Eugene weekly., April 24, 2003, Page 11, Image 11

BY ALAN PITTMAN
Monkey Business
Business survey doesn’t answer key question:
Is the survey bogus?
T
he city of Eugene spent $22,000 on a
business climate survey that wasn’t
designed to provide clear results.
About 240 business owners responded to
the mail survey with charges that the city is
anti-business. But the survey itself admits
that it’s unclear that these businesses repre-
sent a scientifically valid sample of Eugene
employers, saying, “It is difficult to deter-
mine if these perceptions are representative
of all businesses in Eugene.”
The survey was sent to 2,000 randomly
chosen Eugene employers in the fall of 2002.
But only 19 percent responded. That has left
many city councilors still wondering what
businesses really think.
“It’s dangerous for us to generalize too
much from this survey,” said Councilor
David Kelly at a meeting on the survey last
week. “This is 20 percent of one constituency
that has spoken up,” he said, pointing out the
council has also heard from others “in direct
opposition” to the anti-regulatory views of
the respondents.
Kelly said it’s “unfortunate” that a city
press release on the survey results drew broad
conclusions based on only the 20 percent
who responded. The press release said the
survey “found they [businesses] have a nega-
tive image of the business climate in
Eugene,” but did not mention that the survey
respondents were not a statistically valid
sampling of business opinion. A story in The
Register-Guard, written after the press re-
lease, reported that the survey “unveiled a
pervasive sense among Eugene merchants
that city policies, staff and attitudes are anti-
business.”
Councilor Betty Taylor said the survey re-
sults were biased because unhappy busi-
nesses were “much more likely to respond”
to the survey than businesses who thought the
city was doing a good job. “If everything is
fine, you don’t need to fill out the survey,”
she said.
“We’re talking about a very small group at
one end of the spectrum,” Councilor Bonny
Bettman said. She faulted the study for not
comparing the views of Eugene businesses to
businesses in other cities. She said businesses
across the nation all want lower taxes and
fees and less regulation. “Are we really that
much harder to work in than Salem, or West
Linn or Lake Oswego?”
Bob Parker, the UO planning consultant
hired to do the survey, said the city could
have conducted a scientifically valid tele-
phone poll of a representative sample of
Eugene businesses. But he said Mayor Jim
Torrey and Councilor David Kelly wanted to
ask businesses a long list of questions. “The
depths of issues were too difficult to explore”
in a reasonable phone call, Parker said. So a
mail survey with seven pages of questions
was sent.
Despite the survey’s uncertain meaning,
pro-sprawl councilors said the city should
move quickly to cut regulations, fees and
taxes and increase subsidies as many of the
survey respondents demanded.
Councilor George Poling said the survey
responses were an “embarrassment” for the
city and the city should cater to the wishes of
economically important businesses. “It may
be a small minority, but without that small
minority, where would we be?”
“I realize this isn’t everybody in Eugene,”
said Mayor Jim Torrey. But he suggested the
council frame the business survey results up
on the wall to remind them of what they
should be doing.
survey also showed local business leaders to
be out of touch with the citizens. For exam-
ple, citizens favored more regulations to pro-
tect water quality and natural habitats by
scores of 70 or more out of 100. The
Chamber of Commerce gave such new envi-
ronmental regulations a zero priority.
The perceptions of the business survey re-
spondents also seem disconnected from real-
ity. The 2000 Census shows that Eugene
grew at a 22 percent faster rate than suppos-
edly more pro-growth Springfield in the last
decade. Almost half of Springfield residents
actually work in Eugene.
Oddly, a vocal minority of businesses are
now complaining about the city after a series
of major decisions in which the City Council
sided with the Chamber of Commerce over
labor and environmental groups. The council
Despite the survey’s uncertain meaning, pro-sprawl
councilors said the city should move quickly to cut
regulations, fees and taxes and increase subsidies.
“I hope we take heed of this,” said
Councilor Gary Pape. “I don’t want to see us
go through what we did in the early 1980s.”
But while replacing environmental and
livability regulations with industry subsidies
may be popular with some businesses, it’s
likely to face overwhelming opposition from
Eugene citizens. The city’s 1996 Growth
Management Study demonstrated strong citi-
zen support for ending growth subsidies and
controlling sprawl to protect livability and
the environment. The comprehensive GMS
recently voted to move forward with building
the West Eugene Parkway through wetlands
and killed a proposal for a living wage for
city workers and contractors.
On its website, the Chamber notes that
“Eugene, Oregon, now has the distinction of
being one of the few cities in the country tar-
geted by the living wage movement to reject
the idea. And that is important with respect to
future economic development and to enhanc-
ing Eugene’s image as a great place for busi-
nesses to locate, grow or expand.”
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EUGENE WEEKLY APRIL 24, 2003 11