The guy who sold the Peak Democracy program to Gus Vina is running for City Council himself in Berkeley.
He's got some big, unorthodox ideas he calls "moonshots": self-driving golf cart taxis, electronic surveillance systems, etc. Many of the ideas would not be as relevant to Encinitas as we don't (yet) have Berkeley's terrible traffic, parking, and crime problems.
But his decibel-monitoring system gave us one idea that could be useful in Encinitas. How about decibel monitors on 2nd Street that are programmed to cut off the power to Union when noise reaches a certain level?
Great idea! Or a drunkometer that cuts off power when so many drunks stagger by...
ReplyDeleteA Redevelopment Agency tried driving through Leucadia once with a Blightometer, but we sent them to browner pastures. Not much you can do about Leroy Brown relieving himself in public after the bars close. Yellow light cameras might create a new stream of revenue.
DeleteOr a urineometer that sprays water if someone pisses on a wall!
ReplyDeleteThe old historic school house converted to an exclusive club for the upscale residents of Condo Ridge; formerly known as Pacific View. A money-ometer would restrict anyone without enough greenbacks....
ReplyDeleteWasn't it Mike Royko who first called Jerry Brown "Moonbeam"? Sometimes people are ahead of the time. I like some of his traffic ideas.
ReplyDelete-Mr Green Jeans
Or --- the council wants more people at the council meetings. Give everyone in the audience a wireless "silence button" that cuts off a council speaker.
ReplyDeleteOr Tony "Dan Dalager" Kranz walks down memory lane...or Gaspar's continuous droning without taking a breath...or Lisa's, for that matter...and most of all, Teresa, when she starts in berating residents for being there and disagreeing with her, or not being there at all. No buzzer needed for Muir, who hardly says a word.
DeleteA special buzzer for Vina anytime he starts a sentence with "If I may...." Perhaps something wired to his seat for reinforcement?
I hope I am not being picky, but the visual that Mr. Alverez Cohen uses for his moonshot is a space shuttle, which was never designed to go to the moon. Maybe a picture of Apollo 11 or 13 might be better?
ReplyDeleteSeriously, the thing that troubles me more is that there is no evidence of democracy in Peak Democracy since he says that it is an invalid program. This is an example of how the word is not the thing!
I agree, the key "buzzword" of peak democracy is misleading. It's really just an online tool/application that allows cities to not message boards that don't allow unregistered commenting...
ReplyDelete-Mr Greenjeans
And why did the city pay 9K for something an average 12 year old could set-up in an afternoon?
DeleteThe Cabezon
I suspect that the $9K is a teaser rate and it gets more expensive to renew once the council sees how positive and complimentary the messages are.
DeleteWCV
11:26-The problem is that this City has a history of serious retaliation to those who do put their name one things. I truly understand why some people want to be anonymous. I figure I have nothing to lose. i can't help but think they really don't want to deal with a little old lady who will scream bloody murder if my First Amendments rights are screwed with. And, given my history of activism, (that's yet another reason I am unelectable, the City of Encinitas, better not mess with me.
DeleteBecause a lot of other cities bought it as well. Not saying that's right, but monkey-see, monkey-do. It's not like Encinitas is the first city to pay for Peak Democracy.
DeleteI'm not sure they can skew the comments to the good, but they can prevent people from posting the bad over and over again.
Again, I agree with Tony, six month pilot for cheap, then work them over and see if you can beat them down on the price, don't just lay down and fork over the cash.
-Mr Green Jeans
GJ-Ok then, exactly what does the Communications Director do? I guess I am a bit confused as to her role. One other thing, what about people, less fortunate than many of us, who don't have computers in their homes? And before you all tell me they do, I will tell you I know they don't. I have purchased a couple of them myself for the less fortunate. Sure, they can go to the library, but first they have to know this thing is even available. If we want everyone to have online access to the City, then let's provide that and just put it on the City's home page in a place that people can easily find. Why would this be so difficult? We have an IT Dept., and we have a Communications Director. What am I missing? And, I'm sure I must be missing something, as I cannot figure out why we need this, when there are other priorities this City really might want to focus upon. For example-roads!
DeleteDr Lorri,
DeleteI have no clue. I was against that hire, based on what little I know about the position. We have other, more pressing needs.
Maybe if we had money to throw around, I'd say go for it, but not in these times where we have a huge park to pay for, in addition to road work and other outstanding issues.
I would hope it's the comm director's job to implement this and at least get some bang for the buck out of it, but I somehow doubt it.
Mr. Green Jeans
Mr. G. this is not about the needs of the city or its residents. Decisions are predicated on the needs of Gus Vina to find people to make him look better. If it means that he has to spend our money to do that, he will.
DeleteSounds right to me. Vina now has his own flak.
Delete-Mr Green Jeans
I love how the city wastes our tax dollars on crap like this.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteWcV-You are right. 9K is nothing. My unanswered question is why are we participating in a non valid, or reliable tool for any price? And, if we have a communications director, couldn't she do this? I sure hope hope some knowledge of statistics was a part of the job criterion The Cabezon is also right. Even this old lady could have set this up.
ReplyDeleteDr. Lorri,
DeleteI think the tool is mainly to provide a forum, ie vehicle for comments between residents and the city, other than the old fashioned in person forum or written survey.
I wasn't at the presentation, so I could be wrong, but I didn't see anywhere on their site that presented this as a statistical tool that could present a serious data driven survey.
I'm sure there is some proprietary software that drives it, and maybe they figured out some kind of protocol that a lot of cities use and tapped in to that.
I still think there has to be a cheaper way to do it, or at least study what they have and see if someone local can set it up..
-Mr. Green Jeans
The program or language is called RAILS.
DeleteIt came from something called BASECAMP. Your company puts all its information for a certain project into the program that is on the provider's server.
DeleteDr. L, he reason they bought another invalid program is the same reason they did the dot exercise, and every other failed project. They know it is invalid and they hope that we don't know so that they can game it to their favor!
DeleteBasecamp or they could also use SharePoint. When we say invalid, what data are we talking about. Seems like we're just throwing around a lot of terms
DeletePeak Democracy is hiring tech people with knowledge of RAILS. That's on their website.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry but it sounds really dorky. " Let's all get aboard with Moonshot Mike and learn about sutainability in the magic golf cart taxi!" I hate to say it, but this is the kind of stuff that Shaffer and Barth eat up.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Dr. L. Let's deal with the issues of this time and on this planet. We need to look at pension reform, roads, and especially getting a new city manager.
Fire Vina to the moon!
ReplyDeleteRight now I'm laughing because a friend of mine, who went to Berkeley with me, is also thinking this is nuts. So, I don't feel quite so bad about my "betrayal" of my alma mater:)
ReplyDeleteWhat would Stanford do, lol! Go Indians!
DeleteMoonshot Mike works at Berkeley in the IP department. You would think that if he was going to have a business on the side that they would at least want him to do something that was scientifically valid. Berkeley prides itself on high standards. What has happened to that place recently?
ReplyDeleteIt goes without saying that this is the quality of program that Gus Vina would seek out!
This is true. His name will be mud in the scientific community if he sells invalid stuff--which is what he told us we were buying at the meeting.
DeleteAs for calling him Moonshot Mike, it is sort of mean, but this was a self inflicted wound like in the case of Stripper Pole Dad.
I don't understand this confusion with Peak Democracy and statistically valid surveys. We've known how to do a fairly accurate survey for years although mobile phones threw a monkey wrench in the sampling process awhile back. The city could do a reliable survey tomorrow but it would cost a lot depending on the size of the sample and the number of questions asked. A lot of campaign funds go to polling which is just another name for a sample survey but they are usually not as robust.
ReplyDeletePeak Democracy is just a way to, hopefully, get more people to participate and would have no more statistical reliability than the people who show up at meetings. Any process that depends on participants to proactively get involved is by definition not an accurate sample from a statistical standpoint.
Finally, to those of you who are so worried about retribution if you in anyway participate then I suggest you sit this one out. It sounds more like excuses.
We know that is what you are hoping for Gus at 9:46--for us to sit it out. How about thow it out--meaning the stupid contract.
DeleteGo back and listen to Moonshot Mike's presentation to the council and Gaspar's interaction with him. He told her that it would cost more money to make it valid. So why buy an invalid program in the first place and why sell it unless the salesperson is unethical!
Also, 9:46, if it is true that "the city could do a reliable survey tomorrow," why do they have to hire everything out? Most of the talent pool at the city don't even know what a "reliable survey" means.
DeleteI'll have to listen to the presentation to see what exactly the context he uses the term "valid" in. Sure as hell sounds like upsell.
Delete9:46 raises some good points about sample size and statistical reliability. I just don't think Peak Dem. will get more people to really participate, although I still think that's up to the individual.
And that overall is what the issue is, that most people don't care. Luckily, a lot of people did take the time to show up at EUSD tonight, it was packed. Thanks to Scott Chatfield and everyone else!
-Mr. Green Jeans
What happened with regard to Pacific View tonight at the EUSD meeting?
DeleteIt would not cost a lot of money to do a statistically reliable and valid survey. It has been offered to the City of Encinitas many times by grad students at SDSU, with a professor overseeing it. Cost-$1500.00. Let's see $9000.00 for an unreliable surgery, $1500.00 for a reliable and valid one. Wonder why the City has turned the offer down many times.
DeleteGee, nice to think 9:51 PM thinks I'm Gus but sorry to disappoint you, I'm not. Why is that a common reply here thinking that anyone who might be going against the grain has to be the city manager or a council member. I guess we can't think for ourselves. Have to stay within the group think (bang the pots etc.).
Delete12:20 AM - for $1,500 it would make sense for the city to do a formal survey whether or not they use Peak Democracy if for no other reason than to get a benchmark. They did a survey a little while ago on public satisfaction with city services. You should tell that to the city.
GJ, just like on other threads, no one is buying your fake-o "reasonable devil's advocate." Your comments are aligned with the city's position.
ReplyDeleteJust because you don't have the intellectual capability to understand the technology behind Peak Democracy, and my comments on it, you feel that gives you the right to once again paint me as a city apologist.
DeleteNicely done. See post directly above yours for what I was getting at. Hire some grad students to do the same thing. I now return you to hatefest/ignorance fest 2014.
Mr. Green Jeans
Your tax dollars at work…. selling out $135,000 to pay for a City blogger to try and spin positives out of the inept ways of Vina. Sad but true.
ReplyDeleteSo besides blogging and buying questionable web programs for the City with or tax money, what tasks and responsibilities does the Communications Director actually do for our City that provides value?
Is this position really needed?
I can think of many other ways to spend the $135,000 a year in our City.
It isn't $135k a year for the position, although that's what Vina asked for. More like $75k.
DeleteStill not a good use of funds.
-Mr Green Jeans
Green Jeans, when the benefit package is added in, she is in the $100,000 Club.
DeleteSo, what, that's not how salaries are thought of. It would be 75k+ benefits. You're making up crap, the same thing you accuse Vina of doing. Classic web misinformation..
Delete-Mr Green Jeans
-Mr Green Jeans
11:14 AM
DeleteShe's not getting 75K.
Mr. Green sure likes to protest overmuch.
DeleteMr. Green Jeans has a lot of the same communication pattern as Marco G.
Delete"Just because you don't have the intellectual capability to understand the technology behind Peak Democracy, and my comments on it, you feel that gives you the right to once again paint me as a city apologist"
I'm not saying it is Marco, but obviously it is someone like Marco who is making money off of taxpayers through the city, This poster also has the same inflated self concept as Marco and the same claim that he is being abused when he himself is the abuser.
Naw..........Mr. Green Jeans only "crime" is he believes in and favors intellectual honesty, as do I!
Delete- The Sculpin
He's slipped into outright city hall defense way too many times and way too much like someone either in or benefiting from city status quo.
DeleteSculpin, you may be in opposition at times to folks on here, but it's different with GJ. He takes things a tad too personally ;)
$135,000 would buy a lot of statistically real surveys or could be put to a needed project. What is the communications director going to accomplish this month for Encinitas citizens?
ReplyDeleteI think that the most devious part of this whole plan is the philosophy that drives it. Barth and Shaffer often talk about how "change is inevitable" so that they can sound like they understand technology or can claim to be forward thinking.
ReplyDeleteThe end of the argument is "change is inevitable, so you have to do what we say." Why? We used your money to do leading, invalid surveys that were written based on what we want, so the answers prove that we should decide what the future of Encinitas is--citizens be damned!
Another oft heard adage, "Encinitas only better!" Better for who??
ReplyDelete