BY MIKE CETERA
OK, so the city of Aurora is going to miss the mark when it comes to the goals leaders set for this year. The most disappointing setback is the city's failure to curb shootings by 10 percent. Instead, with a month left to go, shootings have increased by 17 percent over 2006.
Mayor Tom Weisner's administration may be smarting from these "losses," but the prudent thing to do isn't to set easier goals. The city should raise the bar even further next year.
When Weisner established the Wildly Important Goals two years ago, it was easy to scoff at the Franklin Covey-inspired targets as an easy way to win PR points. After all, if you set goals easily achievable, the mayor looks good. But the goals -- even if the name of the program is a bit dopey -- are important for residents because it gives them a yard stick from which to measure the city's, and thus elected leaders', performance.
So, Weisner has put himself out there for any potential opponent in a potential mayoral election challenge to point to these failures. That is a very real hurdle Weisner may have to jump. I say, hey, at least he's trying in this regard to be accountable. No previous mayor can claim as much.
But let's make sure that in 2008, as a potential re-election bid draws closer, the goals aren't softened. Be daring. Go for a 20 percent reduction in shootings. Set a development target even greater than the missed target this time around. Don't wimp out.
No, it's easy to scoff at the fact that Aurora has paid more than $100,000 to Franklin Covey to help come up with these goals.
There is a disconnect between the WIG’s and the control the City may or may not have in attaining the WIG's. The most dramatic disconnect is the desired reduction of shootings.
I am not aware of any person alive on this planet that can knowingly and in advance of any actions taken by any third party intervene in that decision making process and stop that person from taking some action, especially that of shooting another person. I have never met anyone that passed their mind reading course.
If you cannot control the process how can you control the result?
This city paid a lot of money to obtain a result that is flawed at the outset. Did the City people creating these WIG's think any of this through? Where were the so called experts (the people to whom so much money was paid) during the process of distilling the ideas that lead to these WIG’s? Did they want the WIG's to be meaningful or did they just want to collect tax payer's money?
I am all for this City trying to figure out what it wants to be when it grows up but I think that this program did not get the City any closer to knowing the answer to that question.
The first lesson in setting goals is for them to be achievable and reasonable. I have to say for Covey to think up these goals is really a disappointment. These goals were nothing more than politics and the Mayor saying things that were unreasonable. Goals should be wide reaching (especially for a City) and not specific; like the Current McCarty park WIG. How does it benefit me, on the outskirts of the City to have a run down park improved at a staggering pricetag of $650,000? What about the absentee landlords in my newer subdivision that run the most slimy of people through?
Both set of WIGs were solely for politics and not for the betterment of the City. I wish the beacon would truly look at reality; and call a "spade" a "spade".
The Wildly Important Goals established by each city department will only have meaning beyond political posturing when (1) the community is involved in setting those goals (rather than the departments themselves) and (2) there is responsibility and accountability for the attainment of those goals...
Excuses like "the goal was set to high" or "crime is cyclical" are just that, EXCUSES. Perhaps a Wildly Important Goal for 2008 should be "NO EXCUSES".