Choosing new Springfield flag undermined by undemocratic process
This week, the Springfield Identity Project was successful in their years-long effort to push their flag design on the city of Springfield.
As I said in the runup to the vote, I will support the decision of City Council because I believe in the democratic process. City Council members are voted in fairly by the community, and if they don’t act and vote in line with their constituent’s views, it is up to the public to replace them with leaders who do.
However, while I ultimately support the outcome of the flag vote, I can’t overlook and mention the outright insincerity of the public input survey executed by the Community Involvement Committee. When the results of the December survey were skimmed over, it became clear the outcome was baked in prior to implementation.
The 26 design submissions that were a last-minute checkbox for the committee from the August survey were never reviewed openly or voted on by the public. After a short review of the steps the committee has taken to date, Councilman Simpson struggled to say, “I just want to confirm we were presented with the 26 alternate designs and those were the result of an open design competition?” So, public design submissions — check.
When results of the survey were presented, it was immediately preceded by a statement about the results not being scientific and the results should be viewed with, “a grain of salt” and that there was significant online vote duplication “on both sides.” Why weren’t the actual number of identified duplicates by vote presented? That information is needed to provide a more accurate representation of the survey results. There was also no presentation or discussion of the public comments from the survey. Every serious research project includes a grouping and recap of the written responses because they provide a more in-depth analysis of opinions. There were nearly 200 more "No" votes on the survey than "Yes," and there was no break down by survey type. So, public survey — check.
The survey results presented were less than transparent, so I made a public records request for the data from the August and December surveys, including results by survey type: online (including IP address information), phone, mail, etc. This is basic survey research information that should have been presented to residents at the meeting.
What could have been an exciting opportunity to bring the community together to vote on flag concepts and rally under a chosen one was forever undermined by clout and cronyism. Springfield City Council, specifically Simpson, Hosmer and Ollis, chose division and conflict over inclusion and amity. At least half of the Springfield population will be reminded of the undemocratic process forced upon them each time they see the new Springfield flag instead of community brotherhood and pride.
This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Choosing new Springfield flag undermined by undemocratic process
