Generations in Action group releases citizens wish list
Published on November 9th, 1999
STONEHAM, MA - The first stage of the Stoneham Community Visioning Project is complete — 1,200 ideas generated by more than 1,500 citizens have been tabulated and put into a list of 101 action items...(6) update school computer use...(31) improve traffic safety...(88)build a bandstand for Town Common...
Phase two — implementation — will begin after the list is narrowed to items the town can attack in fiscal 2000.
At the Nov. 2 meeting of the Board of Selectmen, Selectman Tony Kennedy asked the Visioning Project Committee to choose "half a dozen" items to give top priority.
"If they do this, we can see what money is necessary and then ask for it at the May Town Meeting," Kennedy said.
He said he wants the Visioning Project requests to dovetail with the budget process.
"If we do it this way, all their hard work won't just sit on a shelf," Kennedy said.
The Visioning Committee agreed to meet again to narrow down the 101 item list. They will come before selectmen with a focused agenda on Dec. 14.
Stoneham Community Development Director Steve Sadwick has been coordinating the efforts of the Visioning Committee.
According to the project report presented to selectmen, the 21-member volunteer committee conducted extensive outreach through focus groups from February through May of 1999.
Seniors, high school students and members of the business community, civic organizations and religious institutions were interviewed. The subtitle of the project is "Generations in Action," suggesting that the project represents the perspective of Stonehamites of all ages.
Sadwick and the committee developed a mail-in survey based on the information garnered from the focus groups. The survey asked citizens to prioritize these issues, which the focus group participants had identified as important to the future of the town.
Fifteen percent of the surveys were returned (1,560 of 10,500); the usual return percentage for mail-in surveys of this type is 10 percent, according to Sadwick's research.
The survey asked people to rate each issue statement from 1-4, a higher number indicating higher priority.
The 101 items receiving the highest scores were broken down into eight categories: service / government, town programs / events, organizations / businesses, neighborhood aesthetics, education, health and social services, activities / recreation and multigenerational activities.
"The funny thing is there was no room for writing in comments, but many people did," Sadwick said.
Much time was spent compiling comments written in the margins of the survey. Twenty pages of the Visioning Project report catalog the comments:
In the service / government category - "Nothing else matters if every time it rains my basement floods."
In the organizations / businesses category, asking about a teen night club or entertainment center - "Survey kids to see what they want."
In the activities / recreation category - "Zoos are the creation of sick, warped minds."
Sadwick said this project does not simply highlight the obvious; that townspeople are concerned about Boston Regional Medical Center, the quality of education and drainage problems is not a shock.
"But it is interesting that a survey of residents ranked the statement 'Make Stoneham business areas vibrant and livable...' tenth in the priority list," Sadwick said.
With a documented voice of the people as a guide town officials may be able to draft "a road map to the future," as the Visioning committee writes.
All department heads have a copy of the report, and the Visioning Committee will be back with a short list in December.
Further analysis of the report will follow in future editions.
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