We helped them figure out how to make the cuts that hurt people the least. This built amazing community trust that led to them getting a $16 million increase in revenue instead. They also won national awards for their work. See the 1 minute video »
Loud voices were against smaller and cheaper housing options. Our data showed them the NIMBYs were not representative. They overcame the noise and were selected for the Innovation Showcase at the Transforming Local Government national conference. Read the report: "How Good Data Can Beat Bad Politics" »
We collected data on “working, living and playing” in a series of 3 surveys that have become a model for other communities. Our survey data was also designed to plug into a new community indicators dashboard, along with census data, which any city can use.
Options ranged from a $1 million roof repair to a $30 million new building so we collected willingness to pay data. We found only 33% support for a rebuild, compared to 85% from an online survey by feasibility consultants. Our data was later validated by actual voting. See the 1 minute video »
A growing city thought an upgrade to their small and aging community center made sense. But there was very vocal opposition at meetings and on social media. We found over 2 to 1 support and the city council ultimately approved a $50 million project. Read a news story »
We did a series of 4 surveys to drill down from high level needs into trails, facilities and programs, including usage data by geography. Our data muted some unrepresentative input collected in-person at meetings from passionate pickleballers and field users.
We did surveys before and after the change. The survey before the holidays got baseline feedback on a new plan to limit pedestrian traffic. The survey afterwards checked to see how well it worked and found that it was much appreciated.
“Nothing but complaints” came in after they cut back the frequency of maintenance. Department morale plummeted. We showed them the whole community still “loves, loves, loves the parks” – scoring a 4.0 out of 5 – and staff morale improved overnight. See the survey »
They wanted candid employee input on satisfaction and other topics, but faced the challenge that in-house surveys aren’t truly anonymous. We saved them from paying consultants and got them great results, with 85% participation in 48 hours.
The proponents of a major land purchase were dominating meetings and online forums. We did a series of surveys and learned that the community heavily preferred other approaches that would achieve similar benefits while saving tens of millions of dollars.
We helped them learn how people get information about them, how people want information communicated to them, and what kind of information people want, They also got great suggestions, including several easy changes they made right away.
A group of bicyclists were agitating for bike lanes but the city wanted to know how that fit into the big picture. Our data showed that even bicyclists had bike lanes as a low priority compared to fixing cracks and potholes – those are harder on bikes than cars!
With recycling costs rising, the city knew it couldn’t just listen to the advocates for the recycling status quo. Our data showed them that recycling was important to the whole community, but residents preferred to do more sorting themselves over paying more.
Are you for or against backyard chickens? What would that even mean? We helped a city cut through controversy with specific community concerns and acceptable mitigation strategies. With our data as support, a new ordinance passed a month later. See the video »
Our data showed the community was generally happy, except for a problem with plowing in cul-de-sacs. The city changed their cul-de-sac contractor and a year later our data showed the problem was gone.
Did you know that flushable wipes aren’t flushable? A sewer district wondered if its efforts to educate its customers were working. Our data told them yes – 95% knew that flushable wipes were not flushable.
Those are just a few examples out of hundreds of unique surveys.
We’ve covered every department or service you have, no matter where you are – as in literally from beaches to snow plowing. We can help with your hot topics like cannabis, street trees. recycling, shared scooters and backyard chickens.
We can help solve big problems like housing costs, land use, homelessness and budget cuts.
We used to say that we could get useful public input on anything except cemeteries, but we actually did a cemetery survey (of the living) in 2018.
We’re the experts in public input and the best solutions to local government challenges.
We’ll help you figure out great ways that great community input can help you make great decisions too.