VIRGINIA BEACH
Virginia Beach's City Page is either an effective communications tool or propaganda, depending on whom you ask.
It's also a campaign target.
Council candidates have found common ground in railing against the one-page advertisement that appears throughout the year in The Virginian-Pilot touting city events and accomplishments.
At a Virginia Beach Taxpayer Alliance event Saturday, every candidate running for an at-large and district council race wanted the page considered for elimination in a budget crunch. Councilwoman Rosemary Wilson and one of her challengers for the at-large seat, Keith Strausbaugh, did not attend the event.
"Times are tough; we're going to have to cut things," said Glenn Davis, who is running for the Rose Hall seat. "The City Page is one that needs to be looked at." Davis said the city should consider using its Web site more often to communicate information.
Davis' opponent, Councilwoman Reba McClanan, called the page "propaganda."
The page, which costs taxpayers $152,526 this year, spotlights issues that Beach officials consider important, from Town Center's progress to the goals City Council set at its retreat. The page notifies residents about public meetings, said Mary Hancock, media and communications administrator.
"The biggest reason that we do City Page is because we have an obligation to inform citizens," said Hancock, whose department is responsible for the page. "I think it's pretty effective."
A survey of 303 Virginia Beach residents earlier this year found that 55 percent noticed the page and 93 percent were satisfied or very satisfied with it, Hancock said. The page accounts for 1.2 percent of the $12.9 million Virginia Beach spends on media relations and marketing, including staff and tourism advertising.
The page is "low hanging fruit" if the council is looking at budget cuts in a financially strained time, said Councilman Harry Diezel, who is facing the Rev. Joe Flores and Andrew Jackson for the Kempsville district seat. "That's a nice-to-have element, instead of a critical element," Diezel said.
Still, that doesn't mean the page will be history. Even McClanan acknowledges that her husband finds the page informative.
"I was using it as an example of one of the things we could cut," McClanan said Monday.
Deirdre Fernandes, (757) 222-5121, deirdre.fernandes@pilotonline.com
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better way
The VP doesn't reach everyone. Here's an idea: Print and mail a flier to every household. If you do this quarterly, do it on plain paper with black ink, keep it simple, mail it bulk rate it will be cheaper and more effective.
163,877 households X 25 cents per flier (printing) X 20 cents per flier (mailing) X four times per year = $32,775.
These are numbers off the top of my head and don't include labeling and other labor requirements but you get the idea. Cheaper and reaches a larger audience.
Next...
what? No Rose
Rose didn't attend? hmmmmm Wasn't Rose the one who pushed that money making Magna Carta exhibit? hehehe Keep telling it as you see it Reba, got my vote even though I don't agree with you all the time.
Keep the page
Any municipality has a responsibility to listen to and communicate with its residents. Because no single medium reaches everyone, it takes a mix of media to provide information to the public. Virginia Beach's City Page is the most efficient way to communicate with the largest number of VB residents. That it is as well read as it is, and that its profile is high enough for naysayers to take pot shots at it, is a testimony to the effectiveness of this tool and the ability of the City's media & communications staff to create a communications vehicle that rises above the normal dull boilerplate of municipal communication. The City's web site and VBTV are valuable communications tools, as well. But their users are few compared to the reach of the newspaper.
Cut?
Of course it should be cut. It's nothing but political propaganda. I'm sure council meetings etc can be announced by a simple press release, placement on the city's web site, the Beacon, and etc etc. A complete waste of money.
City Page
Times are tuff: Cut costs end the City Page.
Dump the waste
$155k can surely be used in better ways. If that information is so important, put it on the city WEB site.
Keep It
Keep the page. We are Virginia Beach and there are plenty of annoucements and accomplishments to promote.
Also Cut other items!!
Not only should we cut the page out but also stop all the city provided cars that I see people using to go shopping and other things that have not a thing to do with city work.
What??
Can you believe the way City Council spends our money?? Paying $152,526 this year for a WEBPAGE!! They could give 1/3 of the VA Beach residents over $1000 each to help people with bills every year with that money. I wonder what else they are wasting money on that we don't even know about??