Overview | The Pilot
The Pilot Project - A
Community-Based Transportation Planning Model
Overview
Strategies
that were identified
during the Dialogue sessions held in the summer of 2001 were consolidated into the Community-based Transportation Planning
Model that was discussed at the Joint Dialogue Session on August 13,
2001. (To see the strategies and the Community-based
Transportation Planning Mode,
click
here.) Based on the feedback on the planning model received at that
session, the following Pilot Community-based Transportation Planning
Program was proposed to the Study Oversight Committee (SOC).
It was proposed as a pilot program in
order to test some of the strategies on a limited basis. It was hoped
that the pilot would serve several functions. It would allow the
project to:
- test the applicability and
potential of the strategies selected for application in the pilot.
- develop and apply evaluation
measures that would show what strategies worked and did not work and
how they could be modified, if appropriate, for better success.
- begin to work toward getting
“buy-in” on the complete model from the leadership of the public
agencies involved in the TIP process.
- test a limited model that could be
included in this Guidance Manual.
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The Pilot
(It should be noted that because of
the funding situation in Bexar County, the Transportation Improvement
Program (TIP) process was not conducted in 2002 as anticipated at the
inception of this project. Consequently, this model was not tested in
its entirety. Some of the specific strategies were tested however, in
separate, independent situations. See the results of the surveys at
the end of this section for one strategy.)
The Pilot Program was intended to serve a reduced area of Bexar County
and the City of San Antonio as well as some suburban cities. The
proposed area was bounded on the north by Commerce Street – and an
imaginary extension of it – and on the south, east and west by Loop
1604. This area encompasses the majority of the census tracts
identified in the 1990 Census as having fifty percent (50%) or more of
their residents at or below the poverty level, and a majority
distribution of minorities. It would also allow for involvement by
urban and rural residents as well as those in incorporated cities and
unincorporated areas. Residents in this area have typically not
participated significantly in the TIP process in previous years.
The goals for the Pilot project were to:
- provide education to low
income/minority populations in under-served areas about the
transportation planning process, and
- increase the involvement of low
income /minority populations in under-served areas in that process.
The elements of the Pilot project
that should be implemented in the first stages of the TIP process are:
- Placement of a bilingual person
for half-day (four hours) segments in the lobbies of offices of the
Texas Workforce Development Centers and/or the Texas Department of
Human Services to solicit proposed projects for consideration in the
TIP process. Assistance in completing the application for a TIP
project would be given to those interested in proposing a project. A
process not unlike that used at the TIP community meetings would be
adapted to this situation.
These agencies were selected because the MPO already has a
relationship with them and they have representatives on the Study
Oversight Committee (SOC). They have indicated by their
participation in the project to date that they interested in finding
way to increase participation by the target population in the
transportation planning process.
It is suggested that at least four sites be chosen for
implementation of this strategy. More sites should be included if
there is sufficient personnel to handle the additional sites.
Additional personnel may be recruited by asking the members of the
SOC to volunteer or to volunteer members of their staffs. [The City
of San Antonio’s Department of Community Initiatives volunteered to
provide personnel to staff this effort.]
- Unfunded projects from the last
TIP cycle will be identified and a survey instrument developed that
would allow members of the target audience to indicate how important
they think a particular project is. Based on the response, projects
achieving a certain ranking would be automatically submitted for
consideration in the current TIP process.
The reason(s) the projects were not funded would be included in the
information about the project. This information would be given to
those being surveyed before they complete the survey form.
These surveys would be conducted at public housing project offices,
on VIA buses, and at least one rural location where people from the
community gather.
- The community leaders who attended
the dialogue sessions volunteered to host meetings of their groups.
These meetings would include an explanation of the TIP process using
“before and after” photos to show places where it has worked, a
review of the unfunded projects, feedback on the projects, and
suggestions about which projects should be re-considered. They would
also have the opportunity to propose additional projects for
inclusion in the current TIP process and be shown how to track a
project. Twelve community members attended the dialogue sessions. At
least half of them should be asked to host a meeting. The meetings
should be selected in order to get participation from different
locations across the pilot project area.
- The SOC should identify criteria
and select a community to work to develop a comprehensive
transportation plan coordinated with their community development
and/or neighborhood plan. An intern would be assigned to work with
the community in the development of their plan. [Interns were to be
selected from members of the community itself.]
Other alternatives would be to see what transportation projects were
already included in community/neighborhood plans and the intern
would work with the community to help get them funded.
- Outreach strategies that should be
used to increase low income/minority participation in the TIP
meetings include the following:
- Messages to the electronic and
print media should be framed to address some of the concerns
expressed at the Dialogue sessions, i.e., that their participation
does not matter, that what happens will not affect them, that
everything is already decided, and that nobody will listen to what
they have to say. [A video public service announcement (PSA) was
developed that will be used in future TIP processes.
Click here to
view the PSA.]
- Flyers should be developed that
can be distributed at churches across the pilot project area. At
least ten churches should be identified and requested to
distribute the flyers. They should be churches located in the
general vicinity of the TIP meetings.
- Flyers should also be
distributed on the VIA buses, public housing offices, Metropolitan
Health Department offices and community centers in the target
area.
- Conduct training for personnel
of the agencies involved on “talking to the public.” This training
would address the issues identified in the dialogue sessions by
both the community and the agencies.
- Materials to be used in the TIP
meetings should be reviewed to reduce jargon and add simplicity.
- Evaluation measures will be
developed to give guidance in what works and why and to show what
could/should be modified for more effectiveness in meeting the
goals.
Over the longer term, the following
should be implemented later in the TIP process:
- Progress report meetings should be
held with those groups that were met with earlier in the year (#3
above).
- The status of the projects they
proposed should be reported and strategies for promoting their
projects should be discussed.
This pilot project embodies many of
the elements and strategies identified in the dialogue sessions as
well as others stimulated by suggestions at the sessions. We believe
the pilot includes enough strategies to be able to meet the goals of
the Title VI and Environmental Justice Project, to test how well these
strategies work, and to give feedback that will allow for modification
of the strategies to improve their effectiveness.
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