From who to what
Posted Sep 20, 2010 02:46:14 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Results of another “Who Are You Kitchener” survey are to be released tonight, telling the next council in the city what it should focus on over the next four years. The effort, undertaken by the citizens’ committee Compass Kitchener, is a wide-ranging survey that aims to gather feedback on everything from taxes to community safety to access to city services. The results become a part of the City of Kitchener Strategic Plan.
“We spoke directly to over 1300 folks and got input from them either in workshops or in civics classes or at the market or via the city’s online survey,” says Shelley Adams, Director of Community and Corporate Planning.
She adds that they’re “very, very satisfied” with the number of people who participated in this year’s survey, including some 2500 more who visited the city’s website for a better idea of the questions and process surrounding the study.
Adams says the city conducts the survey on a term-to-term basis to help the incoming council better grasp the issues residents are concerned with.
“They wanted council to focus on the environment, diversity, the downtown and how the city was being developed overall,” Adams says in outlining the results of the inaugural “Who Are You Kitchener” survey.
The results of Part 2 will be presented to council tonight and Theron Kramer with Compass Kitchener says one of the things they asked on the survey this time was what people wanted for the future of their city, 15-20 years down the road.
“You get some people who want to see this become a real big city atmosphere,” Kramer acknowledges. “(But) you get others who want it to remain small town.”
A recurring theme, according to Kramer, is the desire to see controlled and sustainable growth for the future, development that includes more people living in the downtown core but also includes more greenspace and concern for the environment so that “we aren’t harming people through unfettered growth.”
For a look at highlights of the previous survey’s results, click here.
