Review editorial
July 2, 2008
By Staff
City survey leads to more questions
The city of Sammamish recently hired Hebert Research to complete a community opinion survey of 393 residents to gauge how citizens are feeling their city. It’s interesting, but we’re not too sure what to make of it all. Let’s take a closer look:
The number one thing people like about living in Sammamish is the small town feel. Interesting that the city just approved Town Center, a plan that will allow up to 600,000 square feet of commercial space and up to 2,000 housing units.
Only 7.6 percent of survey respondents want more businesses to locate here, yet, ironically, many comments were specifically for more restaurants, more shopping (one suggested Wal-Mart) and more services. Equally as many want growth to stop or slow. “You can’t let too many people in,” said one responder.
Nearly 70 percent rated the city’s long-range planning as good or excellent. While 67 percent said they agree that the Town Center plan is heading in the right direction, more than 80 percent of those say they only “somewhat agree.”
The city continues to contemplate a park bond vote this fall, so it is interesting that 78 percent give high marks to the city for parks facilities. A full 93.9 percent are pleased with the appearance of city parks. Look closely at comments, though, and you’ll see that many voices are impatient for a teen center, community center, even a bowling alley.
The survey also asked about communications. It turns out that only 10.2 percent had watched the city’s TV channel for 5 minutes or more in the past month, although 31 percent had visited the city’s website. We’re tickled pink that most citizens get their city news from Sammamish Review, but dismayed to read comments that imply the Review is owned by the city. Not true! The Review is published by an independent journalism company, dependent on the advertisers who are dependent on your readership.
Surveys are only as good as the people who read them. We hope this one will be referred to often, as elected officials look for citizen guidance.
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