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CC - (1) Approval of City’s Participation in a Joint Project with Law and Public Policy/Political Science Professors from UC Davis, Riverside, and Santa Barbara to Test a New Community Engagement Model at the General Plan Update (GPU) Community Health/Environmental Justice Workshop; and (2) Approval of a Related Agreement.
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Meeting Date: March 15, 2021
Contact Person/Dept: Ashley Hefner Hoang/CDD/Advance Planning
Phone Number: (310) 253-5744
Fiscal Impact: Yes [] No [X] General Fund: Yes [] No [X]
Public Hearing: [] Action Item: [X] Attachments: [X]
Commission Action Required: Yes [] No [X] Date: N/A
Public Notification: (E-Mail) Meetings and Agendas - City Council (03/11/2021), Notify Me - General Plan Update (03/11/2021)
Department Approval: Sol Blumenfeld, Community Development Director (02/22/2021)
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RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommends the City Council (1) approve the City’s participation in a joint project with law and public policy/political science professors from UC Davis, Riverside, and Santa Barbara to test a new community engagement model at the GPU Community Health/Environmental Justice Workshop; and (2) approve a related agreement.
BACKGROUND/ DISCUSSION
Christopher S. Elmendorf, Professor of Law at UC Davis School of Law, reached out to Mayor Fisch with an opportunity to collaborate on testing a new model for community engagement (Attachment 1).
A group of law and public policy/political science professors from UC Davis, UC Riverside, and UC Santa Barbara have developed a new online engagement platform called Prytaneum. The platform enables a new “dialogue and learning” model to supplement the “traditional public hearing participation” model of community engagement, allowing for deliberative dialogue between planning officials and community members. If successful, Culver City has the opportunity to be a part of the development of a new data-centric engagement tool that any community may use to promote equity.
Notable features of the model include allowing officials to address questions and comments posed by the public and allowing the public to comment on and like each other’s questions in real-time, prioritizing questions from demographic groups that tend to be under-represented in land use decisions, and prioritizing questions that receive cross-ideological or cross-demographic “likes.”
A key factor of the test is using a “civic lottery” to create “treatment” and “control” conditions to test the impact of the model on outcomes. The treatment groups would receive background readings and attend the event, and the control group would only receive the background readings. The researchers would compare surveys conducted before and after the event to identify the effects the model had on changing the treatment groups' outcomes compared to the control group. (Please see Attachment No. 1 for further details.)
A fundamental goal of the GPU is to ensure that all community members who want to participate in the workshop can do so. The proposed method to solicit participants would be to notice the GPU email list (1,763 subscribers) who have already participated in the process to attend the workshop and be part of the treatment group. Then we would notice the general voter list of all residents to volunteer to take part in the control group to help improve engagement in the city, making it more representative and equitable. However, anyone who wishes to attend the workshop would be allowed to do so.
The GPU team spoke to the UC team to determine if any upcoming GPU events would suit testing the model. The team decided that the Community Health/Environmental Justice Workshop slated for Summer/Fall 2021 would meet the UC research team's needs and fulfill the City's goal to ensure the GPU process is equitable and pushes the needle on how the community is engaged. The team expects that a City Council Member and/or Planning Commissioner would take part in the event as the planning official.
FISCAL ANALYSIS
Approving collaboration with the UC researchers would not increase the existing GPU budget or impact the General Fund. The research team has invited the City to collaborate at no charge for their services. Raimi + Associates estimates their efforts related to this item would be about $3,500 for added collaboration. The Contingency Budget would cover these costs. As of March 2021, $148,895.25 (88%) remains in the Contingency Budget.
ATTACHMENTS
1. 2021-03-22_ATT_Opportunity Letter
MOTION
That the City Council:
1. Approve the City’s participation in a joint project with law and public policy/political science professors from UC Davis, Riverside, and Santa Barbara to test a new community engagement model at the GPU Community Health/Environmental Justice Workshop; and
2. Approve a related agreement; and
3. Authorize the City Attorney to review/prepare the necessary documents; and
4. Authorize the City Manager to execute such documents on behalf of the City.