by Emily Canning-Dean
Reporter
Bedford -- City officials are hoping to get feedback from residents and business owners to find out what direction they want to see Bedford heading in the next several years.
So far, officials are happy with the number of responses they have received.
"We sent out 480 surveys and we've already received 133 back," said Economic Development Director Rebecca Corrigan. "That is already a 28 percent response and we are hoping for 30 percent."
Corrigan said the surveys were sent out about three weeks ago and she said the city will probably allow another couple of weeks for more surveys to be turned in.
She said the surveys are being used to assist in the revision of the city's master plan, which is reviewed and updated every several years.
To determine who received the surveys, Corrigan said the city randomly picked four streets, three residential and one commercial, from each of the city's six wards.
She said city employees hand-delivered the surveys so that the city's only cost was return postage.
The survey asked residents and business owners to rate services such as police, fire and trash pick-up as well as schools, and youth and senior programs and the quality of the downtown business district.
It also asked what type of businesses they would like to see in the city and if they would support the development of a senior center/ recreational facility.
"The city is changing and we want to see what residents and business owners want and to try to measure the quality of life in Bedford," Corrigan said.
Corrigan said officials from Reveille Zande, the company the city hired last year to help revise the master plan, will put together the information from the surveys so the city can see the opinion of its taxpayers.
E-mail: ecanning@recordpub.com
Phone: 330-688-0088 ext. 3166