Recently I conducted a citizen survey to judge the priorities of the Pickerington voters. There are nearly 5,000 single family homes in Pickerington. I printed up 1,000 survey cards at my own expense and hung them on about every fifth mail box in the city of Pickerington. Of those 1,000 survey cards handed out I received 6.8 percent returned.
Most pollsters will tell you that anything over 5 percent is a good return and it makes the survey valid. It also shows that around 31 percent of the households in Pickerington have children attending the Pickerington schools. The seniors or retired citizens make up around 29 percent of the voters and the remaining and the largest block of voters is the empty nesters and singles with 40 percent.
I believe that most of Pickerington City Council does reflect and hold the same priorities as the electorate in controlling residential growth. If the law permitted it, I believe we would like to see some legal restrictions on the number of building permits issued each year. After a couple of decades of 5 percent or higher rates of residential growth we are struggling to slow and control that growth. Clearly Pickerington is a very desirable place to live and educate our children. Prior to 2002, we had over 2,000 building lots approved and we are still trying to burn them all off. The good news is that no new lots have been approved since November of 2002. So there is hope for the future growth rates.
The second priority in the survey is to develop more commercial property. The city is working on that issue. We recently hired an economic development director and we are all hopeful of some very positive results. To show and provide some amount of security to prospective commercial developers we must develop some master plans for the areas in the city that we have already identified as potential commercial development areas. The city has appropriated the funds and those studies and plan developments are under way at this time. Once we can show our own city?’s organization to commercial developers we will and should expect much more interest in our commercial development in the city.
It appears that three fourths of the citizens are satisfied with snow removal and I hope other services that the city provides.
I asked a few questions about taxes. I know from the comments that I received that many of the citizens have some real concerns about taxes especially their property taxes. I believe there are some ways that we might be able to give some relief without placing additional tax burdens on our senior citizens and those living on fixed incomes.
Finally the last question of trust of the Pickerington City Council. We got a failing grade by a two to one margin. As a group we (council) need to better communicate and reflect the citizens we represent. I personally think we do, but that opinion does not reflect the opinions of our citizens. I doubt any political body can ever expect that they will have the full trust of their constituents, but we must continue to strive to improve that image and to reflect the values and concerns of the majority of our citizens.
Ted Hackworth
Pickerington City Councilman
Most pollsters will tell you that anything over 5 percent is a good return and it makes the survey valid. It also shows that around 31 percent of the households in Pickerington have children attending the Pickerington schools. The seniors or retired citizens make up around 29 percent of the voters and the remaining and the largest block of voters is the empty nesters and singles with 40 percent.
I believe that most of Pickerington City Council does reflect and hold the same priorities as the electorate in controlling residential growth. If the law permitted it, I believe we would like to see some legal restrictions on the number of building permits issued each year. After a couple of decades of 5 percent or higher rates of residential growth we are struggling to slow and control that growth. Clearly Pickerington is a very desirable place to live and educate our children. Prior to 2002, we had over 2,000 building lots approved and we are still trying to burn them all off. The good news is that no new lots have been approved since November of 2002. So there is hope for the future growth rates.
The second priority in the survey is to develop more commercial property. The city is working on that issue. We recently hired an economic development director and we are all hopeful of some very positive results. To show and provide some amount of security to prospective commercial developers we must develop some master plans for the areas in the city that we have already identified as potential commercial development areas. The city has appropriated the funds and those studies and plan developments are under way at this time. Once we can show our own city?’s organization to commercial developers we will and should expect much more interest in our commercial development in the city.
It appears that three fourths of the citizens are satisfied with snow removal and I hope other services that the city provides.
I asked a few questions about taxes. I know from the comments that I received that many of the citizens have some real concerns about taxes especially their property taxes. I believe there are some ways that we might be able to give some relief without placing additional tax burdens on our senior citizens and those living on fixed incomes.
Finally the last question of trust of the Pickerington City Council. We got a failing grade by a two to one margin. As a group we (council) need to better communicate and reflect the citizens we represent. I personally think we do, but that opinion does not reflect the opinions of our citizens. I doubt any political body can ever expect that they will have the full trust of their constituents, but we must continue to strive to improve that image and to reflect the values and concerns of the majority of our citizens.
Ted Hackworth
Pickerington City Councilman
