Friday, December 14, 2007

Kingman Community Survey (part two)

Yesterday I covered the good or the BEST thing about Kingman, according to those that responded to a survey taken in the early part of 2007. What I believe I saw on that data were mostly things and circumstances the city government can't really do much about (such as the weather).

When it comes to the negative or the WORST thing about Kingman... I believe we will see opportunities for the city to address and correct the issues that appeared in the survey.

So here we go...

(channeling David Letterman for a second)... From the top 10 list for 'What is the WORST thing about Kingman?'

#1 Traffic / Stockton Hill Road -- 245 responses. Oh boy... you know we could spend mucho time on this one. I'll keep it simple... as of right now Stockton Hill Road is the commercial strip of Kingman AND the main travel route that runs north to south. The premium corner lots for new commercial opportunities are taken.

I personally believe that the traffic will never be any better on this road than it is today. What I fear most is that it will only get worse if new alternative routes are not introduced in a timely manner. I can think of two infrastructure projects that could drastically alter the situation. One could be completed within a few years and the other could come on line within the next six years.

Both need to be worked on today.

#2 Drugs / Crime / Vandalism / Graffiti -- 208 responses. I would venture to guess that this kind of response would show up on an overwhelming majority of city surveys all across this great country of ours. Any amount of crime is too much crime so working to improve the situation will always be a great concern to this city government. At the very least, some of the perceived criminal activity takes place in a populated area just outside of the city limits to the north of the city. It still has an impact on the city, and likely a negative one.

Annexation is not the cure for the crime problem... but it is a part of it. The city does not call the shots in the county areas. You'll see later that 'Code Enforcement' is a problem to many respondent's of the survey... and Kingman cannot enforce the city code in some perceived problem areas. The more the city can extend the boundaries, the more the city can control along these lines... and I believe improvements can be made by doing so. I know it is a complicated process (annexation) but one that needs attention today.

#3 Growth / Too Fast / Greedy Developers -- 189 responses. This is a weird grouping and it will be difficult to fully address in a few written lines. We simply live in the fastest growing region in the United States and face many issues because of it. It is likely that the task of managing the growth to everyone's exact delight will be impossible.

'Growth' as the WORST thing about Kingman?? Nobody is going to call for a moratorium on new building, it just won't happen. Even if it did, there won't be anything the city could do about the growth that is happening all around the city limits of Kingman as the city has no controlling authority outside those limits.

Are we growing 'Too Fast'?? By what measure??

Lastly the 'Greedy Developers' bit is precious. I'm a free enterprise kind of guy and think that if someone puts up money on a project and is tied to the money and the project... they are taking the risk. If all goes well, the rewards... well... they'll be rewarding to say the least. I don't want to stand in the way of the process. Greed is in the eye of the beholder... I wish only success to those that take the risk in the hopes of finding rewards.

#4 Lack of Shopping -- 174 responses. Well I for one do not want to see the city enter into the retail business first of all. I don't expect the city to play commercial developer either. At most, I'd expect the city to follow its own guidelines for zoning and the like... and perhaps to be willing to changes land use designations as the growth patterns change where it is most sensible. Getting buy-in from the community at large is also key... but that could mean making a concise and clear effort to communicate with the community the reasons why possible changes are needed.

In a similar vein, 'Lack of Restaurants' was written in 54 times.

#5 (tie) City Politics / Good Ole Boys / not listening -- 123 responses. This clearly is an 'us' thing, a community issue. We speak with our votes and are asked to vote often on issues and candidates. When we don't vote (and many Kingman residents do not) we lose our voice to the special interests like the good old boys. Only you can affect an improvement for this issue.

#5 (tie) Poor Planning / Engineering -- 123 responses. I believe in planning, solid planning... but plans change because change is constant. We can moan about 'poor planning' after the fact, but to me it is not productive. Okay... things may not always go as planned... alter the plan as needed because of change. Loyalty to a plan is fine but only to a certain degree.

#6 Streets Unpaved / Maintenance / Narrow -- 122 responses. Well unfortunately there is no such thing as a free lunch, so someone will have to pay for the paving of unpaved streets within the city limits. This will likely mean assessments that will burden the property owners. I have a feeling this issue gets replaced in the future with what I'll term 'Road Construction' due to the growth. Hopefully though... the new streets in the newly developed AND annexed areas will include paving and proper width up front paid for by... you fill in the blank.

#7 Junky yards / Litter / Code Enforcement -- 121 responses. While I'll agree that the city government should attend to these matters... some of the onus is on... well... us. We know that people are going to move here... we should be setting the example ourselves for others to follow.

#8 Lack of Youth Activities -- 94 responses. On this I'd want to know more. What youth activities do we not have that folks want?? There was discussion about the parks and recreation services at the retreat and teen activities (the lack thereof) was brought up. I find it is easy to complain about such things but it is important to find out what isn't being provided... and then how best to implement and PAY for the cost to supply the activities. There were write in responses noting that 'Senior Activities' were the WORST thing about Kingman as well.

#9 Poor Wages / Lack of Good Jobs -- 90 responses. I thought that I heard the City and even the County are in 'hiring freezes' right now... so I doubt we can look to the local governments to provide jobs and better paying ones at that. It is not the governments job to create jobs in my opinion, I believe that we have to make Kingman more attractive to business prospects with the hopes that those business prospects would locate here, compete for employees, and let basic economics take its course.

#10 Police Response / Traffic Enforcement -- 69 responses. The city has a tough assignment to provide better road infrastructure that will help ease traffic burdens that could reduce the traffic enforcement issue and offer emergency services to respond in an increased timely fashion.

So as you can see from the top 10 WORST things about Kingman, as compared to the top 10 BEST things about Kingman, the city government has their work cut out for them. But many of the above issues are tied together throughout the list. It is possible that with only a few improvements, other improvements might be enhanced to some degree as a result.

Now for some other observations from the rest of the WORST list...

While 'Weather / Climate' was the top write in for the BEST list, 34 folks responded by saying the WORST thing about Kingman was the 'Weather / Too Hot / Too Cold / Wind'. Even mother nature can't please everyone.

On the top 10 list of the BEST things about Kingman we saw that 35 responses were for 'Low Cost of Living / Housing', but did you know that 'High Cost of Living / Housing' was written in as the WORST thing about Kingman 22 times?? As a REALTOR I find that amusing since what I see happening in the market over the course of the last couple of years is sellers saying their home is a smoking deal, while buyers are saying homes on the market are too pricey. Also there are more sellers right now than there are buyers... kinda matches up with the survey.

Oddly the same number of people responded to the WORST thing about Kingman by writing in either 'Everything' or 'Nothing'. Do you get the feeling that those folks are all or nothing types or even take it or leave it personalities??

5 people wrote in that 'Californians' are the WORST thing about Kingman. I find this funny because the first day I moved to Arizona I considered myself an Arizonan... not a Nevadan from where I moved from or a Jersey Boy from where I was born.

12 people wrote in 'City Manager' as the WORST thing... and the city council must have listened closely to those 12 people because that person was relieved of duties last summer.

2 responded by saying they 'Don't Know' what the WORST thing about Kingman is.

Then there is this... 3 people responded by writing in that 'Kingman Crossing' is the WORST thing about Kingman... my assumption here is the interchange along Interstate 40... that does not exist!!

There were 11 respondents that wrote in 'Taxes' as the WORST thing about Kingman. Kingman has no tax to collect other than sales taxes... these folks are just tough to please I guess.

Here is a list of notables from responses to the WORST thing about Kingman; 'Teen Pregnancy', 'Animals Have No Rights', ATV's / Dirt Bikes', 'Complainers', 'Immigration', 'Right to Work State', 'Car License Fees', 'Cemetery', 'Divorce Rate', 'Dog Haters', 'Tumbleweeds', and 'Young People' (elderly folks did not make the list, FYI).

'Realtors' received one vote as the WORST thing about Kingman... for full disclosure. Now while RAID did not get named as a write in on the list the term 'Anti-Growth / Development Atmosphere' did get 15 more write ins than 'Realtors'... just sayin'.

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