My Side of the Fence

The danger isn't going too far. It's that we don't go far enough.

Citizen Survey

The real, real, real, real – and I mean it – real – last meeting of my Council tenure was last Tuesday.  In that meeting a consultant presented his report on a "Citizen Satisfaction Survey" that the City Manager had commissioned.  My general thought on the survey is that it was well conducted and the guys that did it really seem to know what the hell they're doing.  It's a great value for the City as well as the contract allows us to send them queries about the results for up to a year and they will produce another report at no additional expense.  This is great as there is a new Council and they are going to go on a strategic retreat soon and more questions may come from that affair (hopefully this retreat produces actual strategic thinking and not a laundry list).

I think there are 3 distinct take aways from the survey presentation:

1.  The citizens are pretty happy with the services the city provides.  Many of our services, especially our public safety services, score well above a "best practices" level.  The only soft patch amongst services the City delivers for more than a year appears to be how Community Development is handling zoning enforcement.  Not sure what's going on there.  Last I checked we had four inspectors so either they just aren't getting it done or they're being used for something else.  That's happened in Neighborhood Services the past several years.  Since we dont have Parks & Rec, one of our 2 staffers in that department spends a lot of time managing the pool and the fields….and not on neighborhood services.  However, overall scores are really impressive.

2.  There's something in the results for everyone.  The "Steady staters" who believe the City should spend ever less on government and schools will see validation in the level of satisfaction with our existing services.  Those who want to see progress will agree that basic services are well executed but they will want to see more done along the lines of Parks & Rec., etc.

3.  To my mind, the most important takeaway is that Manassas is being judged by her residents based on what they see in surrounding jurisdictions.  Lack of Bike / Ped lanes and no Parks & Rec department have been noticed by our existing residents and they'd like to see something done about it.  They also rank our Economic Development efforts as sub-par.  Our ED director has been on the job less than a year but it's getting to be time he articulated a path forward.  If our existing residents cite these things as being important what does that mean to potential residents?  The Council has the stated goal of attracting well to do residents and business owners.  Given where we are, those individuals are likely to come from Fairfax and/or Loudon.  What are these folks likely to think about the City's current infrastructure and amenities?  Given that we have that goal and the fact that those people aren't moving here I think we all know the answer.  The Council needs to articluate a strategy to make that happen if it is to remain a goal and hope isn't a strategy….

The other takeaway from the survey is that folks really want the schools to improve.  I share that sentiment – a high performing school system would be a real game-changer for the city.  However, I feel as though the schools are heading in the right direction and we should start to see improvements.  They had a very deep hole to dig out of and have been making the difficult decisions to change things.

8 Comments

  1. People in the market to buy a home in the city look up available properties online at sites like zillow.com, and at the bottom, they will see school data provided by GreatSchools.org. That data is not complementary – rating Osbourn 2 out of 10. So yes, a high performing school system affects the perceptions of people outside the city.  I spoke at the Town Hall meeting at Weems Elementary before I moved in November – I really want to see the city put some attention on the Mathis Ave sector plan. "The whole town, not just old town." Great to see you blogging more, Andy!

  2. Agreed Cindy.  the other part of this is that the Council needs to stop treating the schools like they are some random vendor with whom we're not happy.  We're handcuffed together in the same boat.

  3. Mary Ann Jenkins

    January 12, 2015 at 12:32 pm

    I was told by a former Inspector who no longer works for the City that  the zoning department is only practicing reactive enforcement instead of proactive enforcement.  If someone turns in a complaint about something then zoning follows up.  I have contacted the City several times regarding neon flashing signage being used in the Old Town historic district which is a  zoning violation but I just drove by the business today and the light is still flashing.  Just picture if all businesses start putting neon flashing signs in their storefront windows.  I see violations of zoning all the time around the City, especially on signage.  Zoning laws are worthless unless they are enforced.  

     

  4. Cindy- Your point about OHS is correct. However we are seeing improvements. Both Round and Weems rate as an 8!. Overall our schools are rated pretty evenly with their peer group. That is not good enough, not where we (I) want them to be but the trend is in the right direction.  

    Prince William County Public Schools

    Manassas Park City Public Schools

    NR N. Va. Trn Center

    Fairfax County Public Schools

    Fauquier County Public Schools

    Stafford County Public Schools

    Falls Church City Public Schools

    Loudoun County Public Schools

    Alexandria City Public Schools

    Arlington County Public Schools

  5. Do you really think that the elected school board has worked as was thought it would? I'm not to sure that time has proven it to be such a great idea.

  6. andy

    January 13, 2015 at 10:48 am

    Mo, as that was a referendum, I haven't really spent a lot of time thinking about it.  As to the Boards performance, I think they made a mistake by waiting too long to replace their executive when it was clear that things weren't happening.  Since then I think they have done pretty well.  They have capital maintenance plans and an actual CIP and are executing against that CIP.  Test scores are slowly improving but in order to really kick it in to gear the City is going to have to start thinking about policy changes they can enact to help the schools and stop treating the schools as though they are some underperforming vendor.  Whether we realize it or not, the city and schools are handcuffed together in the same boat and if it sinks, we'll both go down.

    I'd point out that the City has yet to execute a single project from their CIP – including a 100' long widening of a side street that they can't seem to pull off.

     

  7. I definitely would like to see the schools succeed and have the same high citizen satisfaction survey rating as the city's utilities/public works. When I look at your words, "we're handcuffed together in the same boat and if it sinks, we'll both go down" imagery, I don't see the path to that. What I have experienced personally is that Manassas is a place where everyone, no matter what their age or income, is encouraged to learn. I've seen it everywhere — most recently when the city schools, the public library system and writers came together at the Harris Pavilion for the Manassas Reads! event, or when George Mason University connected with Birmingham Green. I think the more Dr. Magouryk and the school board and the city council does to connect the community in lifetime learning together, the better results you will see.

  8. Mark,

    I'm a bit confused over the city's school numbers and the numbers you report for the other systems. We show Osborne as a 2 and Round and Weems as an 8. You then show what the other systems are (I assume as a composit number) but the composit number for Manassas is not shown. What is that number?

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