To:
Sent:
Friday, May 31, 2013 11:13 AM
Subject:
PRESS RELEASE: McMillan Developers Launch Biased, Flawed Internet Survey
Dear
Councilmembers:
Below,
you will find The Friends of McMillan`s latest press release RE: VMP`s first
attempt at surveying the public`s reaction to potential McMillan development
plans.
Please
don`t hesitate to contact me for questions or if you would like to interview
one of our more knowledgeable FOM members.
Sincerely,
Erin
Lynn Fairbanks
------------------------------------------
Friends
of McMillan Park
For
Release: May 31, 2013
Contact:
Erin Fairbanks, 240-506-6777, erinwhite@yahoo.com
McMillan Developers Launch Biased, Flawed
Internet Survey
The
developers chosen to develop the historic McMillan Sand Filtration Site have
suddenly discovered the need to determine what the nearby community (and
everybody else) really wants for the site.
A full seven years after signing an ``Exclusive Rights Agreement`` with
the District Government and presenting their plan to overdevelop the site at
countless official and unofficial meetings, Vision McMillan Partners (VMP) has
sent out, via the Internet and social media, a survey that is both flawed and
biased.
Unlike
the Friends of McMillan 2012 survey that employed generally accepted
methodologies for survey design, the VMP/District survey is subject to these
design flaws:
--Ballot-stuffing: survey takers are not
identified; anybody on the Internet can ``vote early and vote often``;
--Unfocused: this survey has no mechanism to
dis-aggregate the data collected so that anyone can determine where respondents
are from: (1) the surrounding community, (2) Ward 5, (3) the District, or (4)
anywhere on the Internet;
--Exclusivity: the survey is apparently being
conducted only via e-mail and at selected meetings, and thus many people,
particularly older, long-term residents will be left out.
--Biased
questions: some questions offer false choices between either the VMP/District`s
poor development or no development at all, and other questions offer many
options but limit answers to ``choose only three,`` automatically diluting the
number and intensity of the concerns people have.
``Why
is VMP and the District Government all of a sudden doing this survey after
seven years of trying to sell us on their plan to overdevelop McMillan?,``
asked John Salatti, a Bloomingdale resident, former ANC Commissioner, and
member of The Friends. ``Are they finally realizing that our rigorous
door-to-door survey last year and the hundreds of petition signatures we have
collected, both for more park and less development, shows what people really
want?``
The
Friends completed its comprehensive, unbiased, door-to-door survey over a year
ago and presented the results to Mayor Gray, the City Council, including Ward 5
Councilmember Kenyan McDuffie, and to neighborhood and civic associations. The survey showed that a majority of
neighbors want over 50% park and preservation of the underground cells and
above-ground silos. The VMP/District
plan, in contrast, calls for an undistinguished, suburb-like development with
12-story office buildings on the north, massive automobile traffic at North
Capitol Street and Michigan Avenue and destruction of most the underground
water filtration caverns and above-ground structures and minimal contiguous
park space.
``This
flawed VMP/District Government survey is one more reason for Mayor Gray to
cancel the June 6 meeting on declaring McMillan surplus,`` said Salatti. ``When
we meet with Councilmember McDuffie next week, we will ask him to join our
appeal to the Mayor.``
###
2 comments:
Typical new resident of the area who doesn't know diddly about this development. Not does she know anything about these survey's. As John Stossel would say, "GIVE ME A BREAK"!
The "Friends" survey was not an unbiased, door to door, survey. It was riddled with scare tactics, inaccurate information and people were pressured to vote early and often. ANC reps pushed hard for it, too. Never was a fair, unbiased position presented, only exaggerated scare tactics to just get the signature or just turn in a ballot based on the opinionated info provided by the ANC rep or surgery pusher.
I realize that people who spend time to get signatures are activists in a way and are definitely pushing their own cause. This is fine. However, to listen to some of the stories that some of them tell while standing on the corner at the farmers market or walking through the yard sale, you would think that they were building 2 wall marts, a costco and SAMS, and all the streets will be blocked off for miles and the entire area will be paved with concrete. (Remember, the entire area is already concrete with a living roof on top).
It's time to tone it down, listen to all sides and come up with a plan. We can do it together if both sides will listen and also if both sides with speak clearly and make up their minds on what they want/need. Otherwise, just let the over-weeded sewage storage rot for the next 50 years and our great grandkids can worry about it then.
And, btw, what was presented to the Mayor did NOT represent the opinion or thoughts of the community. Only the thoughts of the vocal few and those they could scare into agreeing.
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