Manhattan City Commissioners review community survey

The 2017 Community Survey administered to Manhattan residents this spring indicates the community is ready to vote “yes” on a quarter-cent sales tax issue on the November ballot.

Manhattan City Commissioners heard the findings of the recently-administered 2017 community survey, which was distributed to roughly 2,500 homes this spring. Dr. Josephine Gatti Schafer, who is an assistant professor of political science at Kansas State University, began writing the survey in December of last year with city staff.

Schafer said she usually advises against asking such questions on community surveys, but an overwhelming majority of the 600 respondents are in favor of the proposed Parks and Recreation facilities to be built with tax dollars over the next ten years.

The community survey also asked a variety of other questions pertaining to quality-of-life in the city. Schafer noted affordable housing and quality of rentals left nearly 50-percent of respondents feeling “dissatisfied” with the city. A similar survey was issued in 2015, and Schafer said the method continues to be a popular means for a local government to get information from its citizens. However, Mayor Usha Reddi said maybe the city should re-evaluate the way surveys are administered, considering the sample under represented people who rent housing, do not have children, or attend university full time…

In other business, commissioners approved the first reading of an ordinance which rezones a tract of land on the north side of Bluemont Avenue along 12th Street. 105 loft-style apartments are proposed to be built along the avenue. Blueville Nursery was also given approval to maintain a new roundabout being constructed at the intersection of Scenic Drive, Kimball, and Anderson Avenues in northwest Manhattan.