What’s the best way to get around? On foot, on bike, by bus or car? Using train tracks, highways or trails?
For a week in August, thousands of Gwinnett residents, workers and passersby will be asked to participate in a wide-ranging conversation about transportation in the county: how they want to get around, where they wish they could get to more easily and why it’s important that transportation be improved.
The project, called the Great Exchange, aims to push conversations about transportation in Gwinnett to the forefront. By the end, organizers hope to have gathered a wide range of opinions and forced people to consider what their transportation system needs.
The Great Exchange is not government-funded, but local leaders say the results could help them create a broad, strategic framework that the county needs. Chamber of Commerce president Dan Kaufman he thinks the responses could steer leaders to determine if there’s a need for bike lanes and sidewalks, or alternatives to I-85.
“We certainly are interested and excited about the process,” Gwinnett County chairman Charlotte Nash said.
The Great Exchange will start with in-person discussions that are meant to engage more than 25,000 people in the county. It will end with a text-message survey that will gather people’s opinions on what could be better.
“Where do people want to go? We’re trying to connect, move people, and that’s where the conversation needs to be,” said Chuck Warbington, who spearheaded the project. “This is aspirational.”
Warbington, the executive director of the Gwinnett Village Community Improvement District, hopes 50,000 people will be involved in the project. Wanting the operation to have a grassroots feel, he’s reached out to the Tea Party and the Sierra Club; the Chamber of Commerce and homeowners associations to lead conversations and get feedback from their members. Senior citizens and minority groups are on the list.
The campaign comes as the county plans to spend $1.25 million to update its transportation plan over the next 18 months, and on the heels of a poll by the Chamber of Commerce that indicated residents are increasingly in favor of public transportation options. But Warbington said he wants the Great Exchange to stand apart from discussions of MARTA or money.
“A lot of people are talking about transportation in Gwinnett; it’s time for Gwinnett to talk about transportation. We’re tired of other people talking about us,” he said. “We want it to be whatever people want to talk about. The goal here is not to lead, the goal here is not to advocate or educate.”
By starting in early August — the kickoff is today — Warbington hopes the project will build momentum by Aug. 24, when the biggest push is planned.
That week, people will be encouraged to log on to thegr8exchange.com or text in to answer an eight-question survey.
The plan is “really clever,” Nash said. She said she will be watching and listening to how the conversation proceeds.
The campaign will cost $60,000, and is being funded by the Gwinnett Village and Gwinnett Place community improvement districts. Warbington has been working on it for a year — but he said he does not want to create unrealistic expectations. He does not know what, if anything, will change as a result of the answers.
“This should drive what the next step is,” he said. “It will help us set what the next phase is.”
If it is successful, Warbington said, the same model could be used to have other community-wide conversations about important issues.
Tim Le, a real estate broker with Atlanta Maxim Realty International, said the text-in method has the advantage of being able to engage people who may be active in their communities, but do not vote. In the county’s Vietnamese community, he said, many opinions go unheard.
Le expects some people in the community to help others participate to get the numbers up.
“It’s a creative way of doing it,” he said. “You can’t go wrong with gathering data.”
It is clear that Gwinnett’s transportation is insufficient, said Ellen Gerstein, executive director of the Gwinnett Coalition for Health and Human Services. While Gerstein said planning is important, she also wants the plans to turn into action. She is concerned that the voices of the poor and elderly may not be heard.
“I think it’s a good idea; I just have questions,” Gerstein said. “I think talking about something, and talking about something, and talking about something is not sufficient.”
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