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91 APPENDIX D Tools, Techniques, and Examples of Their Use Utilizing the Internet and Intranet Using intranet surveys to reach downtown business employ- ees (Mr. Drew Joyner, North Carolina DOT, Raleigh, North Advertising an on-line corridor public meeting on MapQuest Carolina) (Mr. Bob Brendel, Missouri DOT, Jefferson City, Missouri) As part of the I-40 Business project in Winston­Salem, North Missouri's I-70 corridor project is approximately 200 miles long. Carolina, downtown business employees were surveyed about Because of the length of the corridor, the Missouri Department of whether they preferred to shut down a portion of I-40 Business Transportation (MoDOT) was looking for a cost-effective way to totally for two years or partially leave it open to traffic for six advertise a corridor-wide meeting that was also going to be years while reconstruction took place. Business owners and broadcast on-line. In 2009, they approached MapQuest and operators were identified using Chamber of Commerce and bought an ad that would pop up every time anyone searched for Downtown Business Partnership lists, as well as canvassing an address within a certain distance of their project. The pop-up individual office building lobbies. Phone calls and letters were ad told MapQuest users what the meeting was about, when it sent to the businesses and they were asked if they would embed would occur, and how to access the on-line presentation. The ad a hyperlink on their home page so that their employees could cost less than $100 to place and MoDOT estimated that more click on it, fill it out, and submit it to the consultant. This allowed than 140,000 people saw it. While all 140,000 MapQuest users downtown businesses owners and their employees to be sur- did not connect to the on-line meeting or attend the actual meet- veyed without leaving their seats. Targeting these individuals ing, MoDOT felt that those who had seen the pop-up ad were engaged both in-town residents and suburban commuters, a dif- more informed about the I-70 corridor project. Approximately ficult group to effectively and economically reach. This same 130 people attended the actual meeting and another 600 viewed techniques was used to inform businesses, and through them their the meeting on-line, with a high percentage of the on-line view- employees, about upcoming project events. ers submitting comments. After having reviewed the comments, MoDOT officials felt that the comments received from the on- Using Visualizations line viewers were generally better thought out and much more focused that those received from the public who attended the Using videos reaffirmed the axiom that a picture is worth a meeting. MoDOT's central office has shared the technique with thousand words (Mr. Karl Welzenbach, Volusia County MPO, its districts and they are looking into using this same technique Dayton Beach, Florida) on other corridor projects. Volusia County Florida Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO), asked Florida DOT (FDOT) to provide a video of the Using intranet surveys of school students to reach all popula- proposed improvements to Clyde Morris Boulevard for the proj- tions (Mr. Jabari Parker, Georgia DOT, Atlanta, Georgia) ect's public hearing. Prior to this, FDOT had only shown the city Georgia DOT (GDOT) was looking for a way to efficiently sur- representatives a two-dimensional typical section of the pro- vey a 32-county rural area in southwest Georgia about their posed improvements. While the city representatives assured transportation needs. Census information and individual school FDOT and the MPO they understood the typical sections, the enrollment information revealed that most counties were sparely MPO was concerned that the city representatives didn't truly populated, had high percentages of low-income populations, understand all of the project's ramifications. The MPO asked had high percentages of the populations with low educational FDOT to undertake a pilot project that would create videos of attainment, and several counties had minority majority popula- proposed improvements and to use the Clyde Morris Boule- tions. Information obtained from database marketing companies vard project as the first test case. FDOT presented a video that confirmed that a low percentage of the households in the 32-county showed the existing condition morphing into the proposed area had Internet connections. An e-mail blast to those identified improvements. When the video was shown to the city represen- by the database companies would have reached only those tatives, they realized that it was not at all what they had antici- households that could have afforded a computer and an Inter- pated. As a result of the video, the city representatives decided not net connection, and would not have reached those who were to pursue the improvements. In 2009, the total cost of FDOT's low income. In an attempt to utilize the Internet in a way that pilot project was $100,000 for 15 project videos. At approxi- would provide access to all income groups, and racial and eth- mately $6,700 per video, this equated to approximately 3% of the nic groups, the Superintendent of Education for each of the 32 money spent during the Planning, Development, and Environ- counties and 4 independent city school districts were con- mental phases of a typical project. The MPO posted the videos on tacted. They were asked if they would allow a hyperlink to be its website so they could be viewed by the general public. embedded on their individual intranet home pages so that their students could access a multi-question survey about their daily Creating videos of concepts that had not been used in use of the transportation system. Students accessed the survey Missouri (Mr. Bob Brendel, Missouri DOT, Jefferson City, from their computers in their school's computer lab, com- Missouri) pleted it, and submitted it on-line to the consultant. In addition, MoDOT has a multi-media unit in their central office that is paper copies of the surveys were sent to schools in other coun- available to all of their districts to use. Often, MoDOT shows a ties, filled out by hand, and returned by mail to the consultant. video at the beginning of meetings to prepare the public for what As a result, more than 4,400 surveys were completed and returned. they are going to see at the meeting. If they have a message or a Costs included making phone calls to the superintendents, concept that they can demonstrate visually instead of using sta- sending a follow-up letter to the superintendents, printing tic boards they do this. When MoDOT proposed reconstructing paper surveys, and sending stamped self-addressed packets of and widening I-70 truck only lanes, the first time this concept surveys to the schools. had been used in its state, they prepared a visualization that

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92 demonstrated how it would operate and what it would look like. "soccer moms" wanted a meeting that occurred before 3:00 p.m. The video was posted on YouTube and has been seen approxi- when their children got home from school, and those on the second mately 10,000 times during the past year. MoDOT feels that shift wanted a meeting that occurred when they were not work- using videos has helped the public understand the improvements ing. Each of these demographics wanted a meeting in downtown that are being proposed. Kingsport, a location that would also allow first shift downtown business employees to attend during their lunch hour. These Asking the public to take pictures of the things that are impor- meeting were held on a Wednesday at the Civic Auditorium and tant to them (Ms. Judith Dovers, Atlanta Regional Commission, generally attracted 100 or more attendees. The more traditional Atlanta, Georgia) evening meeting from 7:00­9:00 p.m. was held in the suburbs The Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC) in Georgia sponsored a and attended by traditional first shift workers and others who photo contest last year and asked people of all ages to take pho- lived in suburban Sullivan County. These were held on a Thurs- tographs, bring them to the ARC, and talk with ARC staff mem- day evening in the gym of one of the large Baptist churches and bers about what the images represented. ARC got the idea from the were generally attended by approximately 200 or more individ- Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning, Chicago's MPO, and uals. TDOT's willingness to seek input from the public, be flexi- used it for their two-year visioning project called "Fifty Forward." ble, and adapt to the publics' life and work schedules resulted in It was ARC's way of finding out what residents treasured and what larger turnouts at their meetings. they wanted changed. ARC put the pictures on Flickr so every- one visiting the site could see what others treasured or wanted Sunday afternoon and all day meetings (Mr. Mike Lobdell, changed. The contest involved not only the photography commu- Georgia DOT, Atlanta, Georgia) nity, but also a variety of local community-based organizations GDOT's Buford Highway project in Atlanta involved two major such as the Boys and Girls Clubs, Atlanta Celebrates Photography population groups, Hispanics and Asians (Koreans, Chinese, (Atlanta's annual photography festival), technical schools, col- and Vietnamese). The Hispanics composed approximately 90% leges, museums, and art shops. The ARC used Metro Cultural of those who lived, worked, and sent their children to school Coalition as their advisors and selected representatives of Care, along Buford Highway. The Koreans, Chinese, and Vietnamese Boys and Girls Club, the museum community, and Atlanta Cele- composed approximately 10% of the population and they owned brates Photography to judge the submissions and pick four win- or operated businesses along Buford Highway, but did not live ners. The winners were announced at an ARC breakfast and given along Buford Highway. Because of the language and cultural prizes such as Air Tran airline tickets and photography classes at differences, two distinctly different public involvement plans the Showcase Photography Studio. The pictures received during were developed to engage these populations. the contest showed ARC the different ways that people see things and think about them. One of the groups involved in sending ARC A citizens' advisory committee was formed with representa- photographs was the Savannah College of Art and Design. As a tives of community-based organizations, faith-based organiza- result of their interest, ARC is considering hiring a Savannah Col- tions, major property owners, advocacy groups, local elected offi- lege of Art and Design intern to help them communicate some of cials, and others. Two of the major property owners, Plaza Fiesta its work. ARC considered the event such a success that they are Shopping Center, and Mercado del Pueblo, and a community- going to hold the contest again next year. based organization, Center for Pan Asian Community Services, volunteered to provide space at their locations for meetings, sug- Holding the Meeting in the Right Place, on the Right Day, gested appropriate times for meetings, and agreed to provide at the Right Time interpreters. Advertisements were placed in the ethnic and main- stream newspapers, and on ethnic and mainstream radio and tele- Breakfast meetings (Mr. Eric Johnson, Sacramento Area vision stations. In addition, flyers in English and Spanish were Council of Governments (COG), Sacramento, California) given to school children who attend the schools within the corri- The Sacramento Area COG in California was trying to increase dor and they were asked to take them home to their parents. participation from its business community in their Metropolitan Transportation Plan. Rather than having a night meeting as they The first meeting for the Hispanic population was located in normally did, they had a breakfast meeting on a Friday morning the northern portion of the project corridor at Plaza Fiesta, the and experienced much more participation from the business com- largest shopping center in the project area, from 4:00­8:00 p.m. munity. They found the business community preferred to have on a Sunday. The shopping center provided four tables with set meetings before their work day began. ups and put them at each of the four entrances. They also pro- vided eight bi-lingual interpreters who conducted 345 oral sur- Middle of the day and evening meetings (Ms. Elizabeth Smith, veys. The second meeting for the Hispanic population was Tennessee DOT, Nashville, Tennessee) located in the southern portion of the project corridor at Mer- Tennessee DOT (TDOT) mailed out its first newsletter with an cado del Pueblo, the largest Hispanic grocery store in the proj- attached stamped self-addressed post card. On the post card ect area. It was held from 2:00­6:00 p.m. on a Sunday. One table were several questions including three concerning meeting with a set-up was provided and located opposite the bakery. logistics: what location is the most convenient for you (three Four bi-lingual interpreters were provided and they conducted locations were suggested and an "other" blank was provided), 168 oral surveys. The oral surveys were conducted by bi-lingual what time of the day or night is most convenient for you (two- English/Spanish interpreters because many in the Hispanic com- hour increments beginning at 9:00 a.m. and ending at 9:00 p.m. munity did not read Spanish or English. The surveys asked three were provided), and what day of the week or weekend is the most questions, with the first being do you think there are too few, convenient for you to attend a meeting (Monday through Sunday enough, or not enough sidewalks, street lights, bus shelters, sig- were provided). Approximately 15% of the 4,000 post cards were nalized intersections, etc., on Buford Highway. The answers to returned with two times of the day or night chosen more often than this question would be used to influence roadway's redesign. others. The time period that garnered the highest response was The second question was what do you cross Buford Highway to 7:00­9:00 p.m. and the second highest was 11:00 a.m.­1:00 p.m. get to--a grocery store, school, bank, medical clinic, etc. This Kingsport, Tennessee, is a retirement destination, has a large num- question was asked in order to identify "desire lines" between ber of active "soccer moms," and has a large number of second one side of the roadway and another. Mid-block crossings shift employees. The older adults wanted a daylight meeting, the would be studied to see if they were feasible given that signal-

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93 ized intersections were more than one mile apart. The third Providing the public with transportation to a meeting (Mr. Peter question asked what would be the best way to get project infor- Bond, Caltrans, Sacramento, California) mation to them--which newspaper, radio station, television, Within one of the California DOT's (Caltrans') project areas, church, etc. This question was asked because no personal con- there were several large retirement homes. In an attempt to tact information was requested in order not to frighten away those engage this portion of the population, Caltrans provided vans to who might have questionable legal status. pick up the residents, bring them to the open house meeting, and return them to the retirement homes. The Center for Pan Asian Community Services set up appoint- ments for personal meetings with three Korean, three Chinese, Holding open house meetings (Mr. Peter Bond, Caltrans, and three Vietnamese business owners and operators at their Sacramento, California) places of businesses. These meetings were scheduled and con- Caltrans' version of an open house meeting brings all aspects of the ducted by interpreters in each language. Each individual was project to one place under one roof in a location within the project interviewed using the same survey that had been conducted with area that is accessible to all. Typically nine Caltrans staff members the Hispanic population. attend and are stationed at tables located around the room. Each table is dedicated to a different aspect of the project such as envi- The results of the surveys were summarized and incorpo- ronmental, design, right-of-way, construction, etc. By bringing rated into the redesign of the project. The meetings were adver- together these individuals, the public can get all of their questions tised in mainstream and ethnic newspapers, radio, and televi- answered at one meeting. Generally it takes people 45 minutes or sion; announced from church pulpits; and distributed as flyers more to go around the room and stop at each table. Prior to the left at each apartment complex (in English and Spanish), at meeting, Caltrans advertised in the local newspapers and some- every business (in English, Spanish, Korean, Chinese, and times flyered or left door hangers throughout the project area. The Vietnamese), and taken home by school students (in English advertisement and flyers provide basic information about project, and Spanish). In addition, posters in English and Spanish were as well as the date, time, and location of the open house meeting. left with businesses. For the first time, GDOT created temporary large metal roadside signs in English/Spanish, English/Korean, Leveraging Relationships English/Chinese, and English/Vietnamese. Partnering with others (Mr. Bob Parson, Michigan DOT, A 4-foot by 16-foot display of the corridor was created and Lansing, Michigan) photographs of landmarks such as Kentucky Fried Chicken, the One of the innovative things that Michigan DOT (MDOT) did as Latin American Association, and Plaza Fiesta were located part of their State Long Range Plan was to partner with the state along the corridor so that the public could orient themselves. In library of Michigan. The library helped MDOT with its outreach addition, before and after visualizations were located on the dis- to traditionally underrepresented populations who frequented plays to show what the proposed improvements would look like. libraries and used the library's computers. MDOT conducted a Almost no written language was shown on the displays. Smaller marketing effort that appealed to the libraries and worked with the boards were also provided in English/Spanish, English/Korean, libraries that agreed to participate. English/Chinese, and English/Vietnamese. On these was an item- ized list of improvements the public had identified in the oral Piggybacking on a high school football game (Mr. Peter Bond, surveys. Next to this list was a description of what was proposed Caltrans, Sacramento, California) for the corridor. This was done so that the public could see that California's Central Valley is like small town America, where their input had been incorporated into the roadway design. football is a religion. In these small farming communities, high school football games are a major event that is attended by most A second public involvement event was scheduled at Plaza of the community. Several times Caltrans has piggybacked on Fiesta on a Sunday from 4:00­8:00 p.m. for the Hispanic popula- these high school football games and set up an information tion to view the displays and talk with bi-lingual interpreters. More booth in the stadium during games. It has been an effective way than several hundred people viewed the displays, talked with to engage a large part of the population simply by knowing interpreters, and filled out comments sheets. A court recorder where they were going and following them. Caltrans has used and a bi-lingual interpreter were also available. this technique not only on specific projects, but also on updates of its California Transportation Plan. Prior to arriving, Caltrans The survey with the Korean, Chinese, and Vietnamese busi- distributes flyers or door hangers throughout the project area or ness owners and operators revealed that there was no one time sends information to churches and schools. period that was convenient for business owners and operators to attend a meeting; therefore, the meeting was scheduled for a Identifying gatekeepers to Marysville's Hmong population Thursday at the Center for Pan Asian Community Services (Mr. Peter Bond, Caltrans, Sacramento, California) between 10:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m. In the past, the Korean, Chi- Caltrans' Third River bridge crossing replacement project was nese, and Vietnamese communities had not responded to invita- located in Marysville, a small town about 30 miles north of tions by flyers and advertisements as they felt these were too Sacramento. By analyzing preliminary demographic informa- impersonal. Therefore, Korean, Chinese, and Vietnamese inter- tion, Caltrans' staff identified a large Hmong community living preters were hired to build a telephone tree. They were asked to in the town. Prior to the first community information meeting, spend eight hours telephoning friends, family, businesses, local Caltrans sent out flyers to local residents to provide them with associations, civic clubs, and other similar groups and person- information about the project and let them know the date, time, ally invite individuals and members to the public information and place for the meeting. During the meeting, the Caltrans proj- open house at the Center for Pan Asian Community Services. ect manager noticed that no one from the Hmong community More than 100 business owners and operators and members of was present. He asked others in the town about the Hmong and the general public attended the meeting. Handouts were pro- found out that they had escaped from Laos where the government vided in English/Korean, English/Chinese, and English/Viet- had tried to exterminate them. It occurred to him that this experi- namese; interpreters were available in all languages; and a court ence might make the Hmong apprehensive about getting an invi- recorder with interpreters was also available. tation from a government entity such as Caltrans and reluctant to

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94 attend a government-sponsored meeting. With the help of local represented a four-foot sidewalk, and blue string a six-foot residents, the project manager identified school teachers and sidewalk. These materials were used because of the MPO had clergy members that the Hmong trusted. He asked them to invite limited funds to spend and string and ribbon were inexpensive the Hmong community to the next community information meet- and could easily be glued to maps. The MPO wanted to use the ing. Leveraging the relationships the school teachers and the interactive game to accomplish the following: clergy had with the Hmong resulted in some members of the Hmong community participating in the second community infor- · Increase the number and diversity of participants in the mation meeting. Realizing that the middle-aged and older regional planning process, Hmong spoke mostly Hmong and very little English, Caltrans · Make the process more interesting and enjoyable for both translated its follow-up invitations into Hmong. Engaging this their staff and the public, community was possible because Caltrans understood the com- · Transfer complicated information more easily between munity's history, identified trusted caretakers, leveraged those their staff and the public, and relationships, and translated materials into Hmong. · Identify specific needs in the context of cost and available revenue for their 1998 Transportation Improvement Plan. Playing Interactive Games The MPO found that the standard way of doing things wasn't Several fiscally constrained interactive games have been devel- working, wasn't any fun, and as a result no one showed up for oped as public involvement tools. These are often used as part of their meetings. Using strings and ribbons, they created a game the public involvement process for prioritizing elements of the that was low tech, low cost, lots of fun, and people wanted to following: play. The participants could buy roads of various types and sizes, bridges of various widths, different bus transit services, · Long range transportation plan, variable width sidewalks, trails, bus shelters, traffic signals, · Short term transportation plans, buses and drivers, landscaping, and other features. As a result, · Statewide transportation improvement programs, the following happened: · Transportation improvement programs, and · Project specific plans. · The number of participants increased. · The diversity of participants increased, These interactive games are used because they do the fol- · The events were more fun for both the public and the MPO lowing: staff, and · Complicated information was easily transferred between · Engage the public beyond traditional "decision points" the public and staff. meetings, · Educate the public on why and how transportation plans The Center for Neighborhood Technology's Transopoly, Neigh- and programs are developed and their process, borhood Transopoly, and eTransopoly (Ms. Jacky Grimshaw, · Educate the elected officials and professionals as to the Center for Neighborhood Technology, Chicago, Illinois) perceived needs of the public, In 2001, Chicago's Center for Neighborhood Technology cre- · Provide concrete examples of desired projects, · Avoid lecturing to the public, and ated a trio of strings and ribbons offshoots called "Transopoly, · Ensure active/true public involvement and allow immedi- Neighborhood Transopoly, and eTransopoly." This non-profit ate hands-on participation. advocacy group utilized Transopoly, a game played with rib- bons as part of their Long Range Transportation Plan process. These interactive games offer a number of advantages over The game documented the public's suggested inputs to the Long traditional public involvement such as the following: Range Transportation Plan, which then was sent to the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning. In past years information · Leveling the playing field by giving every resident the had been collected at small group meetings held throughout the same amount of money and influence; area. From this information, a series of small group reports was · Eliminating the conflict between the public and the agency drafted and returned to the game players for them to verify that by requiring the public to reach a consensus among them- their vision, values, problems, and solutions had been correctly selves; stated. Once public approval was obtained an area plan was pre- · Relying on almost no written information so all residents, pared. After all of the area plans were completed, one over- including the low literate, limited English proficient, and reaching plan was created for the region. The game has been visually impaired can play; played with residents who could not read, did not speak English, · Providing project-specific recommendations; and were hearing and visually impaired. · Constructing maps that visually document the residents' transportation choices; Volusia County MPO's Long Range Transportation Plan Ver- · Letting residents explain their choices to others; sion (Mr. Karl Welzenbach, Volusia County MPO, Daytona · Including a mechanism to rank their choices under fiscally Beach, Florida) constrained conditions; In 2004, the Volusia County (Florida) MPO used a variation of · Accommodating any number of residents; and strings and ribbons to promote public involvement in its 2025 · Taking approximately one to two hours to play. Long Range Transportation Plan (http:www.vcmpo2025.com/ input.html). The MPO played games at more than 30 different Charlotte County/Punta Gorda MPO's Strings and Ribbons locations, engaged more that 691 people, and identified more (Ms. Lisa Beaver and Ms. Nancy Wagner, Punta Gorda, than 1,900 projects for consideration. The Volusia County MPO Florida) displayed each map by date of session on its website and took In 1998, the Charlotte County/Punta Gorda (Florida) MPO the improvements identified by the public and prioritized them staff created the original strings and ribbons game. Its name based on how frequently an improvement was suggested. The comes from the different colors of string and ribbon used to MPO defined a "citizens Long Range Transportation Plan alter- represent different transportation improvements. Red string native" by taking the Long Range Transportation Plan budget

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95 and applying it to this prioritized improvements list until the bud- years ago to almost 500. The MPO plans to expand the number get was expended. This list was then given to the MPO Board and of venues and increase the number of events for its future trans- modeled along with other plans. The list of groups that played the portation projects. game included, but was not limited to, the following: Taking the Time to Sit and Listen · High school and college students, · Hispanic associations, Small projects need public involvement too (Ms. Jeanette · Housing authority residents, Wilson, Indiana DOT, Indianapolis, Indiana) · Emergency response personnel, Indiana DOT (InDOT) had a simple resurfacing project going · Bicycle and walking clubs, through Advance, a small town of approximately 400 to 500 · Senior groups, people. Because this was a small project, there had been no real · Faith-based organizations, public involvement process. Notices were sent to churches and · Visually impaired groups, posted throughout the town to let the residents know that there · Municipal employees, would be a public meeting on a certain night at a local small · Friends of the library, church. The church, located on the main road, had been chosen · School board transportation department employees, and for the meeting location because there really was no other place · Members of the general public. in town to meet. InDOT staff, its public involvement consultant, and its resurfacing consultant went to Advance to meet with the As a result, interest in the MPO process increased, participa- local residents about the proposed resurfacing. As expected, tion at the MPO meetings increased, the game educated the pub- there was a turnout of about 40 people. lic to the costs of transportation improvements, and the MPO was so pleased with the results that it plans to use strings and rib- Going into the meeting InDOT's goal was to separate the bons for their next Long Range Transportation Plan update people into smaller groups and have a team member sit at each process. table and talk one-on-one with the locals to see what they had heard, what their fears were, and what they would like to see. The Bluegrass Area Development District's Bluegrass Monop- InDOT gave out fake dollar bills to the public, defined the proj- oly (Mr. Bruce Duncan, Bluegrass Area Development District, ect's budget, and asked them what they wanted to spend it on. Lexington, Kentucky) What did they want to see in landscaping? What did they want In 2005, Kentucky's 10-county Barren River Area Development to see on utilities? Did they want new sidewalks? A board was District (ADD) and 17-county Bluegrass ADD prioritized their put up with a list of the different amenities that the public could unscheduled transportation needs projects. The Barren River choose from, and the public was asked to pick what they wanted ADD had identified a total of 81 unscheduled needs projects val- as long as it did not go over the project's budget. ued at $500 million, but only had a $166 million budget. More than 30 representatives from the 10-county regional transporta- tion committee gathered in Bowling Green and played the game Before going to the meeting, InDOT had thought the public for almost two hours. As a result of the session, one of the would be upset about the old trees along the road that would county judges in attendance used the game in her county for have to come down. The trees were at the point where they were local project prioritization. being destructive and their root systems were tearing up the sidewalks. In talking with the public during the meeting, it became apparent that the public really wasn't that upset about The Bluegrass ADD had a similar list of 330 unscheduled losing the trees. They didn't like the grass strip between the curb needs projects valued at $4.8 billion, but only had a $1.6 billion and the sidewalk. Instead, they would rather have the sidewalk budget. More than 80 representatives from the 17-county next to the back of the curb and have the grass strip on their side regional transportation committee met in Lexington and played of the sidewalk. They felt that it was more difficult for them to the game for almost three hours. Prior to using the strings and maintain the grass strip when it was between the sidewalk and ribbon game, the Bluegrass ADD had sent each regional trans- the street. portation committee member a list of the unscheduled needs projects and asked them individually to select which projects they thought were most important. By bringing all of the com- The other thing that InDOT thought would happen was that mittee members together at one place and at one time, partici- people would be pretty comfortable talking in front of each other pants completed the process faster, were able to select their given that Advance was such a small town. Instead, everyone "pet" projects, contributed to multi-county connector projects was quiet until they broke up into the smaller groups and then they never would have known were important to others in the they started talking. They admitted that even though they knew region, identified their unscheduled needs projects in less than a each other they were afraid to voice their opinions in front because day, and had fun. The Bluegrass ADD was so pleased with the some people wanted their utility work done, others didn't, while response and results they created a DVD entitled "Bluegrass some wanted more ADA compliance, others didn't. Separating Monopoly" that described the event and sent copies to the state's the residents into smaller groups at tables turned out to be a pos- other area development districts and counties encouraging them itive thing. Since then, this technique has been used on several to use the game. The Bluegrass ADD found playing "Bluegrass other projects with fairly good results. Giving people an oppor- Monopoly" made prioritizing their unscheduled needs project tunity to sit down and talk one-on-one allowed them to express easier and quicker. By using play money, they found that every- themselves without fear, increase participation, and provide one understood the costs of the projects and just how far their InDOT with valuable information. funding would go. Utilizing Public Involvement Programs Miami­Dade County MPO's blocks and ribbons (Ms. Elizabeth Rockwell, Miami­Dade County MPO, Miami, Florida) Creating the Community Characteristics Program (Ms. Elizabeth In 2008, the Miami­Dade County MPO used a game called Rockwell, Miami­Dade County MPO, Miami, Florida) "Blocks and Ribbons." The game increased public participation Approximately five years ago, the Miami­Dade County MPO in the regional planning process from only 24 people several hired Florida International University's geographic information

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96 system (GIS) lab to collaborate with them and create the MPO's The third component of the Community Characteristics Community Characteristics Program (http://mpoportal.fiu.edu). Report is public involvement strategies. The public involve- This is an interactive, web-based GIS system designed for city ment strategies are a compilation of best practices from across planners and project managers to use to generate customized the country. It is updated as other best practices are identified. demographics for project-related reports of any selected area These best practices or public involvement strategies are put within Miami­Dade County. In addition, this tool helps users into the MPO's database and sorted by demographic type. They determine appropriate public involvement strategies for identi- have public information strategies for the following demographic fied targeted populations. A tutorial is also provided at this site. groups: The first component of the Community Characteristics Pro- · Age (seniors, working-age adults, and youth), gram is interactive mapping. This web-based GIS program · Disability (hearing impaired, sight impaired, physically allows a user to input a project and its limits (including the abil- challenged, and other), ity to specify a buffer width) into the database or onto the screen · Education (college education, high school diploma, and no and then conduct a search. It produces census data (based on high school diploma), census block groups) and allows different demographics in the · Income (low income and middle/affluent), communities to be queried. Also, it produces a report on the · Language (English, Spanish, and Creole), demographics of that community and identifies locations within · Race and ethnicity, and the community where meetings can be held that are central and · Vehicle ownership (non-vehicle ownership and vehicle local to the community such as churches or community centers. ownership). This information generally forms the basis of its public involve- ment plans. The user can click on "seniors" under "age" and will be directed to a page that provides "general, innovative, and technology" cate- In addition to the GIS component and the demographic gories. Across from them is the type of strategy identified as "edu- report component, the user can take the initial information and cational, promotional, and civic engagement." Click on "mailing go to the second component of the Community Characteristics lists" under the "general" heading and be taken to another page that Program known as the community background report. Currently provides the following: the MPO has more than 90 community background reports for the various communities within Dade County. Included in the · A description of the strategy, community background report is the community's development · Recommended target groups for the strategy, history, the boundary of the community, the attitudes of those in · Implementation guidelines and suggestions for the strategy, that community toward transportation, the transportation proj- · Lessons learned/challenges in using the strategy, and ects that have been implemented in that community, and · Case studies of using the strategy. whether there were favorable or unfavorable attitudes toward those projects. The MPO is currently working on adding the ". . . and Justice for All" (Ms. Jean Merconi, Delaware Valley names of formal and informal leaders and their association with Regional Planning Commission, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) political parties to those communities. The Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission (DVRPC) published ". . . and Justice for All" in September 2001, as their The MPO first started creating community background strategy for the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all reports for the 35 municipalities in Dade County. Having com- people. The DVRPC is the MPO for the nine-county, bi-state pleted that task, the MPO began creating community back- Philadelphia­Camden­Trenton (PA/NJ) region and has an Envi- ground reports for the 20 major neighborhoods in the unincor- ronmental Justice Technical Advisory Committee and an Envi- porated areas of Dade County. Then the MPO went back into ronmental Justice Participation Task Force. the municipalities and the different neighborhoods within the municipalities. For instance, the city of Miami has Coconut The DVRPC developed its environmental justice (EJ) assess- Grove, Downtown Miami, the Brickle area, Overtown, and ment to mitigate potential direct and disparate impacts of its Liberty City and within those communities there are even plans, programs, and planning process on defined minority, smaller neighborhoods. This allowed the MPO to go from the handicapped, and low income populations in the Delaware Val- micro level to the macro level and they have since been trying ley region. The report provides background information about to identify all of the possible little niches and neighborhoods in what EJ is; summarizes DVRPC's existing EJ-related plans, poli- the county. To date, the MPO has completed community back- cies, and public involvement activities; and describes a quanti- ground reports on more than 90 neighborhoods. This year the tative and qualitative methodology for evaluating the long-range MPO will attempt to identify another 20 neighborhoods. At this plan, the Transportation Improvement Program (TIP), and other rate, the MPO expects to have community background reports programs. It proposed recommendations for policies and imple- for 150 or more neighborhoods within the next two years and mentation strategies to enhance DVRPC's EJ responsibilities beyond that to expand this to include new neighborhoods as including an annual monitoring and evaluation process to ensure they are created. The community background reports provide that the policies and implementation strategies remain effective. an array of information about each community including the The qualitative review of the DVRPC's existing plans and pro- following: grams included a summary of EJ-related policies and goals from the adopted long-range plan (both the Year 2020 Plan and their · Physical boundaries, Year 2025 Plan), the adopted Year 2025 Regional Airport Sys- · History, tems Plan, and the Regional Job Access and Reverse Commute · Community dynamics (selected census data), and Transportation Plan from 1999. · Sources of information. Other planning documents reviewed included the Southeast- By using the first two components of the Community Charac- ern Pennsylvania and Southern New Jersey Bicycle and Pedes- teristics Program, the user should begin to have a multi- trian Mobility Plans, a study of regional elderly mobility needs, dimensional picture of the neighborhoods. the regional multimodal TIP, and the annual Unified Planning

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97 Work Program (UPWP). The more technical quantitative overlay. The resulting maps were evaluated from a geographic methodology relied primarily on available census data, analyzed perspective (but also incorporating service and quality factors) at the nine-county, bi-state, regional scale by municipality, or to identify gaps or areas of low quality service. Such areas could census tract for various indicators of disadvantage. These cate- become the focus of additional actions or mitigation efforts gories included concentrations of the following: through future DVRPC planning and implementation activities, working with either county and local officials or the public. The · Hispanic minorities, identified disadvantaged areas also served as an "early warning" · Non-Hispanic minorities, of the need to do additional local area EJ analysis as part of any · The elderly, subsequent environmental assessment of individual projects. · The handicapped, · Carless households, and In general, the DVRPC's Year 2025 Transportation Plan and · Number of households in poverty. TIP were geographically extensive in terms of the scope and scale of their recommended projects and implementation funding. Few The number of factors that applied in a given census tract or gaps or areas of lower quality service were found using the municipality represented the "Degrees of Disadvantage." In defined overlay methodology. In fact, many of the areas having addition, "Quality of Life Factors" were defined and included four or more degrees of disadvantage were well-located with the presence or absence of the following: respect to planned and programmed transportation improvements and public transit service. However, most of the region's outlying, · Arterial highways, rural areas were not well served by public transportation, were · Transit service, located further from the region's major employment centers, and · Hospitals, had lower "Quality of Life Factors" than the more urban and sub- · Employment centers, and urban communities. Where possible, one way to enhance the · Job access/reverse commute transportation services. transportation accessibility of such areas was to focus on intro- ducing new or additional paratransit service and expanding job The resulting "Degrees of Disadvantage" and "Quality of access services that connected outlying areas to nearby employ- Life Factors" maps were then combined to reflect the positive ment centers or the region's core transit network. DVRPC has and negative influences of the region's infrastructure systems adopted its 2030 Long Range Plan called Destination 2030: A (transit and highway access) and key services. These factors and Vision for the Future, and is working on their 2035 Long Range data sources were expanded over time as the 2000 census data Plan called Connections--The Regional Plan for a Sustainable were released and will be reevaluated as 2010 census informa- Future. The principles espoused by ". . . and Justice for All" have tion is released. The Regional Transportation Plan and the TIP been integral to both plans. A copy of ". . . and Justice for All" can were evaluated separately using the combined map of "Degrees be found on DVRPC's website http://www.dvrpc.org/planning/ of Disadvantage" and "Quality of Life Factors" factors as an regional/ej/chap1.htm.