Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, February 16, 1993 TAG: 9302160339
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
NEW YORK CITY
NEW YORK City's welfare commissioner probably has read tons of white-paper reports and news articles about the problems of the welfare system. But by getting out from behind her desk and actually slogging through the system, Barbara Sabol doubtless learned more than any white-paper report could convey.Masquerading with wigs and a fake identification, Sabol got a bitter taste of what millions of down-on-their-luck citizens encounter in the welfare bureaucracy. She was shuffled about - sent to the wrong line to wait for 90 minutes, and once sent to the wrong address. She was depersonalized - identified at one office only by ZIP code.
She was scolded and mocked by one welfare worker, who denied that the office could actually make a mistake. And she got virtually no help when she repeatedly attempted to get a full-time job.
Fortunately for Sabol, she already has one - paying $100,000 a year. As Sabol herself noted, she had the luxury of knowing she could give up her charade as a downtrodden welfare client any time she chose. But those who must rely on welfare programs - and the professionalism if not the kindness of strangers who work in welfare offices - can't simply walk away from the bureaucratic morass.
Sabol's experience seems to have been enlightening - and quite likely worth copying elsewhere. Bosses of government agencies that provide direct services to citizens in Virginia might do well to get out of their ivory towers and journey into the trenches where the citizens must trod.
They might learn much about problems that both clients and agency workers face. Thus, they might be better able to make decisions on ways to improve services. The result, at the very least, could be more user-friendly bureaucracies.