HomeMy WebLinkAbout2/4/2019 Item 1, Christie - Sierra Club
Christian, Kevin
From:Santa Lucia Chapter of the Sierra Club <sierraclub8@gmail.com>
Sent:Monday, January 28, 2019 5:59 PM
To:E-mail Council Website
Subject:Sierra Club comments on 2019-21 Goal Setting Process and selection of Major City
Goals
Dear Mayor Harmon and Councilmembers,
The results are in for the City’s “2019-2021 Financial Plan Community Priorities Survey,” which asked City
Residents “What are the most important priorities for the city in 2019-2021?” The survey found that “Open
Space Preservation” and “Fiscal Responsibility” are virtually tied as the top priorities of City residents, and far
outdistance all other potential priorities. The survey information and results are on pages 28-35 of the 744-page
Council Agenda Report for your February 4 workshop. The report notes that the receipt of 1,587 total responses
“reflects a 24% increase in participation compared to the same survey conducted two years ago” in the City
Council’s goal setting process.
We draw your attention to the consistency of the current results with the City’s March 2018 Community Issues
Survey of registered City voters. In that survey “Preserving Open Space and natural areas” also received, by far,
the highest ranking of what is “Extremely Important” to City voters (page 5).
Both of these surveys reinforce the results of the City’s Land Use & Circulation Element Update Survey (2012)
that was mailed to every address in the City. The survey, with more than 2,200 detailed responses received,
found that the highest priority of City residents was to have more protected open space, and that this was the
only service that they were personally willing to pay more for. (In turn, the report on the 2012 survey noted that
the top priorities of “acquiring and maintaining open space and hillsides,” “acquiring and maintaining open
space for creeks & marshes,” and “acquiring and maintaining open space for City greenbelt” “were the very
same items selected by respondents in 1988.”) See responses to questions 16 and 17.
It is also important to note that when City residents were asked to tax themselves through Measure G in 2014,
“open space preservation” was the first funding priority listed on the ballot line for Measure G.
We hope all Council members will keep these results and this history in mind and give them all due
consideration as the goal setting process continues.
Thank you for your attention to these issues,
Andrew Christie, Director
Santa Lucia Chapter
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