Sunnyvale’s 2-Year Resident Satisfaction Survey Completed

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Every two years, the City of Sunnyvale commissions a survey to judge how residents view city services.  The latest survey results are now available for all to peruse.  And the results are interesting, if not too surprising to those of us who spend a lot of time talking with residents.  First, the big one – 94% of residents rank Sunnyvale as an excellent or good place to live.  This is the highest such ranking the city has seen since 2002, and up 7% in just the past four years.  A couple of quotes from the survey results:

In general, survey respondents demonstrated strong trust in local government.  A majority rated the overall direction being taken by the City of Sunnyvale as “good” or “excellent”.  This was much higher than the benchmark.

On average, residents gave favorable rating to all local government services. […] Of the 24 services for which comparisons were available, 22 were above the benchmark comparison, two were similar to the benchmark comparison, and none were below.

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Fascinating Office Complex Proposal In Sunnyvale

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The Silicon Valley Business Journal is reporting on a very interesting Sunnyvale development proposed for Wolfe at Central.  The non-traditional building would replace a number of existing office buildings and would increase the office density while simultaneously increasing the quantity of on-site open space.  And the design is… not previously seen in this area.  It’s a very interesting read, with a more interesting artistic rendering.

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Latest Quarterly Report Online – Pensions and Trees

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The latest Sunnyvale Quarterly Report is now online, and it’s a great read.  This quarter’s issue focuses on a number of different topics:

  • It discusses city employee pensions in great detail, showing the history of both state and Sunnyvale actions going back to 1999.  And it describes Sunnyvale’s pension reform efforts, starting in March 2010, a year after the current City Manager was hired, (and two months after I was elected, by the way – plug, plug, plug).  The net result of those efforts so far are very interesting.  It’s also just interesting reading the various actions and, in some cases, bad calls in the early 2000’s that led to the situation that required us to seriously address pension reform in the way that we’ve done so far.
  • It talks about Sunnyvale’s passion for trees, and what our arborists do on a daily basis.  One of the accomplishments I’m most proud of is the restoration of Sunnyvale’s tree maintenance. now at service levels higher than at any point in the past decade.  And we’ve restored the liquidambar tree removal program, which should please many people.  Anyway, trees are a big deal to Sunnyvale, and we take it seriously – when other cities don’t.
  • It discusses crime, and what you can do to prevent it.  A report out today ranks the San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara metro area #7 for stolen cars, up from #20 last year (not too surprising – eight of the top ten metros are in California).  But it does mean that we need to keep on our toes.  Law enforcement in any city will tell you that the single most effective residential crime prevention factor is an alert and active neighborhood.
  • It talks about the amount of property redevelopment that’s happening in the city – businesses, industry, housing, and just home residential projects.  Things are easing off a bit this year, as people get over the enthusiasm from the economic recovery and catch their breath, which is a good thing.
  • It provides two public artwork walking tours, which are really terrific for people who aren’t familiar with some of the more unusual or historic Sunnyvale locations.
  • It talks about Sunnyvale’s Zero Waste efforts, with an interview with Don Eagleston from the Sunnyvale Chamber of Commerce (an avid green advocate) and tips for home waste handling.

Great stuff.  I encourage you to check it out.

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