Miami-Dade County Residents’ Priorities in Local Government: Part 4

This is the fourth and final post in our series detailing our journey to develop CivicPro with residents’ input. Note that the majority of the information presented comes from the survey responses of a sample of Miami-Dade County residents conducted by CivicPro, CUTGroup Miami, and Catalyst Miami.

In our previous post, we discussed how our sample of Miami-Dade County residents responded when asked to select their top 5 policy priorities for local governments. The results were:

1. Affordable Housing

2. Crime & Safety

3. Education

4. Jobs & Wages

5. Environment

Of the top 5 rank policy priorities, “Affordable Housing” was selected by more individuals as the single most important issue to their community. Nevertheless, in a separate question, both “Crime & Safety” and “Education” were marked as “Very Important” by more respondents.

Similarly, there were high levels of consensus from survey respondents about the relative importance of the following:

• “Criminal Justice and Police Reform,” a distinct category from the #2 ranked “Crime & Safety,” was slightly more likely to be listed as “Very Important” than “Traffic and Parking.”

• Parks, public works, utilities, and policies related to drug legalization or enforcement were less likely to be listed as “Very Important” than either “Criminal Justice and Police Reform” or “Traffic and Parking.” However, they were more likely to be listed as “Very Important” than incentives for businesses or small business.

• “WiFi & Internet Access” was about as likely to be listed as “Very Important” as “Land Use & Zoning.”

Regarding “WiFi & Internet Access” in particular, although it was not ranked especially high as a policy priority, it is interesting to note that survey respondents were about as likely, if not slightly more likely, to consider it a “Very Important” issue when compared with “Land Use & Zoning.” In contrast to our survey results, land use and zoning matters are extremely common on municipal meeting agendas. Local governments spend a great deal of time and resources on land development regulations and very little on internet access.

Although telecommunications and utility companies require easements and right-of-way access from local governments, not much actual policy gets made around internet access by governments in Miami-Dade County (and certainly not with the same frequency as zoning or land use policy). Nonetheless, WiFi and internet access is being taken up increasingly as a local issue by cities across the globe even if it is not a policy matter with which we have much legislative history in South Florida. Yet there is a high amount of need. About 25% of households in Miami-Dade County do not have a broadband internet subscription.

It is also interesting to note that there may be a disconnect between the policy priorities of residents and those of local elected officials. Specifically, the policy priorities reported by our survey respondents do not align with the policy priorities reported in some prior surveys of mayors. For several years, the Boston University Initiative on Cities has conducted an annual survey of mayors from across the United States. According to a recent survey, the category most commonly reported as a top priority by mayors concerned crime and (land use) planning policies. The second most commonly reported category by mayors concerned economic growth. With the exception of “Crime & Safety,” the top 5 policy priorities, as ranked by our survey respondents, were cited as part of the category third most commonly ranked by mayors. Likewise, the Boston University survey found that, if reelection were not a concern, a plurality of the mayors asked would focus on tasks like raising taxes and introducing new municipal fees. Accordingly, there does appear to be evidence of a disconnect.

Nevertheless, this information is based on what mayors have told Boston University researchers. It is not based on an inventory of actual municipal legislation, policies, or budget items. Furthermore, the Boston University researchers found that more mayors were focusing on issues like affordable housing and wage disparities than in prior years when the survey had been conducted.

To the extent that local governments have regulatory authority over aspects of these policy issues, it may be that the public has an opportunity to persuade their elected officials to push these items higher up on their list of legislative priorities. To keep up with your city or county government, sign up at open.getcivicpro.com