Missoulians tops in civic involvement, study says

The people of Missoula are involved in public life and local government to a degree that’s unprecedented in America, a Phoenix researcher said Tuesday.

But the city also suffers from a serious disconnect between residents and government that could be the “stuff of revolution,” Earl de Berge of Behavior Research Center told the group elected to study Missoula’s city government.

De Berge, who is chairman of the board and director of research for his firm, has charted American public opinion and behavior for 38 years. Among the most surprising findings in the November Citizen Survey of Missoula was people’s attendance at one or more city-connected meetings in the past 12 months, either in person or by watching on Missoula Community Access Television.

A whopping 55 percent had participated in one way or another, with an average attendance among adults at City Council and board or commission meetings of about five meetings a year.

Those participation numbers are at least three times the norm, de Berge said, and in some cases six or seven times.

“Thirty-eight percent are watching it (City Council) on TV,” he said. “I’ve never seen numbers like that anywhere in America.”

By GINNY MERRIAM of the Missoulian

Full Story: http://missoulian.com/articles/2005/12/14/news/local/news03.txt