Solving a Public Issue Journal

There is an opportunity in my town to solve a drainage issue on one of the main roads that connects to larger highways through town. The road sees a lot of traffic as cars go from one highway to the other and into residential neighborhoods in between, all of which feed off this main road. The problem is that during a rain the road floods badly as it sits at the bottom of two hills in what is basically a valley. There is now money in the treasury from the state to make the repairs, but should the town make them? Fixing it could cause a great deal of traffic nightmares for many people and construction would be on-going for the better part of a year. If constituents think it is not worth the headache it could mean that some public officials are voted out of office.

The best way to proceed correctly is to retrieve the facts (Decision Making Strategies, n.d.). The public administration should survey the community or put it to a vote that the community can vote upon in an open vote. This would be the most effective way to retrieved all the facts so that the administration would be able to proceed appropriately. In this case, the best thing to know is what the community wants: 1) to put up with the flooding and forego construction, or 2) use the money, fix the flooding/drainage issue and put up with construction and traffic headaches for the next year.

To finalize the decision, the administration should hold a public hearing in order to allow any last citizens to have a say that might sway the administration one way or the other. However, the final decision should either be to put it to public vote or decide on the matter in-house. Lastly, whatever action is taken, the outcome should be monitored. Community members should be surveyed and if construction is begun the progress should be monitored with goals defined and checked to see if they are being met so that the project is completed on time.

References

Decision Making Strategies. (n.d.). Digital file.