Surrey moving many public consultation processes online
Posted April 4, 2013 6:58 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
SURREY (NEWS1130) – Would you provide more input to your mayor and council if you could do it over the Internet? That’s the thinking in Surrey; the City is moving much of its public consultation process online.
Online consultation has been used for specific projects. But when it comes to Surrey’s scope of city building, it’s a first in North America.
The City has teamed up with Vision Critical for an online forum called City Speaks and the company’s Shachi Kurl expects it to take off.
“We know that there are busy, working families. They’re taking care of their parents; they care about seniors’ issues. They’re taking care of their kids; they care about kids’ issues and parks and rec at the municipal level,” she explains.
“Why not find a way for them to engage with the city — have their say — but in their own time?”
“People are busy; they don’t necessarily have time to come out to open halls. And the people who attracted to those types of venues tend to be kind of the hollerers — the NIMBYs — people who are already engaged and inclined to show up to something like that.,” adds Kurl.
It’s a two-year project for now; the hope is they’ll hear from at least 5,000 people.
