NORC Survey Taken, $5 Gift Card Promised

Residents are asked what steps they want to see in rebuilding by the NORC survey.

This editor took the NORC Survey yesterday and some of the questions felt “outdated.” Many of the questions were born out of the Blue Ribbon Commission, organized by L.A. County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath, and revolved around resilient construction and workforce housing for construction workers and their families. The NORC Survey also asked residents if they would delay moving back if it meant infrastructure could be upgraded. After completing the survey this editor was offered a $5 Amazon Gift Card, or the money could go to charity.

I chose the $5 Gift Card out of principle: people whose homes were destroyed in the fire need money for rebuilding: rebuilding homes, rebuilding possessions, rebuilding lives. Palisadians should have also received money from FireAid or other sources that instead went to nonprofits.

NORC said questions were developed out of Palisades focus groups and CTN asked Pacific Palisades Community Council if residents could learn the number of people and the names of those who participated in the initial focus groups. Those participants represented Pacific Palisades and questions were developed from their input.

One resident wrote about the survey questions: “I took the survey last week and I’m still fuming over the question if I’m willing to increase my property tax to pay for something that’s the City’s responsibility. And the question appeared twice in the survey, leading me to believe that’s really the core. The gall!

“I know I have nothing to complain about because my house is still standing. But I’ll complain about this! Other than covering the cost of new attic insulation, the California Fair Plan does not pay for remediation to clean up the smoke, soot and ash that was everywhere inside and outside the house, including furniture, floors, roof, walls and every little thing. Payment for that came directly out of my pocket. Plus, I have an SBA loan to pay back. Increase my or any Palisadian’s property tax for something fire-related? Hell, no!”

COMMUNITY COUNCIL PRESIDENT SUE KOHL wrote CTN on October 2:

I’m sorry to say I thought your piece (NORC Paid $172,750 for Survey for Community Council”) on the NORC survey last night was unnecessarily negative and did not reflect the true value of the survey, nor did it reflect the opinions of people who found the survey to be valuable, asking good, sometimes difficult questions.

The questions were simply that, just questions. To encourage people to think that the PPCC was actually advocating for ANY of the ideas found in the survey’s questions was poor judgement. We are not advocating, simply asking.

That is the entire purpose of a survey! If anyone found it difficult or tedious or not to their liking, then they didn’t need to complete it. And let’s not forget…..the development of NORC’s survey questions were a result of using local residents in focus groups.

Everyone is entitled to his/her personal opinion, but the PPCC is working hard to advocate for positive, resident driven initiatives, and seeing negative pieces like this one certainly doesn’t help our well-meaning efforts.

OTHER RESIDENTS WROTE:

*A resident wrote in comments “We received the survey … we moved exactly a year before the fire … I replied to the email as such and said it would be better to send survey to actual residents who lived in PP at the time of the fire. I have since received 2-3 more emails requesting I fill out the survey.”

*Another resident said, “Based on that and your reporting, I think it is a waste of time. And the amount of money spent on it could have been put to better use in the community directly.”

*Another long-time resident said, “We did not make the survey cut either.”  The resident suggested I inquire how many people from each category participated: homeowners vs. renters and the breakdown between those whose homes were destroyed, damaged, or renters.