As regular readers of this column know, I've never been shy about expressing an opinion. That's gotten me into trouble more than a few times, but here goes another one:
Everyone should be thanking the Committee of 100 for taking on a task the city should have done long ago.
The committee, made up of some of this area's most influential residents, is surveying people about what's wrong and what's right about Kinston and Lenoir County.
Conversation on the street leans heavily toward skepticism of the committee's goals and methods. You hear moaning and complaining about the size of the survey, its intent, how the collected information will be used.
Why aren't we instead giving the committee some credit for caring?
People are expressing doubt that enough people will be interviewed. Why? What difference does it make whether 40 or 400 people express their opinions as long as the entire socio-economic range has input? After a while, interviewers would be hearing the same old, same old. What a waste of time.
Maybe the committee will publish its results and maybe it won't. It would be nice to know what people are saying, but don't most of us know already? Besides, it isn't our money that's paying to collect answers. It's the committee's, and it's their right to keep the results to themselves.
Given the identities and background of Committee of 100 members, they're unlikely to spend their money frivolously. That's not their history as individuals or as a group. If they intended to toss the final report into the trash, it seems pretty far-fetched to believe they'd hire a Raleigh company to spend six or eight weeks spinning its wheels.
I'm told the survey answers will be confidential. None of the information will lead back to the person who gave it. That assurance should increase the quality of the answers.
I've wondered several times in the last few months why the city hasn't conducted a customer satisfaction survey, but once again someone else is stepping in to fill the void, just as Channel 9 did when the Greenville TV station held a community meeting after the June shoot-out at a shot house.
A city survey wouldn't have been difficult or expensive. Questionnaires could have been enclosed with electric bills and returned separately to ensure anonymity. (One wag commented to me that people are already angry enough about their electric bills, and the city would be taking a great risk to survey irate power customers!)
Clearly, however, the method chosen by the Committee of 100 is preferable. Nothing beats face-to-face conversation, and its base of responders reaches throughout the entire county.
Here's one Kinston resident who appreciates the committee's concern and commitment to investigate the problems. So - thank you John Marshall, et al.
Lee Raynor is editor of KinstonPress.com. She welcomes your comments at 361-7530, or at
leeraynor@kinstonpress.com.
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