Warren Gooch
A community survey has identified housing, population, and the development of Main Street Oak Ridge and retail shopping as top issues, Mayor Warren Gooch said Tuesday.
Other top issues include jobs and economic development, and public relations efforts to promote the city.
High priorities on a list of potential capital investments or projects include infrastructure improvements, a new preschool, and funding of an incentive program for people buying or renovating a house.
Ten groups have participated in the survey since January 1, Gooch said. Those groups include the League of Women Voters of Oak Ridge, the three Rotary clubs, Oak Valley Baptist Church, Anderson County Tea Party, Oak Ridge Chamber of Commerce coffees, Leadership Oak Ridge, Neighborhood Watch awards banquet, and citizens at large.
Gooch, who gave a speech to the League of Women Voters of Oak Ridge on Tuesday, said residents can still participate in the survey.
Here are survey results as of April 30, 2015:
What is the most important issue facing Oak Ridge?
(259 community responses)
| Ranking | Issue | No. of Responses |
| 1 | Housing—lack of attractive/affordable housing, code enforcement | 66 |
| 2 | Population—attracting young families, aging population; DOE/contractor employees living outside Oak Ridge | 57 |
| 3 | Development of Main Street and lack of retail shopping | 35 |
| 4 | Jobs and economic development | 24 |
| 5 | Public relations efforts to promote the city/image of the city | 21 |
| 6 | Inadequate support from DOE (U.S. Department of Energy) | 8 |
| 7 | Maintaining the quality of our schools | 7 |
| 8 | High taxes | 6 |
| 9 | Infrastructure improvements | 4 |
| 10 | Manhattan National Park and tourism | 3 |
| Visionary strategy for the city based upon input from citizens | 3 | |
| Inadequate tax revenue | 3 | |
| 13 | New senior center or services for seniors | 2 |
| Crime | 2 | |
| Quality of parks and recreation | 2 | |
| Quality of life | 2 | |
| Leadership of elected officials | 2 | |
| Preschool | 2 | |
| Transparency in government | 2 | |
| Management of police department | 2 | |
| 21 | More friendly business environment | 1 |
| Equal respect for all citizens | 1 | |
| Construction of UPF (Uranium Processing Facility at Y-12) | 1 | |
| Environmental justice | 1 | |
| City debt | 1 | |
| Fluoride in water | 1 |
Potential capital investments or projects by the City of Oak Ridge:
(1 highest – 10 lowest)
(201 completed surveys)
| Ranking | Capital Investment or Project | Average Score |
| 1 | Infrastructure improvements (i.e., water plant, storm water runoff, streets, and sidewalks) | 3.44 |
| 2 | New preschool | 3.64 |
| 3 | Funding of an incentive program for individuals buying or renovating a house | 3.71 |
| 4 | Enhancements to parks, recreational areas, greenways, hiking and biking trails, and Melton Lake waterfront | 4.59 |
| 5 | Revitalization of Jackson Square, including Blankenship Field | 5.00 |
| 6 | New school administration building | 6.12 |
| 7 | Transfer of American Museum of Science and Energy and Clark Center Park to the city | 6.49 |
| 8 | New senior citizens center | 6.72 |
| 9 | Limited or no commitments for new capital spending for FY 2016, which begins July 1, 2015 | 7.69 |
| 10 | Refurbishment and repairs to the structure for the International Friendship Bell with public funds | 7.75 |
Jason Allison says
I find it hard to believe that the citizens of Oak Ridge find this list to be the most important issues we need to address. The friendship bell structure??? While it is somewhat important, there are other, much more important issues we need to deal with
Dave Smith says
I think you might be conflating the ranking of potential capital investments with the survey of important issues. There were 10 suggested capital investments, and refurbishing the Friendship Bell with public funds was ranked last. That doesn’t mean, of course, that the FB is unimportant to us; it means that either it’s a lot less important than infrastructure improvements or perhaps we just don’t want to renovate it entirely with tax revenue financing.
What important issues do you think are missing from the above list? It seems pretty complete to me, even if my ratings would be somewhat different, e.g., I think attracting young families is tightly coupled to maintaining the quality of our public schools.
johnhuotari says
I was surprised by the ranking of “maintaining the quality of our schools” on the important issues list. I’ve heard from a significant number of young families who have moved to the area who cite the school system as the main reason they wanted to live in Oak Ridge.