Costs are allocated across salaries, consultant costs, marketing expenses. I don’t think we have done it that way—to set a percent of construction cost for public involvement. Unknown. They don’t do this. They have an estimate of everything. 56

57 COST QUANTIFICATION QUESTION 16: How do you quantify public involvement cost (% of project cost, cost per person in the project area, others)? Departments of Transportation Metropolitan Planning Organizations Transit Agencies Local Governments They do not quantify public involvement costs (% of project cost, cost per person in the project study area, others). Unknown how to quantify public involvement costs— do what it takes to do it. They are not broken out. They do not quantify public involvement costs. They don’t do that. I have not gone back to look at that relationship. They don’t quantify public involvement costs. He doesn’t think they have done this. They don’t do this. They have a formula that allocates 8% to public involvement. Did not think of that. It is part of project costs—do what it takes to do it. It has not been broken out. They divide it into the annual newsletter, FIU and their booklet. We don’t. They don’t do this. We don’t. They don’t. They don’t quantify public involvement costs. They do hours per task. She doesn’t know. They have never done that. Plan out what doing or involved with as far as public outreach over a 2- year period and try to estimate and come up with staffing level—negotiate for budget. They do not do this. Not sure. They do not do this. Number of hours spent on tasks and the cost on printing, driving, facilitating, posters, staffing meetings, travel time.

PUBLIC INVOLVEMENT PROCESS (Social/Community Issues, Studies and Reports) QUESTION 17: What technical studies/reports are conducted to address social and community issues? Departments of Transportation Metropolitan Planning Organizations Transit Agencies Local Governments Socioeconomic Technical Study prepped by planners or consultant. Community Impact Assessments portion of the environmental document. It is included in the ETDM process. EIS or incorporated into an EA document. Don’t require a technical document—one of the impacts evaluated within the environmental document. Technical reports on social and economic factors are rolled into the prime consultant’s report (public involvement section and environmental justice section). Community inventory. As part of the affected environment chapter of an EIS. Usually a part of the affected environment chapter of the environmental document. Socio-economic report tied into the environmental document. Part of the Feasibility Assessment report. Transportation Planning Report. Regional Transportation Plan includes chapter; Metropolitan Transportation Plan—chapter titled Equity in Choice and appendix to Metropolitan Transportation Plan. Assembled an environmental justice community on their website. Community background reports; Public Involvement Effectiveness Report; Title VI Report. Strings and Ribbons Report. Prepare an environmental justice report. We periodically do technical reports such as Environmental Justice based on certain projects. During data collection and assembly of population and economic forecasts. Environmental Justice Report; component of LRTP Updates. “…And Justice for All.” Do not do anything like this to identify who our public is. Yes, periodically. Engineering studies, environmental studies. Under development. No specific studies have been done—rely on the experience of various planners. They do that for the federal documents as part of environmental justice for the human impact. 58

59 PUBLIC INVOLVEMENT PROCESS (Social/Community Issues, Studies and Reports) QUESTION 18: What subjects do these studies address? Departments of Transportation Metropolitan Planning Organizations Transit Agencies Local Governments The issues that are listed in the technical advisory for social and economic impacts. Economics, community cohesion. The ETDM process addresses all NEPA topics and public involvement issues and processes. Minorities, low-income. Not applicable. Pockets within the communities requiring further efforts. Race, income. Demographic information. Disadvantaged groups or environmental type things. Air and noise, race and ethnicity, economic development. Defining the public to develop public involvement. How to identify the public and background information. Populations and their characteristics. Demographic data, local neighborhood history, informal and formal leaders, appropriate outreach techniques, GIS component. They don’t. Minorities, low-income, elderly. Identify major concerns like EJ and transportation concerns that people in the region had and try to create working groups that would connect people to the right folks or people with the right power to resolve issues. Study of the need for transit service that looked at addressing social and community issues; impact of the proposed project on a population. Low income and minority. Elderly, non-car households, poverty, race, ethnicity. Don’t have documents that go into this—used to do an ESE that showed the incomes, environmental issues, etc. as part of the LRTP. Demographic and social information. Rely on own data and census data (demographics). The technical analysis is currently being revamped. Nothing formalized. Variety of information.

PUBLIC INVOLVEMENT PROCESS (Social/Community Issues, Studies and Reports) QUESTION 19: How do you identify the segments of the various “publics” you will target for public involvement? Departments of Transportation Metropolitan Planning Organizations Transit Agencies Local Governments Depends on the division and relocation analysis for most of that. Census data are the first broad cut; encourage the planner to spend foot time in the area observing and talking to the local planning agencies to identify the movers and shakers and the civic groups in the area; find existing organizations and build relationships with them. Covered extensively under the ETDM process. Check Census data and do a site assessment. We don’t do social and community studies. Case-by-case basis. Work with key players on a regular basis. From our demographic information. Work with Title VI Coordinator in-house; review census for project area. Review census and GIS data, talk with local leaders, community based organizations; conduct field visits. Census data. We use the data that we collect for our Metropolitan Transportation Plan. Our CCP process helps us identify who is in the neighborhoods. Catch as catch can—go out to everyone and ask for other contacts; use database to identify low- income areas. They have a staff member that used to be with their communications department and he is responsible for this. Prepare an environmental justice report for each project. Doing generally broad- based outreach to notify people about the different public involvement opportunities. Identify one segment is the public is the community or neighborhood and then identify those across the coast; look by land uses what kind of activities are taking place in certain areas; look at demographics. Study the mannerism of various communities to bring them in; identify various segments by demographic data. Region wide outreach; Degrees of Disadvantaged Methodology help in identifying who initial people are; reach out to non-profit organizations, civic associations, community groups, etc. Done as an area-wide issue or limited to project study area. Look at demographic data Try to zero in on audience and define the audience through census data or businesses; a lot of foot work. Survey to determine demographics in the service area, and then determine outreach needed. Targeted public with a survey—compared responses to census data. Target everybody, every group. and socio-demographic areas. 60

61 PUBLIC INVOLVEMENT PROCESS (Social/Community Issues, Studies and Reports) QUESTION 20: How do you make decisions about how to do public involvement and tailor it to the various segments you have identified? Departments of Transportation Metropolitan Planning Organizations Transit Agencies Local Governments The division alerts them to the fact that there were a high percentage of minorities, then up to central office to determine format. Usually coordinate with FHWA for consensus on approach. Done by environmental planner who is in charge of the project and tailoring them to their unique needs at the district level. Our public involvement policy provides flexibility for our districts to adapt their plan and their activities. Do not have anything in writing that identifies what is required—the DOT has a policy statement that is being updated, but nothing is written in terms of a checklist. Work with Citizens Advisory Committee and community. Work closely with local government officials and a good network of those interested in certain modes or topics as identified through previous public involvement efforts. Representatives in each district. It would be core team decision. Title VI Coordinator provides thoughts and ideas about reaching During 2-year public involvement process to update MTP, reviewed census data to determine target for involvement. Asked participants to complete background form to identify sector (business, elected official, etc.) and put them in general age brackets. Analyzed data to identify groups with low participation and conducted targeted focus groups and phone surveys. They created a matrix of activities by month. Created spreadsheet identifying demographics of area and use tools/techniques appropriate to demographics. Identified minority base and worked through churches and non-profit groups. Use matrix to identify populations and determine techniques. Prepare environmental justice report and input from citizens. Look at purpose and need of public involvement to decide what needs to be done. Use input from above organizations, field work of staff. Looking at the degrees of disadvantage methodology specific segments. and where the project area Rely on own data and census data. Data collection, data interpretation, and a data driven plan developed for that public. Look at cost to see what the most cost-effective/low cost way to reach the public would be. Brain storming sessions with public involvement group to more effectively involve targeted groups.

PUBLIC INVOLVEMENT PROCESS (Social/Community Issues, Studies and Reports) QUESTION 20: How do you make decisions about how to do public involvement and tailor it to the various segments you have identified? Departments of Transportation Metropolitan Planning Organizations Transit Agencies Local Governments Look at population and identify needs. Early environmental screening and GIS to identify people in area and tailor meetings towards them. may be will affect when and where meetings are held. Usually have 4 or 5 meetings in MPO area based on geography, make sure to have at least one in low-income area accessible by transit. Varies by objectives of project. PUBLIC INVOLVEMENT PROCESS (Social/Community Issues, Studies and Reports) QUESTION 21: What process do you use to develop a public involvement plan? Departments of Transportation Metropolitan Planning Organizations Transit Agencies Local Governments Look at the situation and try to decide what needs to be done. Identify the population within the project area and determine the best techniques for reaching those segments. Our senior meet with local government folks, MPOs, and the general public. It is fluid—we look at the project and what we are trying to accomplish and go from there. Project manager and others identify potential problems, target audience and who to bring in. We work with our engineering staff and consultants to identify stakeholders and issues. They have a public involvement document that outlines different plans for different levels of environmental documents. The core team would be involved in the development of a public involvement plan. Joint effort. Ensures that it is in compliance with SAFETEA- LU; three areas—required documents, transportation studies, general outreach strategies; updated every three years with evaluation. If it is a good idea, they try it. Used the environmental justice team, aging services team, bike/pedestrian team, transit operators’ team, internal staff, mailing list and public involvement advisory group. Through research GIS to locate census tracts or blocks that have a certain percentage of minority and low-income populations. Developed in collaboration with the citizens’ advisory committee (30 people at year end w/10 people rotating off and 20 that know what is going on). Identify the publics and develop strategies and outreach. Identify everyone that is going to be affected, using a variety of techniques, including the citizen’s advisory committee. We will now be using the four-factor analysis and gathering data on the community and analyzing it, and tailoring a program. No formalized process.. Experience. 62

63 PUBLIC INVOLVEMENT PROCESS (Social/Community Issues, Studies and Reports) QUESTION 21: What process do you use to develop a public involvement plan? Departments of Transportation Metropolitan Planning Organizations Transit Agencies Local Governments Generally do that on projects which we feel will be quite a bit of public involvement and where we anticipate there could be some kind of negative impact on the project. Census, existing locations and time of meetings that are currently being held in the community—piggyback when possible. In project development, the decision is made as a team. DOT has a public involvement guidance document available on the web. Environmental Assessments and Environmental Impact Statements require a public involvement plan—usually submitted by the consultant and reviewed by DOT. for MPOs. Use the Public Participation Plan that outlines what they do; also have Planners Methodology; collaborate with others. Public participation plan, process used. Mapped different neighborhoods based on different criteria. It is pretty straight forward

PUBLIC INVOLVEMENT PROCESS (Level of Effort, Education, and Documentation) QUESTION 22: How are decisions made about the level of effort to devote to public involvement at each level of decision making (number of staff and time, use of consultants, budgets for publications, websites, marketing, etc.)? Departments of Transportation Metropolitan Planning Organizations Transit Agencies Local Governments Do what they have to do. Done on a project level at the districts and dependent on what is needed. Refer to public involvement manual and handbook. Depends on the scope of the project. Depends on the type of formula document that is being prepared and it really starts to get you to think in the general direction as to how much effort, how much work public involvement wise. Judgment call—depends on the situation. Do what is required according to NEPA; work with consultant to determine what is needed beyond that. It would be a core team decision. Depends on the project— trying to “Right Size” it. Start off with something and then it evolves. Limited by state/budget. Use as many DOT staff and consultants as needed. Management level decision—do what is needed to do the best. Depends on the breadth of the study. Quality, not quantity. Don’t break it down that much. Develop plan in consultation with planning department and communications which is then sent through the ranks to the Department Director. Projects vary. Standard procedures for public involvement activities with more effort depending on project (LRTP requires more). Annual assessment of previous year and project additional need. We have a lot of staff which allows us flexibility in using them as opposed to consultant staff. Estimate number of meetings and determine staffing needs. They had a two tiered approach with their public meeting running with their transportation planning advisory committee meeting. Varies by objective for the project or plan. We do what it takes. We are currently writing our public involvement plan that will provide guidance for this. Done as needed. Based on consensus and an iterative process. 64

65 PUBLIC INVOLVEMENT PROCESS (Level of Effort, Education, and Documentation) QUESTION 23: How do you provide education to the public to better equip them to provide meaningful input to the agency (e.g., strings and ribbons)? Departments of Transportation Metropolitan Planning Organizations Transit Agencies Local Governments Open house meetings, graphics and staff to talk with the public. Open house style meetings with staff members; prior to meeting, advertise and use flyers. The ETDM process provides web-based information, publications, informal meetings, ads, graphics, and staff. Documents are “plain speak.” Handout for typical open house is a welcome letter, project description, purpose and need and comment card. Staff answers individual questions. Public meetings, open houses, website, etc. historically, the CE jobs have gotten very little practical public involvement before the actual document has been developed and put out for public review. Engineers go out and talk to people directly and help educate people face to face in non-technical manner; project information portal. Seek first to understand, then to be understood. First listen, and then tell what you think. Increasing amount of graphic visualization and video; websites; publications; street interviews; aerials with existing conditions and then overlay plans to get input. We provide graphics and simulations, information on the website, publications, and just talking things out. Very plain in explanation of what the planning process is like—explain what needs to be accomplished, purpose for doing plan, process for the plan. PSA contest; blocks and ribbons activity. We just want to ensure that we understand what their transportation needs are and they can relay needs to us in an efficient manner. Strings and ribbons activity; website; simple Q & A brochure called “Layman’s Guide to the MPO” distributed to cities, libraries & high schools. We have never done this well. Use every possible format available; plain language; games; podcasts; Facebook; blogs; TV shows (DVD and CD); visual techniques; use translators; reading service; TTY machine. Try to get as much publicity/free media; community groups; local officials. Various community meetings. Monthly newsletter; huge database with a huge mailing; alternative language formats; attend civic group meetings. Resource center with a ton of information the public can access like studies, plans, and census data; background presentations; background information on the website; educational meeting called “Dots & Dashes.” Use communications people with good understanding of project to communicate with the public; door-to-door talking to people; website; contact lists to distribute updates; frequent open houses; animation on the website; monthly neighborhood association meetings; consultant expertise. We hire consultants who have expertise in these areas. Public meetings. Engaging the public; surveys; town meetings; fielding questions from the community.

PUBLIC INVOLVEMENT PROCESS (Level of Effort, Education, and Documentation) QUESTION 23: How do you provide education to the public to better equip them to provide meaningful input to the agency (e.g., strings and ribbons)? They might do something through a PIC, website, talk directly to people, on the street interviews. Members of a citizen’s advisory committee get better educated; DOT begins with a PowerPoint presentation. Newsletter; let the public draw/write on maps; ask public to take pictures of their three favorite roads and five least favorite roads. Educate people about the process and roles of the different agencies. PUBLIC INVOLVEMENT PROCESS (Level of Effort, Education, and Documentation) QUESTION 24: What written documentation do you have related to the following topics (Community Impact Assessment, Environmental Justice, Public Involvement, and Context Sensitive Solutions)? Departments of Transportation Metropolitan Planning Organizations Transit Agencies Local Governments Public Involvement—Action Plan; EJ—FHWA guidance; CIA—FHWA guidance; CSS—case-by-case basis. Little public involvement in CIA manual; project development manual has public involvement section; EJ manual, policy, and guidance; Desk Guide; CIA manual, policy, and guidance. The ETDM process manual. Public involvement manual (EJ section contained within); CSS document under development. Environmental procedures manual that touches on public involvement, EJ, and community impacts; online context sensitive solutions manual. Sharing the Future document. Public participation plan online; CSS process for guidance on stakeholder engagement; Public Involvement/Public Hearing Procedures for Federal Aid Project Development. Tracker performance measures—one is “butts in Public participation plan. CCP—includes public involvement, environmental justice, community impact assessment, context sensitive solutions, ETDM, and sociocultural effects. Public involvement plan; DBE plan; environmental justice wrapped into PIP. Public involvement plan; environmental justice mission, description of team, and purpose. Public participation plan updated annually; environmental justice plan for each project; FHWA publications. Public participation plan outlining techniques and parameters (address EJ and access, people with disabilities within); limited English proficiency plan (Title VI policy within plan). Public participation plan that includes manuals with guidance for certain activities; adopted policies within the plan. Public involvement plan; environmental justice guidance and a report; community impact Do not have any of these. Do not have any of these. No. Title VI report; public involvement plan; local government guidance which includes Federal Aid policies on EJ; department policy manual with guidance for community impact assessment; context sensitive solutions implementation. 66

67 PUBLIC INVOLVEMENT PROCESS (Level of Effort, Education, and Documentation) QUESTION 24: What written documentation do you have related to the following topics (Community Impact Assessment, Environmental Justice, Public Involvement, and Context Sensitive Solutions)? Departments of Transportation Metropolitan Planning Organizations Transit Agencies Local Governments seats measure” and other is targeted survey of users to measure whether we are building the right transportation solution. Manuals and pamphlets put out to the public; hoping to have a CSS manual or include it in their Highway Design manual. CSS and EJ policies and procedures; working on CIA policies and procedures; looking at completing a Title VI and limited English proficiency guide. Public involvement manual; FHWA guidance for environmental justice; CIA brochures; in-house DOT class. assessment. Public participation plan; Title VI compliance plan; EJ at DVRPC (annual update of Title VI and EJ activities); Teaming Traffic Context Sensitive Solutions. FHWA or DOT guidance; Title VI report prepared annually; public participation plan. Public participation plan; various workshops.

PUBLIC INVOLVEMENT PROCESS (Goals) QUESTION 25: What are your agency goals for public involvement? Departments of Transportation Metropolitan Planning Organizations Transit Agencies Local Governments No written goals. No written goals. “Insure that all interested parties have an opportunity to participate fully in the transportation decision- making process and that public input is carefully considered.” Make the public aware and provide an opportunity for meaningful involvement in the decision-making process by providing project information early in the process and making it plain, then doing their best to get a meeting at a time when the public can show up. Provide a revolving door where comments and input can come in and we can respond and get issues addressed as the door revolves and just have that door continue to revolve and make people aware that they can get their comments and get input to us and we will get information back to them. Public involvement plan called “Sharing the Future” is both a treatise and how public involvement should be done that includes various mission, vision, and goals. Involve as broad an audience as possible so that our decisions are in the best interest of the motorists. Go out and reach as many people as possible, make opportunities available that are tailored to their ability to participate, to address issues in an open and transparent way. The public participation plan states our goals and how we approach public involvement. We don’t really have written goals, but citizen involvement is key to anything we do and we try to be as transparent as possible. Goal—to plan a more efficient transportation system. We want to plan the best transportation system possible—that is a huge challenge when the funds are not available because we have some wonderful plans coming out of this office but which operating agency can pick them up and implement them—who can afford it. That is going to be revisited because right now they do not have goals, and that gets back to how do you know you have met your goals or is your goal reasonable. Provide opportunities for citizens to help shape the region’s future through an active engagement process that is early, open, and accessible to decision- makers and acknowledges their insights. Work with community groups to create opportunities for all segments of the public to learn and become informed about issues and proposals under consideration in the planning process. Integrate and coordinate citizen involvement activities with state and local governments’ public involvement processes to increase efficiency and to broaden the base of Every person that wants to be involved in the decision has an opportunity to be. None. Include as many people as possible (but we’re not really quantifying it). Reach out, meet, and provide for consensus on a transportation solution with the most effective tools that we have available to us and make sure reaching many instead of the same few. 68

69 PUBLIC INVOLVEMENT PROCESS (Goals) QUESTION 25: What are your agency goals for public involvement? Departments of Transportation Metropolitan Planning Organizations Transit Agencies Local Governments Constantly strive to find new and innovative ways to do that. Figuring out who the audience is and how to conduct outreach is key to figuring out how to involve them. Those things are not always easy to do and involve a lot of staff resources to do this. Tracker performance measures—one is “butts in seats measure” and other is targeted survey of users to measure whether we are building the right transportation solution. Don’t know that we’ve set any goals. Have a collaborative process that is not just all about the transportation, but it is more of an integrated system that we should be getting people involved in for the pedestrians, to the bicycle rider, and all those options have to be weighed when you build a facility. It is not just about the cars anymore. That is the significant change that they have made in their process. Unsure whether have any—required by law to have public involvement. outreach. Look for opportunities to seek the advice and guidance of low-income and ethnic communities that do not consistently participate in the regional planning process. To make sure people understand what they are trying to do, that everybody has the opportunity to voice their concerns, and that those concerns would be taken seriously. Goals are listed in the participation plan. Personally—to make the work that we do here interesting to the public and encouraging people to see the relevance of their lives so they find it interesting to be engaged. Officially— providing an open process that offers complete information, timely public notice, full public access to key decisions, and support for early and continued involvement of stakeholders. (1) Public involvement is an important element of a high quality transportation planning process; (2) effective transportation planning must include participation of those whose everyday lives are critically affected by how they are able to get to work, home, school, stores, and services; (3) essential to ask for public participation—it is essential to respect and seriously consider input that is received, not just collect it; (4) informing and educating the public about transportation planning issues and the

PUBLIC INVOLVEMENT PROCESS (Goals) QUESTION 25: What are your agency goals for public involvement? Departments of Transportation Metropolitan Planning Organizations Transit Agencies Local Governments transportation planning process is key to obtaining good quality public input; (5) additional emphasis should be placed on involving persons and groups typically under- represented in transportation planning or with special transportation needs, including low- income, minority, elderly, and disabled populations. To insure that the transportation plan reflects the needs of the population and provides benefits to all communities within the planning area equally. We need to become more involved and really begin to get the input we need to get; not that we have to get but what we need to get. As far as specific goals, perhaps to get more input than we are currently getting. To reach out to as many populations as possible and to have them help us figure out the solutions to our regional issues. To provide an active and representative forum for all segments in the MPO study area in developing common regional transportation goals and needs. No defined goals. 70

71 PUBLIC INVOLVEMENT PROCESS (Goals) QUESTION 26: How were these goals developed? Departments of Transportation Metropolitan Planning Organizations Transit Agencies Local Governments Do not have written goals. Someone was just a good Samaritan and said you know, we need to do better and that kind of thing. Outcome of a small working group with MPO staff and DOT staff— realized they need a goal because you don’t have anything to measure if you don’t have a goal. They have been developed based on our experience. Discussion—taking the direction of leadership that has come in, talking with state agency as different administrations, different leadership groups come in. Built over a period of several years—worked with public affairs managers and others to lay out the goals. Doesn’t know. Doesn’t know. Haven’t set any goals. Through the various programs, Title VI, CSS, and the public action involvement plan the goals come together and converge into one piece. No goals. The process was a conversation between staff and elected officials on what they wanted us to do and what our strategies were for achieving that. Through the public involvement plan, being administered from the Federal level and the directives, from the authorizations, they take their cues from there and they work off of that, and from there we just created our public involvement plan and that became their goals. Currently don’t have goals. Unknown—through policy committee and director. Developed through the Regional Transportation Committee. Developed in collaboration with the Citizens Advisory Committee. In response to federal regulations. Sought input from Citizen’s Advisory Committee when looking at public involvement. They are written in the public participation plan. They are a part of the public participation plan. No defined goals for public involvement. Just how you should do things as a government agency. Anything that affects anyone’s life that is a policy decision they should have an opportunity to be involved in that. No public involvement goals. Area that they have struggled with—trying to find way to reach out to more people. Set by individual.

PUBLIC INVOLVEMENT PROCESS (Communicating Public Input and Commitments) QUESTION 27: How is input from the public integrated into the agency decision making process? Departments of Transportation Metropolitan Planning Organizations Transit Agencies Local Governments They look at the comments that they get and they respond to each comment directly or in the environmental document. Try to integrate valid suggestions into the project. We have required laws that require a public review period. We have to read and respond to every comment that has been received. During the ETDM process, plan process and during PD&E, comments are carefully monitored, documented and tracked. Public hearing comments go with the final environmental document to FHWA. Try to get the information early; send it out to the DOT’s subject matter expert for their consideration. Give it full consideration— anything that comes in and it really goes back to this whole discussion about the type of document and the significance of impact to the community—speaking to our groups earlier so there is more opportunity to get input in for consideration and have it be implemented into the final decision that comes out. We’re doing public involvement for policy decision making, planning, and design and environmental projects. He immediately sends any public input to those people in the DOT who need to hear it. Comments are captured and reviewed. Comments are recorded in a database and reviewed/tracked. Use strings and ribbons to get public involved and evaluate citizens’ alternatives. MPO uses their website as a tool for the public to submit comments. Comments are received and forwarded to the appropriate staff. Very specific comments are recorded in a database and shared. Collect and analyze the comments for guidance on how to proceed. Integrated in different ways—have public comment period to gather all comments and forward to board for review; create matrix that summarizes comments. Depending on number of comments received, board may have workshop to discuss comments and responses. If one comments, board reviews it and puts it in, use it in their final determination on how they decide to vote or go forward. Have a public hearing comment period and gather public comments and full text comments and send to the board. Consultation back and forth so that everything is considered. Coordinate early public involvement to capture what the public desires. It is important to think about it carefully and utilize the Try to respond to each one; develop a frequently asked questions sheet and post to the web. Comments are collected, reviewed and evaluated. If it’s something we think is appropriate to include, we will include it. Comments are received, reviewed and evaluated to try to build consensus. 72

73 PUBLIC INVOLVEMENT PROCESS (Communicating Public Input and Commitments) QUESTION 27: How is input from the public integrated into the agency decision making process? Departments of Transportation Metropolitan Planning Organizations Transit Agencies Local Governments Our planning division uses a lot of public input tolls. We prepare a conference report and take that back into the design and take a look at what they asked. We review it, and then go back out to present the responses. A lot of time things are integrated into our projects because of public involvement—it might determine the project alignment or add an amenity. Comments received are addressed in the NEPA document and the project may or may not be changed to reflect the comments. results of the public involvement. Comments get serious consideration and a response. Capture comments and compare them to guiding themes and policies to determine whether policy should be changed or looked at differently. Policies are based on certain rationale and public comments are a good way of examining those rationales. Comments collected, reviewed and evaluated.

PUBLIC INVOLVEMENT PROCESS (Communicating Public Input and Commitments) QUESTION 28: How are public/agency commitments/permit requirements/etc. tracked by the agency through each phase of the process? Departments of Transportation Metropolitan Planning Organizations Transit Agencies Local Governments Include an environmental commitment page in all of the documents—every agency/bureau through development of the project is supposed to look at that environmental commitment page and make sure they are fulfilling the environmental commitment. Mitigation monitoring program that would include any concerns from the public and tracked in each district. ETDM allows the process to track comments and identify a controversy and further studies that are needed. Currently document on a static green sheet in the project file. Most of the commitments are in the pre-construction arena so before it goes to construction they certify that they have completed everything and that the project plans reflect that. Going to work with AASHTO to improve the process. Attach a commitment to each project—usually done at the end. Formally done via memos; computerized project tracking system. They use Tracker. Commitment sheet goes with the contract when the project is let. Project status software database that environmental staff uses to track commitments. Documented in meeting notes. Report includes Feasibility Assessment We track them as part of our public involvement plan. Through the database and coordination with the County based on identified performance measures. Kind of MPO and kind of DOT. Coordination through Community Traffic Safety Teams—safety issues received via a letter or email and forwarded to the community traffic safety teams. As a line item in the project database. Included in the executive summary (available on the web). Online comment form— reviewed/approved and posted on web. Written comments are put in PDF and posted online. Maintain database of comments received and maintain file—documented and included in any plan done (supporting documentation). Meeting notes/minutes; number of response cards; replies to the public; response and changes that may be illustrated within the plan and justification of the final plan. As far as making commitment to hold meetings with Citizens Advisory Group, they will call us on it if we don’t follow up. Informally the tracking system is the Office of Public Affairs. On our major documents like the long range transportation plan and our They have a process, but it is not handled by her group. We are governed by a project manager oversight group that tracks everything. Meeting minutes with submitted comments attached to the report. Internal responsibility to make sure comments are addressed through our work. Tracked on a webpage; participate in meetings and provide input; write reports and strategies. 74

75 PUBLIC INVOLVEMENT PROCESS (Communicating Public Input and Commitments) QUESTION 28: How are public/agency commitments/permit requirements/etc. tracked by the agency through each phase of the process? Departments of Transportation Metropolitan Planning Organizations Transit Agencies Local Governments commitments. Vital information is placed in the Project Reporting System. In the process of putting together commitment tracking information in the DOT’s internal software. Green sheets are put in the front of environmental documents to show special commitments made. current subarea plans, we have an appendix that addresses all comments, that documents all comments. They maintain a record of public comments through the project development phase and pass these along to the appropriate agencies. DEFINITIONS OF SUCCESSFUL, EFFECTIVE, AND COST-EFFECTIVE PUBLIC INVOLVEMENT QUESTION 29: How do you define successful public involvement? Departments of Transportation Metropolitan Planning Organizations Transit Agencies Local Governments Not being taken to court; good turnout; public appears to understand; meaningful feedback. When the public doesn’t have any questions. Equitable access to decision-making and offers opportunities for input which is then carefully considered when making transportation decisions. When it is multifaceted; when people show up at the meetings; when concerns are raised that we address those issues to the point that the citizen or communities are satisfied with the answer, even if it is not the answer they want, at least they buy into the process. If the public is made aware of proposed projects and proposed transportation improvement projects in their area and if they are made aware and they have had an opportunity to review the project and When we can touch a representative set of our population and get meaningful input from them and that result in a plan that reflects the priorities of our community—a genuine representation of our communities’ priorities. Quality over quantity. When the public shows up to participate and help develop plans they support instead of just arguing against things. When the project, if it is a good project, goes forward—everyone knows what is going to happen and feels good about it. When people feel that they understand what is going on and they feel that they have given their input and it was heard and will be used. When the stakeholders are happy with the process, even if they don’t agree with the project, if they felt like they had a fair shake. Anybody whose life is affected by the decision has an opportunity to be involved in the process. If we don’t have a lot of negative reactions, that’s sometimes good. Reaching out to a wider audience. Larger numbers and different people attending.

DEFINITIONS OF SUCCESSFUL, EFFECTIVE, AND COST-EFFECTIVE PUBLIC INVOLVEMENT QUESTION 29: How do you define successful public involvement? Departments of Transportation Metropolitan Planning Organizations Transit Agencies Local Governments review project information along the way and they have an opportunity to comment and submit their input and they have been made aware every step of the way. When we’re able to deliver a project that satisfies or at least addresses the critical needs of the traveling public and that people generally at least understand and accept. Having a better decision than what you set out to do. Informed consent. When we receive input that helped us make good decisions and a better product that is long lasting and people can look back and say it is a good project. Depends on the overall goal—sometimes you can have successful public involvement and never even build the project. The public knows about the project and they have accurate information about the project. When we have people who have gone through a process that they feel like they are able to have their opinion voiced whether or not it is necessarily followed they at least feel that their information or ideas submitted have been heard and has been thoughtfully considered. When the input has been received by the affected population community that indicates that they have an increased knowledge of the subject and that it has encouraged dialogue. Trying to establish and get a cross section of the entire population. When a person who has never come to one of the meetings before says this is very interesting—I will come again and participate again. Having spirited public meetings. Getting people to be less suspicious of government agencies. Answering questions on an individual basis. When the MPO and the public interact in a willing and open way and by receiving information, that information helps shape the decision-making process and helps address substantive issues of the community. When we can say with any plan or project we are involved in that the people who will be impacted by it understand well in advance what the project entails. 76

77 DEFINITIONS OF SUCCESSFUL, EFFECTIVE, AND COST-EFFECTIVE PUBLIC INVOLVEMENT QUESTION 30: How do you define effective public involvement? Departments of Transportation Metropolitan Planning Organizations Transit Agencies Local Governments Do not have a definition for effective public involvement. A good turnout and the people seem to understand what is going on and provide meaningful feedback. Successful and effective public involvement is the same. Providing folks, stakeholders, partners, and general public with timely opportunities to comment— early and clear, continuous, variety of ways to get involved. Getting people to show up and voice their opinion. People kept in the loop; they always knew what was going on; always had an opportunity to comment; no surprises. Got to have a project make sense to people that is doing the right thing at the right time at the right place—public involvement can be the filter that shows if it is successful and effective but may tell us it’s not the right project. An exchange of information—by the time you reach the conclusion, the public is there with you because they understand and went through the process. Successful and effective public involvement is the same. You get the buy-in into the problems and solutions and everyone has an understanding at how we arrived at the solution that we came to and they are in consensus with that. For the most part, effective is the same as successful. Lines blur between successful and effective. Successful and effective are the same thing. When everybody is engaged and that means the planners, the public, lawmakers, and decision makers. All on the same page and working for the common good and it is all transparent, and that will never, never happen. Successful and effective are the same thing. If effective, successful— having the dialogue and the exchange of ideas so that whatever plan or project we decide on in the end is much better because we have got the input from the people who live in the area who use the service that we are talking about that sort of thing that is going to be much better because we have got the opinion of folks who are users of the system. The same as successful. Low cost and successful. Having 200 people show up but if those people are not representative of the population, it might not be effective. When get information from the public and they are able to use it and incorporate it into the plan. Not only when they get information from the public that helps the MPO understand the public’s issues, but when they are able to provide information to the public Successful and effective are the same. Successful and effective are the same. Whatever you can do to achieve your goal is effective. Both are the same.

DEFINITIONS OF SUCCESSFUL, EFFECTIVE, AND COST-EFFECTIVE PUBLIC INVOLVEMENT QUESTION 30: How do you define effective public involvement? Departments of Transportation Metropolitan Planning Organizations Transit Agencies Local Governments Look at the strategies there were used for a particular population and whether it served the purpose with them. Get the public out and informed about the project. that helps them understand the MPO’s concerns. Same as successful. DEFINITIONS OF SUCCESSFUL, EFFECTIVE, AND COST-EFFECTIVE PUBLIC INVOLVEMENT QUESTION 31: How do you define cost-effective public involvement? Departments of Transportation Metropolitan Planning Organizations Transit Agencies Local Governments They don’t. They don’t. They don’t. Never tied public involvement back to cost— it cost what it cost. Written into annual budget (i.e., advertising). Consider costs when negotiating scopes of work for consultants to conduct public involvement activities. Engaging a sufficient number of stakeholders to reveal the pertinent issues and receive meaningful input that could affect project outcomes. The application of common sense—adopting an attitude that the public is an important part of the process and how can we do this in a low-cost way beginning with our day-to- day operations and how we do our jobs. Build good projects, not great ones, with an emphasis on improving the state system—end up with a great system. Currently not defined. Depends—sometimes can spend a ton of money and Getting sufficient input from a broad base of the public without compromising on the representation. Try to do the most that we can with the least amount possible. Do not define the cost. Spending money on human resources, those that go out and talk to people. People put so much emphasis on cost- effectiveness and cost benefit ratios and almost invariably if you look only at that, he thinks that rural communities are at a disadvantage from day one. If you are looking to serve the most number of people for the amount of money all the money is only going to your highly populated areas. It is more did I get, am I building relationships with people or is our name getting out there, are we getting email addresses of people that we can then stay in touch with so that it is not just a one time shot in the dark but ongoing, building knowledge, building understanding, building relationships. Same as successful and effective public involvement because if you don’t do it right up front, it is going to cost you more in the long run. Most cost-effective way—do the right thing up front and put the resources in it to make sure that you do it effectively. Depends on what you are trying to promote. Keeping it as cheap as possible in terms of cost— the smallest percentage of your budget with maximum effectiveness. If they set a budget and can realize it and they don’t go over and don’t have to borrow money from another part of the project. 78

79 not be effective and sometimes spend very little money and be very effective. The number of people in attendance versus the money spent. It doesn’t cost more than the plan. Don’t have a huge budget, but have staff resources. Depending on who you are trying to reach out to, cost- effectiveness is sometimes not the issue. Have never viewed it in terms of is it effective or is it cost-effective. Unknown. MEASURES OF EFFECTIVENESS QUESTION 32: What are the outcomes you expect from your public involvement efforts? Departments of Transportation Metropolitan Planning Organizations Transit Agencies Local Governments Agreement but not necessarily that they solve everybody’s problems or that everybody is in agreement with what the DOT is doing, but that the public understands what the DOT is doing and that the DOT has met the requirements for public involvement. That no one is surprised when that project appears in their neighborhood. Making sure that all interested parties have an opportunity to comment in an equitable manner, early, clearly, and continuously. Outcomes come directly from goals. Expect to get an idea of whether or not the public likes the project. That the public is made aware of a proposed project in their area and they have the opportunity to get their feedback to us. That they are made aware, that they’re educated on the project and that they have an opportunity to know who to contact or who to talk with. Consensus is top priority. The community is aware and they can make the best informed decision possible. Would like to see an improvement in public involvement—attendance wanes and it is hard to keep people interested in such a mundane subject such as transportation planning. Not just letting people show up to complain about something, you are getting people showing up who want something and sometimes that is the same thing, but not always. Meaningful feedback for policy makers. We do get meaningful feedback in the sense of people will support transit, but haven’t found quite yet that leadership is really listening and really considering. Public involvement is still not viewed very seriously. Hope answer is same as the answer to “How do you define successful public involvement.” Having people that are submitting comments, Haven’t figured out how to do that. Getting people to come to a meeting because they knew about it. Meaningful input from the public. A Record of Decision and an environmental document that is believable. On a personal level for the team—the feeling of ownership and that they have performed something significant, in a timely efficient and the most cost efficient.

MEASURES OF EFFECTIVENESS QUESTION 32: What are the outcomes you expect from your public involvement efforts? Departments of Transportation Metropolitan Planning Organizations Transit Agencies Local Governments you can always go back to the number of people that come to your meeting that you talked to, numbers of comments, hits on websites, numbers of meetings, etc. One of the measurable outcomes—is the project the right project and is it going forward? Better and more enlightened decisions and a more informed public. Informed consent. Consensus and buy-in for the project. A project that is completed and agreed upon in a collaborative way that might not necessarily address all of the concerns of everybody, but a consensus was reached. A livable project with all stakeholders. An informed public. People who are better coming to meetings. educated on what the plans are, what the process is, how they can be engaged should they choose to be. A more knowledgeable public, improved communication between the public and the planning process, the planners, and a better substantiation of the plan that results from the process. That the public involvement process is seriously taken into account by policy leaders when we are doing any of our policy documents. Getting new people to come to meetings, media to write stories about us, and a diverse group at our events. Expecting better information from the public regarding what they see as major issues. When a construction crew shows up on the highway, the public will have been made aware of that prior to it happening and they have had some opportunity if they wish to weigh in on that decision to send in the construction crew. Measurable outcomes— 80

81 MEASURES OF EFFECTIVENESS QUESTION 33: Have you developed quantitative/qualitative measures for the effectiveness of your public involvement? Departments of Transportation Metropolitan Planning Organizations Transit Agencies Local Governments No. Rudimentary on their part— not sophisticated. Keep rolls and head counts. Yes—document sent to interviewer. No. Measure the things we can—number of meetings, number of newsletters distributed, amount of project correspondence sent out, display expenditures, number of brochures, etc. No. No. Have done a few—looking for other ways to measure what they are doing. Hard because it is not hard and fast. No. Evaluate project in terms of what you think worked and did not work. Looking for scientific numbers—would have to hire someone to do that for us. No. Their public participation plan has a section in it that talks about how to evaluate all of our things. Yes and no. individual evaluations based on number of newsletters distributed, etc. going to use clicker to vote anonymously during meetings. Required by FHWA. Sign-in sheets for meetings. Did evaluation reports for a long time, but kept changing how we wanted to do things because things were changing in the whole network of possibilities so the numbers were not comparable after. Can’t judge the secondary and tertiary effects of public involvement. None that are written. Not specifically outlined yet. Do some informal tracking—number of e- newsletters distributed, etc. Yes, the usual number of people in attendance, website hits, what is the actual feedback. In various aspects—in the area of air quality they clearly have. Post season surveys. Don’t have any formal way of measuring this. Do a debriefing session with staff and talk about what worked and what didn’t. Developed ways to evaluate the tools. In public participation plan, identified all the tools used and have performance goals and how they evaluate success. Unknown. No. No. No. Yes, they are doing the reporting. Ask everybody to debrief on specifics.

MEASURES OF EFFECTIVENESS QUESTION 34: Do those measures include measures of the equity or inclusiveness of your public involvement to assure that your efforts target groups that are traditionally underrepresented in the decision making process and underserved by transportation facilities? Departments of Transportation Metropolitan Planning Organizations Transit Agencies Local Governments Not applicable. Don’t have any measures. These include measures for equity or inclusiveness. First objective is equity— provide equitable access to transportation decision- making. One of the indicators is access to information and participation opportunities by persons with disabilities, convenience of meetings and events to public transportation when available, geographic dispersion, convenience of meeting and time and locations. Not applicable. Once into project, may identify groups and need to take a different approach. More opportunity to do so in larger projects. Not applicable. Not applicable. It is the Tracker/Tracker Performance Measures on website. Not applicable. Not applicable. Not applicable. Yes, there are specific sections that deal with environmental justice. They do not have a formal process, but their Community Characteristics Program provides them with good information. The MPO tries to get to all of the people as much as possible. We found this didn’t work. They don’t have any measures of effectiveness. No measures of effectiveness. Nominally. We don’t. Yes. They cover a variety of populations. They have never established performance measures. Transit equity is a big deal for us. Found that the criteria that we use for where we put service is using ridership number 1— transit equity follows because the more transit dependent a neighborhood is the more the ridership potential. No. No. Yes. 82

83 MEASURES OF EFFECTIVENESS QUESTION 35: How do you measure the cost-effectiveness of your public involvement activities? Departments of Transportation Metropolitan Planning Organizations Transit Agencies Local Governments The DOT does what it takes to do public involvement. Do what it takes to do public involvement. Really don’t. Do not measure this. We don’t. The DOT does what it takes to do public involvement. Better and more enlightened decisions and a more informed and involved public. We have not developed any quantitative measures for effectiveness. Do not measure this. Do not measure this. Do what it takes. Do not measure cost- effectiveness. They are in our Public transportation plan with an extension matrix in that plan. Broken down into optional and required activities—try to do as many of the optional activities as are feasible within the cost and time of the project. For each activity, we have a number of different measurements for what meets the requirements. Doesn’t think this is done per se—just ensure that what they do is effective. They don’t. Have in the past. Put together numbers that showed how much we spent on it. Don’t normally do that. They don’t. Do not do this. Do not measure it. Do not measure cost- effectiveness. Doesn’t know. They don’t. Doesn’t know. They don’t. They don’t. They don’t do this. Tracking all of the miscellaneous expenses for public involvement.

EFFECTIVE, COST-EFFECTIVE, AND INEFFECTIVE TECHNIQUES QUESTION 36: What specific techniques have been most effective? Departments of Transportation Metropolitan Planning Organizations Transit Agencies Local Governments Informal public involvement meeting. Open house with all aspects of the project in one place; meeting location that is in the project area and accessible; information booths/kiosks at school/community events; coordinating with churches. Targeted meetings with various interested groups/parties; little targeted group meetings; identify various groups and meeting in their place, in their language. Piggyback on community based organizations; flyers/letters; talk with people in the community. Quarterly newsletters, open houses, project specific websites, project offices for larger projects. Small group and one-on- one meetings Visualization; before/after photos, Google earth, and aerial imagery; morphs and drive-thrus; simulation and videos. Open house public meetings; interpreters; large print materials, as requested; websites (track repeat visitors and break down by district). Meetings with elected officials and general public, place making, charettes, workshops; aerial maps with nothing on them— collect input from public about their community and concerns. Going out to the public and showing them aerial maps with nothing on them. Community level meetings. Blocks and ribbons; clicker, brochures; animations; piggybacking on other events. Strings and ribbons, brochures, piggybacking on other events. Small discussion groups; constant contact with the people you are working with; special targeted meetings. Open house meetings; meetings with groups/neighborhoods; in rural areas, contact community leaders. Online outreach—e- newsletters, partnership with libraries (online survey), radio advertising. Charettes—give participants blank slate and let them build; visuals; one- on-one conversation; school-based work; maps and traffic counts on website. One-on-one meetings within the community. Emails; personalization; Dots and Dashes game; news articles. Advisory committees. One-on-one community meetings. Door-to-door meetings; bus/train meetings; one-on- one meetings; open houses; going to churches, community centers, community organizations, hair salons. Partnerships with other organizations. Surveys—online and out in the community; go to senior centers and the housing authority. One-on-one meetings; working with community liaisons (i.e., Korean liaison). 84

85 EFFECTIVE, COST-EFFECTIVE, AND INEFFECTIVE TECHNIQUES QUESTION 36: What specific techniques have been most effective? Departments of Transportation Metropolitan Planning Organizations Transit Agencies Local Governments them to know. branched out enough for EFFECTIVE, COST-EFFECTIVE, AND INEFFECTIVE TECHNIQUES QUESTION 37: What specific techniques have been most cost-effective? Departments of Transportation Metropolitan Planning Organizations Transit Agencies Local Governments DOT has not been concerned that much with cost—whatever it takes. Open houses in the project area spread over time and in different geographic locations. Piggybacking on other meetings. Direct invites; send information home with kids. Websites, open house meetings. Area engineers and local public affairs managers out in the community talking with people; working with local officials; news releases. Common sense and adopting an attitude that the public is an important part of the process and figuring out how to involve the public in low cost ways beginning with day-to-day operations and how we do our jobs. They use their own staff members rather than consultant staff at their public meetings. Being cost-effective depends on the project. Taking maps into the community and talking with them; surveys sent home with kids (for kids and parents). Information table at school. Workshops. Going to the community; blocks and ribbons. Don’t measure cost- effectiveness. Small group meetings. Working with key community leaders/personal visits. Online outreach. In-house staff to go out into the public; Facebook. Do not measure cost- effectiveness. Website and email blasts. Email announcements. Focused group meetings that we have been invited to participate in someone’s neighborhood association meeting. Haven’t done a good job with Hispanic and Vietnamese communities— don’t go out and meet one- on-one with these communities because we don’t speak the language. Focused group meetings; neighborhood meetings; build relationships in community; be a resource for the community. Using community based organizations. Flyers and mailings; announcements at council meetings. Signs on the road (variable message signs and static signs); website. Doesn’t think DOT has

EFFECTIVE, COST-EFFECTIVE, AND INEFFECTIVE TECHNIQUES QUESTION 38: What specific techniques have been ineffective? Departments of Transportation Metropolitan Planning Organizations Transit Agencies Local Governments Newspaper as the only means of advertisement. Newspaper advertising. Meeting location that is not in the project location or difficult to find; meetings at inconvenient times. Putting information in the paper. Advertisements in the newspaper. Traditional public hearing with assigned time to speak (3 minute limits, etc.). Can’t think of anything ineffective. Newspaper advertising. Going out with a plan that’s already prepared. Newspaper advertisements. Mail lists based on the tax assessor information only (excludes renters). Putting an ad in the paper. Using PR firms and for- profit organizations. Talking head workshops. Advertising a poster session. Public meetings with maps on walls. Newspaper advertising. Newspaper advertising. Open houses (a couple) to discuss the long range plan. Newspaper advertising; too many meetings. Sending out flyers indiscriminately; newspaper advertising. Newspaper advertising. Using government buildings as meeting locations. Public hearing; newspaper advertising. Public hearings for service changes; newspaper advertising. Don’t know what is ineffective. Newspaper advertising (most expensive ads). EFFECTIVE, COST-EFFECTIVE, AND INEFFECTIVE TECHNIQUES QUESTION 39: Distinguish these by segments of the public that you target (limited English proficiency, low literacy, elderly/disabled, those without access to public transportation, second/third shift workers, single mothers with children, other underrepresented groups)? Departments of Transportation Metropolitan Planning Organizations Transit Agencies Local Governments Meet with minority groups in churches; post flyers; early meetings where there is high unemployment; various meeting times. LEP—same techniques, different language; Elderly/Disabled—field surveys, community centers, retirement homes/communities, vanpools. LEP—Distribute notices in various languages, use community leaders; Elderly—schedule Use community based partners; post fliers in community health clinics and public agencies. Go out into the community; Low Literacy—one-on-one communication, assist with paperwork; LEP—use CCP to identify areas and use proper tools—assist with sign-in, use videos, use radio; Elderly/Disabled— ADA accessible facilities, work with local coordinating board; Single Moms— welcome kids at meetings. LEP—alternative languages, attend community functions, provide translation services, door-to-door meetings, use more symbols; Elderly/Disabled—ADA accessible buses, large print materials, coordinate with Ride Connections (non-profit group to assist in spreading the word). Tailor material, marketing and message to particular audience. LEP—provide translator; alternative languages for materials/announcements; Elderly/Disabled—ADA accessible facilities, distribute announcements at senior facilities. LEP—alternative languages for materials, use community liaisons, piggyback on community events; Elderly/Disabled— large print materials, readable in gray scale (for those who are color blind); No Transportation— 86

87 EFFECTIVE, COST-EFFECTIVE, AND INEFFECTIVE TECHNIQUES QUESTION 39: Distinguish these by segments of the public that you target (limited English proficiency, low literacy, elderly/disabled, those without access to public transportation, second/third shift workers, single mothers with children, other underrepresented groups)? Departments of Transportation Metropolitan Planning Organizations Transit Agencies Local Governments meetings around elderly schedule (supper/early bird). LEP and Elderly/Disabled—meetings in their neighborhoods; Low Literacy—court recorders; No Transportation— coordinate shuttles; 2nd/3rd shift—schedule meetings in between shifts at various locations; Moms w/ Kids—provide color books/crayons. LEP—received good feedback from local town managers and mayors, contact newspapers and ask for assistance on translating ads and writing some sort of article to help get the word out. Low Literate—identify group through development of public involvement plan. Elderly/disabled—yes. Active discussion to identify who the stakeholders are. Child care and food—never provided child care or food at meetings. Have served light refreshment, but not the norm. Have had occasional activity to keep younger folks occupied (color books/crayons, reading books). Low Literacy—talk with people and explain things to them, help them sign in, use television or radio (information/news releases); Hearing/Visually Impaired—hearing assistive devices, large print versions; No Transportation—coordinate with others to transport people; Moms w/ Kids— Low Literacy—animations; Elderly/Disabled—go out to them, work with transportation disadvantaged board. Work with their representatives. LEP—provide alternative languages; Low Literate— use court reporter; Elderly/Disabled—late afternoon/early evening meetings (4:00–8:00 p.m.). Low Literacy—use networks through social work; contact volunteer center(s). LEP—networks through social work; volunteer center(s), census data. LEP—translator for meetings, no low literacy, transportation for the elderly, on-call transport for those with no cars, multiple meetings for shifts, no child care. LEP—use alternative language media contacts, work with church groups; Elderly/Disabled—work with senior citizen homes, go to them; No Transportation—use locations with access to public transportation. LEP—provide translators, visual displays— before/after photos/drawings; No Transportation—broadcast phone number and publish it in newspaper ad to arrange travel; 2nd/3rd shift—move meetings around (different times/locations). LEP—legal notices in foreign language meeting locations on transit routes, go out into communities as requested.

EFFECTIVE, COST-EFFECTIVE, AND INEFFECTIVE TECHNIQUES QUESTION 39: Distinguish these by segments of the public that you target (limited English proficiency, low literacy, elderly/disabled, those without access to public transportation, second/third shift workers, single mothers with children, other underrepresented groups)? Departments of Transportation Metropolitan Planning Organizations Transit Agencies Local Governments bring kids to meeting, serve food. LEP—mailings in alternative languages, translation services; Low Literate—be more observant of those that might have trouble reading and explain what they are viewing, provide assistance in writing comments; Elderly/Disabled—ADA accessible locations, afternoon/early evening meetings; Visually Challenged—large print materials and narration; Moms w/ Kids—provide coloring sheets and fun things. LEP—alternative languages, use church contacts and community centers. LEP—provide interpreters; 2nd/3rd shift—day and evening hours. LEP—work with community members as translators; Elderly/Disabled—use senior facilities, coordinate with bus service; No Transportation—use the website, emails to commuters and carpools; Single Moms—provide food (bought or donated). LEP—provide interpreters; Elderly/Disabled—include phone number in ad to request special services. newspapers, website translatable into most common languages; Low Literacy—visualization; radio advertising. Can’t say they do anything specific to target them— have always targeted in terms of either area-wide or a specific geographic region of the MPO study area. Never done it by LEP or other kinds of segments. 88

89 LEVERAGING RELATIONSHIPS QUESTION 40: How do you leverage your public involvement efforts to make them more effective or cost- effective (e.g., partnering with community organizations (NGOs), other public agencies, the media or others)? Departments of Transportation Metropolitan Planning Organizations Transit Agencies Local Governments Do not leverage public involvement efforts. Partner with community groups, NGO, media. Getting together with other groups, going where they are, being part of their meetings, partnering with them, developing relationships with them; working with transportation disadvantaged local coordinating boards. Use groups that have inroads into the communities or are affiliated with other business organizations or mutually support each other; try to get the word out to those who will be directly impacted by the project. Piggybacked in the past, but that’s then norm (really a project by project thing). Use neighborhood associations, local advocacy groups like bike pad or ADA groups, local historic folks (as applicable). Work closely with organizations that have non-English speaking individuals as part of their membership to help conduct outreach.—you can’t do it without involving and getting the support of those groups that can outreach to the individuals you are trying to reach. Piggyback existing activities as much as possible; use Farm Bureau. They use community organizations, other public agencies, the media, and other organizations. Partnering with community organizations, other public agencies, the media. Piggyback; strings and ribbons game. Piggyback on existing activities; use governmental services people to coordinate with local officials. Not for public involvement. They have for highway safety meetings. You have to leverage— how else does one person reach 6 million people? You have to do what you can to try and reach as many people as possible with a limited amount of money that we have and limited staff resources. Radio station reads the plan to the blind, distributed surveys to schools, worked with non-profits. Maintain tremendous working relationships with United Way, Neighborhood Alliance, Urban League, and Latino Action Committee. They use community organizations, other public agencies, the media, and other organizations. Working with coalition of neighborhood Attend volunteer fire dept. spaghetti dinners, PTO/Parent Teacher Association meetings, festivals, chamber meetings, club/organization meetings/functions. Work with partnering organizations and piggyback on events. Piggyback on other media events. Partner early and do early communication.

LEVERAGING RELATIONSHIPS QUESTION 40: How do you leverage your public involvement efforts to make them more effective or cost- effective (e.g., partnering with community organizations (NGOs), other public agencies, the media or others)? Departments of Transportation Metropolitan Planning Organizations Transit Agencies Local Governments Local government meetings; churches. Presentations to non- profit group and other community based organizations. MPOs and send out information to the media. associations and making presentations. We work through partnerships with other agencies and through the media. 90