Accountable Public Involvement

Abstract

Bernalillo County, New Mexico, undertook an initiative to improve public involvement in guiding transportation and recreation decision making through quantitative tracking of participation among stakeholder groups. A methodology was developed and a demonstration project selected to implement the methodology. The proposed methodology was to identify the demographic characteristics of the community affected by the proposed project. Outreach program performance would be measured by ascertaining whether persons who commented on the proposed project were representative of the population served. For the purpose of the demonstration, three demographic characteristics were identified as represented in the community affected by the demonstration project but historically underrepresented in Bernalillo County public meetings. Public involvement of persons whose primary language was Spanish, persons with disabilities, and youths were tracked. Successfully engaging persons with these characteristics required partner organizations that could engage them. A partnership approach was adopted to reach out to the community served. The public involvement partnership was formed with a variety of governmental, private, and nongovernmental organizations. There was an increase in the diversity of the public involved in discussing the demonstration project. A benchmark was established for public involvement in future phases of the demonstration project. Building accountability into public outreach can improve the level of community participation in proposed transportation projects. An effective means of delivering an accountable outreach program is through partnerships. In the Bernalillo County experience, partner organizations should be as diverse as the public to be served.