News Release from: City of Beaverton
CITY OF BEAVERTON SHARES SURVEY RESULTS FOR PUBLIC SAFETY CENTER
Posted: February 26th, 2013 4:26 PM
Recently, the city of Beaverton conducted a telephone survey asking citizens if they would support funding a public safety center. The results showed that 57 percent of survey respondents were unaware of the issues facing the police, emergency management and the court, and therefore, would not support the bond measure at this time. The poll revealed 75 percent of the respondents gave police high marks on service delivery.
"We have our homework to do," said Mayor Denny Doyle. "We need to work with community leaders and public safety advocates to share our story. We know we need a well-designed public safety building that can withstand a major earthquake. The poll establishes a baseline for us; now it's time for us to get to work."
City staff is working on an awareness campaign that will highlight the police, emergency management and court's safety and security issues. The campaign will be conducted with the Public Safety Center Advisory Committee and the Beaverton Committee for Citizen Involvement.
"Our priority right now has to be getting our message into the community," said Beaverton's Police Chief Geoff Spalding. "We have always appreciated the public's strong support for the Beaverton Police Department and we must let people know about the security issues as well as the seismic concerns with the current building."
In early January, City Council supported relocating general purpose government to the South Office Building at The Round. This will allow the police department and court to expand into the vacated portions of the current City Hall.
"This buys us a little time, but doesn't address our safety and security concerns," said Mayor Doyle.
Beaverton enjoys one of the most diverse populations among Oregon cities. Most recently, the city was awarded the 2012 Mayors' Climate Protection Award from the U.S. Conference of Mayors. It was one of just four cities of its size recently recognized as a "Smarter City" energy leader by the Natural Resources Defense Council and one of the 100 Best Places to Live in America by Money magazine. In addition, Beaverton has been named one of the safest cities in the Pacific Northwest for four consecutive years, as one of the best places to raise kids by BusinessWeek magazine, an All-America City finalist, as one of the top 25 Suburbs for Retirement by Forbes.com, one of the 100 Best Walking Cities in America by Prevention magazine, the Recycler of the Year from the Association of Oregon Recyclers, a Tree City USA by the Arbor Day Foundation, a Bronze Award Bicycle Friendly Community designation by the League of American Bicyclists and as one of the Environmental Protection Agency's
Green Power Communities, the Beaverton Community Vision program was named Public Involvement Project of the Year--Best Planning Project by the International Association of Public Participation (IAP2) Cascade Chapter. For more information, please visit www.BeavertonOregon.gov or follow us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/cityofbeaverton.
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