City Survey Finds LO Residents Oppose Streetcar

To ALL COLA LO Members,

A survey conducted by the City has identified significant opposition to the streetcar project across its residents.  

That comes as no surprise to many COLA LO members who participated in election efforts over the past two years.  

The survey also finds that citizens want the city to FOCUS back on core services like streets! Also no surprise to many of us.

The irony is that a professional survey firm had to tell the council what most of us already know after participating in the community for the past few years.  

The Oregonian tried to put the survey results in a positive light with an attempt to say more information may sway public sentiment but the survey itself says this is not likely as opposition is quite strong in the community.   

The Oregonian article can be found at:  http://www.oregonlive.com/lake-oswego/index.ssf/2011/11/lake_oswego_streetcar_survey_f.html

Survey results can be found at (takes time to load):  http://media.oregonlive.com/lake_oswego/other/Lake%20Oswego%20Streetcar%20CommunityAttitudes%20Survey%20--%20October%202011.pdf

The question now becomes: 

Will the FOUR members of council continue to spend taxpayer money on a project that is not supported by residents instead of focusing on the core services that taxpayers say they require?  

Three of the four council members voting for streetcar expenditures are up for election in 2012.  (Tierney, Moncrief, and Mayor Hoffman).   

The results of this survey combined with the earlier facilities survey last spring provide a clear insight into the community.