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Wednesday, January 14, 2009 Mounds View survey results announced Kate Garlock Bulletin staff Wednesday, January 14, 2009 Mounds View is getting branded. Earlier this fall the city teamed up with Risdall Marketing Group to distribute a survey amongst homeowners. The purpose of the survey was to gain insight as to how the city is perceived and what things the residents would like to see changed. This survey was the beginning portion of Mounds View's effort to re-brand the city. That is to give the community a new feel and a more citizen-centric focus. The survey helped the marketing group discover how the citizens wanted to be viewed. At the end of October, 3,250 households were delivered a survey and over 20 percent of those surveys were returned - a number the Risdall group deemed "fabulous." The report looked at nine topics of interest: demographic data, city services, serious issues, life in Mounds View, image perceptions, city attributes, values, brand and County Road 10. The survey demographic was made up of primarily homeowners - a group Risdall called the "key stakeholders" because of the taxes they pay to the city. According the report, Mounds View is, "A fairly healthy community." Eighty-three percent of the surveys rated quality of life in Mounds View as either good or excellent. The survey also displayed an active, outdoors community - with the primary activities listed by the survey-takers being: Walking/running, using parks/trails, gardening, biking, dining out, and shopping. Interestingly, the values desired by the community and the values the community was perceived as having, saw a high correlation. Directly correlate with values that describe Mounds View - actually the ones of importance, ones that describe - key element that will be used in brand identity. According to Risdall, "It's a city with roots and a very strong stable community aspect to it." Risdall found the citizenry to be very involved and hoped to continue work with this citizenry to help maintain and develop the small town feel that Mounds View seemed to pride from the result of the survey. One of the major concerns with the survey was the lack of renters represented. Council Member Sherry Gunn said she was surprised to see that many of the comments were to get rid of the apartment buildings. "They live here and they travel through the town," she said. Their kids are going to our schools. Somehow we need to start including them, they need to have a say. Their money does go to our city and that's what keeps us going. We have this whole other section of people that don't get represented." Mayor Joe Flaherty was hopeful that, though not having taken the survey, renters might still be represented. "[The renters] mean a lot to this community," he said. "I think we can extract certain portions of this that represent all views and values of people - doesn't matter if they're homeowners or renters." Mounds View resident Cindy Carvelli found the survey results to be highly accurate. "I think this was so fun," she said. "I almost slept with it under my pillow. I don't think there were any surprises." The full report is available to citizens at city hall, as is a copy of the video recording of the council work session. Kate Garlock can be reached at kgarlock@lillienews.com or 651-633-2777. Content © 2009 Lillie Suburban Newspapers Software © 1998-2009 1up! Software, All Rights Reserved Page 1 of 1Bulletin-News | Mounds View survey results announced 1/26/2009http://www.bulletin-news.com/print.asp?ArticleID=4187&SectionID=60&SubSectionID=...