"Are Redmond's City Council members doing a good job?" This was a "question of the week" in the Redmond Reporter's May 15th edition. The answer to the poll was Yes: 36.8% No: 63.2%.
I was surprised that nearly 2/3 of those polled felt Redmond City Council members were not doing a good job. That is a significant number of people! So how do you think the Council could do better? Re-look at the city's growth policy? Are we growing too fast? Establish greater efficiencies within the government? Should Council have to ask us for more levy money? Pay more attention to neighborhood issues? Is Council over-involved in regional issues? City Council follows Mayor Marchione in lock-step. Should they be more outspoken?
What do you think is right or wrong about the City Council? The City is always posting favorable results on the many surveys they take on citizen satisfaction. This Redmond Reporter poll is a true eye-opener.
Opinion by Bob Yoder
I was surprised that nearly 2/3 of those polled felt Redmond City Council members were not doing a good job. That is a significant number of people! So how do you think the Council could do better? Re-look at the city's growth policy? Are we growing too fast? Establish greater efficiencies within the government? Should Council have to ask us for more levy money? Pay more attention to neighborhood issues? Is Council over-involved in regional issues? City Council follows Mayor Marchione in lock-step. Should they be more outspoken?
What do you think is right or wrong about the City Council? The City is always posting favorable results on the many surveys they take on citizen satisfaction. This Redmond Reporter poll is a true eye-opener.
Opinion by Bob Yoder
I think the general consensus among the people I've spoken to is that the council/city doesn't seem to truly represent their constituents. Too much growth, too fast; too little infrastructure planning like traffic concerns, etc., taxes too high and the city attempting to be another Bellevue or Seattle.
ReplyDeleteActually the poll isn't a surprise to me at all. We need new representation at the City.
Here is my best guess, having attended numerous public-comment meetings and having talked to many (older) long-time Redmond residents over the past 20 years that I have lived here.
ReplyDeleteIt is mostly older people who read the Reporter (most younger people I know throw it right into the recycle bin from their driveway every Friday). If it's not on their Facebook feed, young people don't pay attention to it.
And these older, established residents HATE what is being done to downtown. They want their 'old' downtown back.
I'm not anti-progress by any means, but I see a lot of Section 8 housing in downtown Redmond in another 15-20 years when those buildings get rundown, complete with bums sleeping in our yet-to-be-funded downtown park.
Call me a tinfoil-hat-wearing conspiracy nut if you wish, but our city council is marching lockstep with the United Nations Agenda 21 global development program. This is being implemented locally through the Puget Sound Regional Council's Vision 2040, which you can read about here:
http://www.psrc.org/growth/vision2040