After the city feigns openness on 'private' community survey, how else is Elk Grove deceiving taxpayers?
The city of Elk Grove mailed a postcard inviting what it says were randomly selected residents to participate in a survey called the 2024 Elk Grove Community Survey. Participants received the solicitation in the last several days.
Along with the web address to take the survey, Elk Grove Mayor Bobbie Singh-Allen's postcard included an urgent message to participants. That highlighted message said, "Please do not share your survey link. This survey is for randomly selected households only."
Yesterday, Elk Grove News posted a story on Singh-Allen's admonishment not to share the link. This morning, the following exchange between EGN and the city of Elk Grove occurred on X.
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It has come to light that the city may have deviated from the mayor's directive to not share participation in the annual survey. These actions, if true, should raise serious concerns.
First and foremost, were the participants truly selected at random? Or were they specifically chosen to align with the results Mayor Singh-Allen desires?
Before this morning's weekly city email of events that miraculously included an invitation, we could find no mention of the survey. The weekly What's Happening email on April 29 did not mention the survey.
Furthermore, Elk Grove city manager Jason Berhman's administrative report during the April 28 Elk Grove City Council meeting, which is more of a social calendar update, did not include an invitation(see the video here queued to his report). If Behrmann could report about dances at District56, would it have been too much to invite citizens to the survey?
A reasonable person would say the city did not seek widespread participation. This is confirmed by the mayor's command to keep the link private.
In a broader context, the mayor, city council, and city bureaucrats may attempt to dismiss this as a mere administrative error. However, the evidence from the postcards and the city's recent actions strongly suggest a deliberate act of deception.
After all, someone had to agree to and approve Mayor Singh-Allen's admonishment to "not share the survey link" before it was printed and mailed.
Was the mayor, with city staff complicity, trying to skew the survey results to protect her politically? Or was it something more underhanded?
If they were trying to skew the results, an important question every voter, resident, and taxpayer should be asking is: If they are willing to try this act of deception, how else is the mayor deceiving the people?
