The VisionPDX Poll

A paragraph in the Tribune‘s Sources Say feature today reminds me of an important snippet that was mentioned at the hearing, but buried in the celebrations surrounding the Portland City Council’s acceptance of the VisionPDX document last week. Right at the end of the process, the VisionPDX project commissioned a scientific, statistically valid poll to check against the results of the 13,000 survey responses. But the poll report wasn’t completed until a week after the project was presented to the City Council. The Tribune says:

“The poll of 500 Portlanders was conducted during the first week of September by Davis, Hibbitts & Midghall Inc. Overall, it found city residents were as idealistic as the vision the City Council accepted last Wednesday.”

I noted and chose not to mention this last week, not wanting to further deride a project that I misjudged, even though I still have significant reservations about it. It’s unfortunate the poll is being released a week after the acceptance of the VisionPDX plan. In a better public process, the poll would have informed the product, rather than being a postscript to it. And I can’t find the poll posted on PortlandOnLine.com yet. After a project aimed at opening up City Hall to more participants, I’d like to see taxpayer-funded polls available to the public at the same time as to the media, and published in their entirety including the questions.

The Tribune said the poll gives evidence of broad public support for both the VisionPDX values and some specific action items that could implement them. It says:

* 73% of Portlanders surveyed support the city charging a business license fee related to that company’s carbon emissions.

* 85% would support the city providing financial incentives to businesses that use renewable energy, maximize recycling and do other things to reduce their carbon emissions.

* 72% are willing to subsidize rain barrels for landscaping and other water uses.

* 63% support a permanent downtown public food market

As noted on Jack Bog’s blog, these numbers must be evaluated once we can see what questions were asked. “Would you like a downtown public food market?” is a different question from “Would you like to have City taxes pay to subsidize a downtown public food market?”, for example. And in citing 72% being willing to subsidize rain barrels, how many of those would actually put some in their yard and use them? How many of those supporting public subsidy were renters in apartment complexes with no common open space areas, worried more about paying their bills at the end of the month than what happens to the rainwater and/or landscaping?

I’m particularly sceptical of the reported 73% who support fees related to carbon emissions. I’d be impressed to find out 73% of Portlanders could define what carbon emissions are and know how business license fees are structured now. I buy that 85% of us believe corporations should be given incentives to improve sustainability, and even that in general corporate polluters should pay more. But are we all so knowledgeable about the specific solution cited? I find that hard to believe.