Canton Neighborhood Survey, 11/10/14-1/19/15

Intro: The City of Canton is currently developing a new Comprehensive Plan. A Comprehensive Plan helps Canton decide how to spend resources, asking questions such as, What is important to Canton? What does it hope to protect? What does it need to change? What does the City want to look, feel and be like in 5, 10, 20 years? Where will funding come from? Canton's last plan was adopted 50 years ago. This is the second survey for the Comprehensive Plan. This survey is about planning areas in Canton. Areas were grouped together based on geographical boundaries, home sales prices, style of housing and housing and commercial conditions.

1). Please select up to 5 of Canton's strongest neighborhoods. These areas generally do well and arecentral to Canton's overall prosperity and image as a good place to live. If these areas decline in value, the City may lose some of its financial strength.

Survey Responses:

#1 Brick Road Neighborhoods#2 North End A #3 North End B #4 Harter Heights#5 Cleveland Corridor A

2). What can be done to ensure that the strong neighborhoods you identified remain stable?

Limit number of rental houses; develop policies and incentives for people to move to these areas (why move here instead of Plain Township, Jackson Township or similar); ensure that city infrastructure is maintained (roads, water, sewer). Though the city can't control it, schools are the

number one reason families move out of Canton.

Invest in neighborhood programs i.e. police, beautification, sidewalks/infrastructure. Grant money to help homeowners pay for upkeep + maintenance. Keep gangs and drugs away.

Remove anything derelict in these neighborhoods and invest in infrastructure.

Canton Neighborhood Survey, 11/10/14-1/19/15

3). Please select up to 5 areasin Canton that are the most severely troubled. These neighborhoods are currentlydealing withproblems thatrequire a lot of resources and generally meet Federal guidelines for distress.

#1 Greater OJays#2 Gibbs#3 Summit#4 Old Southwest#5 Southeast 1/Monroe

4). What are the greatest needs of the neighborhoods that you selected?

- Removal of blighted housing- Public safety- Roads and sidewalks and infrastructure

5). What can be done to help strengthen these neighborhoods?

#1. Get control of gangs/drugs. Make people feel safe. #2. Homeownership #3. Grant money for upkeep.

Programs and promotion of programs that reward occupants or neighborhood associations that take care of their properties

Demolish homes in Summit and create a new housing development that increases property values. North Central A and B along with Gibbs need selective house demolishing and a program to restore houses.

Canton Neighborhood Survey, 11/10/14-1/19/15

6). Select up to 5"in between" neighborhoods that areimportant to Canton's futurehealth. "In between" means these areas have a mix of varying strengths and weaknesses. Theassets orpotential strengths of these areas could be significantforCanton's future.

#1 Fairgrounds #2 Aultman Area #3 Downtown#4 West Park#5 Cleveland Corridor B

7). Why are your selected in-between areas important to Canton?

They are near areas of Canton that are considered to be better. If they continue to decline it will effect other areas. Also some areas,

like downtown are key to Canton's future. I've yet to see any city that is doing well without a successful downtown area.

So much potential in some of these areas.

Without these areas staying viable, Canton has no future.

They are buffer zones between Brick Roads and West Park. If they fall then these neighborhoods are affected. Also, close to HOF and

hospital.

Canton Neighborhood Survey, 11/10/14-1/19/15

8). All neighborhoods deserve good quality basic services. Beyond that, how should significant resources be best targeted? In other words, if resources only allowed you to make significant, additional investments in 5 areas of Canton, which 5 areas would you invest in for Canton's future?

#1 Downtown #2 Aultman Area#3 Brick Road Neighborhoods#4 West Park#5 Cleveland Corridor B

9). Why did you select the focus areas that you did?

They are contiguous and borderline good performers with strong potential and could provide a very nice corridor into the downtown

which is the heart of the city.

Because they are gateways to downtown.

I picked neighborhoods in more visible, busy areas that have become or are becoming unattractive.

I think it is important to secure the areas that may be losing value rather than those that may be beyond the resources of the city.

Something on the order of "neighborhood triage.

Canton Neighborhood Survey, 11/10/14-1/19/15

10). Would you be willing to make the following decisions in order to fund high priority cityimprovement projects?

REVENUE TRADEOFFS

Reduce police force overall and spend the savings on priority investment (e.g. deploy fewer officers downtown and use the savings elsewhere)

YES: 12.86% NO: 87.14%

Scale back city services and spend the savings on priority investment (e.g. limit community center's open hours and use the savings elsewhere)

YES: 47.83% NO: 52.17%

Scale back maintenance in non-priority areas and spend the savings on priority investment (e.g. scale back vacant lot mowing and use the savings elsewhere)

YES: 46.04% NO: 53.96%

87%

13% Yes No

52% 48%Yes No

54% 46%Yes No

Canton Neighborhood Survey, 11/10/14-1/19/15

64%36% Yes No

45% 55%Yes No

17%

83%

Yes No

REVENUE FROM ADDITIONAL SOURCES

Income tax increase (raise income tax and spend the funds on priority investments)

YES: 35.97% NO: 64.03%

Special millage (e.g. levy) based on property value (issue a levy and spend the funds on priority investments)

YES: 55.47% NO: 44.53%

Bond (issue a bond and spend the funds on priority investments)

YES: 83.45% NO: 16.55%