Burying Power Lines: Letters to Drinkwater

Getting the improvement district passed was not easy.  One of the hurdles was that the city did not have an accurate mailing list in order to mail information and ballots to residents in the district.. The problems (and solutions) are described in the letters below.  

December, 1994 Letter     January, 1995 Letter

December, 1994 Letter 

December 19, 1994

Herb Drinkwater
Mayor
City of Scottsdale
3939 N. Civic Center Blvd.
Scottsdale, AZ 
85252-1000

Dear Herb,

I sincerely appreciate your help and City staff’s work with the current attempt to bury the APS power lines. This letter is not about the Desert Foothills Scenic Drive. It is about something else I know something about - direct mail and marketing. I’ve been involved in software development and sales for 34 years and have been involved in many mailing campaigns. A couple of points:

1. To have any chance at succeeding with a mailing campaign, you must have an up-to-date, accurate mailing list.

2. If you do a well-designed, targeted mailing, with a reply card, 5-8% response is considered excellent.

3. You can dramatically increase results by personally contacting the prospects, either in person or by telephone. 
    To do that you must have an accurate database with current telephone numbers and addresses.

A couple more points:

1. The County records that were used to contact property owners is really in bad shape. As you know, some individuals did not receive ballots ... including myself. The ballot for a second lot that I own went to Illinois where I rented an apartment for a year. Addresses are out-of-date or not listed. I called Bob Johnson and got credit for the lot but how many people did not make that call? We do not know how many people actually received ballots.

2. Many of the entries do not have telephone numbers. Turns out many of them are unlisted. Many of the owners live out-of-state; etc.

3. My estimate is that it would take several months of effort to get a list that you could base a campaign on.

I agree with the City Council setting a high standard; i.e., 70%, for approving the assessment district, but given the realities of direct mail response and the status of the mailing list, we are looking at an impossible goal. It might be possible with a good list, a large organization and intensive follow-up.

The ballots that have been returned show overwhelming support for burying the lines, so the results are ambiguous.

The ballot has been successful in increasing the dialog about the preservation of the desert, and ithas been heartening to learn how many people are willing to pay $12.50 a month to bury the lines. But it does not make any sense to do another mailing until the list is cleaned up, or a better list or approach is found.

Sincerely,

Les Conklin

January, 1995 Letter

January 31, 1995

Herb Drinkwater
Mayor, City of Scottsdale
City of Scottsdale
3939 Civic Center Blvd.
Scottsdale, Arizona 
85251

Dear Herb,

I appreciate the City of Scottsdale’s efforts to create an assessment district to bury the APS power lines. Unfortunately, the balloting process appears to have been mortally flawed. The purpose of this letter is to suggest that the City of Scottsdale conduct another ballot regarding the creation of an assessment district to bury the APS power lines. Here are some suggestions for improving the balloting process.

1. Mail to a "good" list. People who work in marketing say that for any direct mail campaign to have a chance of success the correct names and addresses must be on the envelopes that are sent out. When I was president of the Monte De Paz Homeowner’s Association, I attempted to contact all Monte De Paz property owners by mail and telephone. At that time, there were no homes on about 60% of the lots. The effort was a miasma. Letters were returned with bad addresses, lots had changed hands, owners had PO boxes; etc. It appears that the City has encountered similar problems and achieved similar results. In a developing area like north Scottsdale it is understandable.

As an example, I have owned my home at 27221 North 71st Place since 1983. I received a ballot for the lot the house is on. However; I did not receive a ballot for the adjacent parcel which I also own. It was mailed to an apartment that we rented for a year and one-half back in 1990 while I worked in Chicago. I called Bob Johnson and was given credit for the two lots, but how many property owners did not receive ballots and never knew they were coming? I understand there were quite a few. I’ve spoken to some of these property owners and they are not happy. Based on my Monte De Paz mailing experience, I suspect there are many others. You have to start with an accurate mailing list or the effort is doomed.

2. Very few businesses conduct mailings during the holiday season. Why? People are getting tons of mail, they are busy, they are away; etc. January through March would be a much better time to do the mailing.

3. Use of registered mail is expensive but it would add to the credibility of the mailing. Also, if the decision is based on having someone send in a reply card, you have to follow up with the target market and remind them to send the ballot in. Again, marketing people will tell you that a 7% response rate to a mailing campaign using a reply card is phenomenally good. Most people do not act on most of the mail they receive. According to what I’ve read, the City achieved a 23% response rate -- with no telephone follow-up. This is outstanding. Unfortunately, the 23% is not a trustworthy number since: 1) it is not known how many ballots were sent out, and 2) how many ballots were actually received by property owners. Who knows, the 23% might represent 100% of the ballots received. We only know one thing with certainty -- that of the property owners who sent in their reply cards, an overwhelming number support burying APS power lines.

4. The ballot should give property owners a chance to "Yes" or "No".

5. Once you have a good list of property owners, if possible, the list should be made available to both supporters and opponents of the issue, so that they can contact the property owners.

6. State the rules by which the results will be measured in the initial mailing piece. If someone does not vote in an election, there is no way to know their preference. I don’t believe in taxation without representation but it is categorically unfair to declare non-responses as either "no" or "yes" votes. According to a recent newspaper article, the Scottsdale City Council wants a 70% "yes" vote. Who wouldn’t! But given the realities of marketing and the circumstances of this ballot, 70% is absolutely impossible to achieve. Can anyone on the Council or anyone else, identify a large mailing campaign that achieved a 70% response?

This ballot has to be done right! Arizona suffered from a black eye for years because of the Martin Luther King Holiday vote. A vote which did not reflect the sentiment of Arizonans. There has been much press recently about the effects of urban sprawl including the loss of our desert vistas, and diminishing scenic corridors. Scottsdale’s Desert Foothills Scenic Drive has been featured in several of these articles. These stories and supporting pictures and graphics are now available to millions of America On Line users across the United States. At least one Los Angeles television station is carrying the story of Scottsdale’s effort vis-à-vis burying APS power lines. What a shame it would be to lose this opportunity to turn a potential eyesore and tourist "loser" into a winning initiative that benefits residents and tourists alike.

Sincerely,

Les Conklin 
Chairman, Desert Foothills Drive Improvement
Foothills Drive Homeowners’ Coalition