INC NEWS - redundant correespondence from planning-- a way to cut costs

[Pat Carstensen]

At least some of those postcards were about a change in the UDO to let them just send e-mail.  (-:

Regards, pat

Date: Sat, 15 Nov 2008 18:59:33 -0800
From: mmr121570 at yahoo.com
To: inc-list at DurhamINC.org
Subject: INC NEWS - redundant correespondence from planning-- a way to cut	costs

Just wondering if anyone else out there gets multiple postal notices from the Planning Department regarding Text Amendments' public hearings (at City Council and County Board of Commissioners meetings). 

I get all text amendment notices by email, which is great. And then I get two postcards per text amendment by snail mail (at 27 cents a pop for postage), one on behalf of NE Creek Streamwatch, and the other on behalf of Fairfield Neighborhood.  These post cards are identical to the email notifications. 

Within 3 days this week, I received 14 such postcards, costing the Planning Department a total of $3.78 to communicate with 1 citizen for 1 week (or 1 month depending on how you see it). My neighbor two doors down told me that the same thing (getting double postcards) used to happen to him all the time, so I know I'm not alone.

Don't get me
 wrong. I hardly think that Durham communicates too much with it's citizens.



But redundancy is different from 'communicating too much,' and may even
cause people to pay less, not more, attention to Planning correspondence.



Surely combining all communication (to be mailed within a 3-4 day
period) into one correspondence (utilizing one stamp) would get MORE,
not less, attention from the recipient. And it would save the city some
money to boot. Every little bit helps, especially when you're talking about a big budget ;)



Again, all 14 postcards that I received this week from the
Planning Department were emailed to me, verbatim, separately (and
earlier). So if they enabled me to choose email, instead of postal mail
(rather than in addition to postal mail, as things now stand)  they'd save even more money.



Not looking to reduce communication, just looking to make it more efficient, in as many ways as possible.



Melissa

Melissa Rooney
Fairfield Neighborhood


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