The city of Marina wants residents to tell leaders how to spend the city's money. It's conducting an online survey and will have a community meeting on Thursday, April 15, residents can further share which project the city should address first before the council develops the city’s two-year budget.
On Sunday April 11, councilmembers Kathy Biala and Cristina Medina were reaching out to the community, in English and Spanish, at the Marina Farmers' Market motivating people to get involved. The city also sent flyers to all Marina residents to make them aware of the survey and the community meeting.
“We are going to have a better chance of reaching the marginalized communities,” Biala says. Marina has a large community of color, she says, and it's very important they also provide their feedback.
On the survey people can rank their priorities about housing, parks, public safety, improvements, aesthetics and more. Medina says it’s important residents share how they want their tax dollars to be invested. “We are going to analyze the data,” Medina says.
Residents’ participation in recent meetings have highlighted areas residents care about that weren’t high priority on the city's reports. “What was surprising to many of us was the amount of enthusiasm and desire for refurbishing and restoring and expanding services, on both the roller hockey facility as well as the Olympic size pool.”
In previous years, less than 50 people—the ones who attended the city council meetings— shared their priorities with the council. Medina and Biala want more people to get involved in the process.
The survey closes on Thursday April 15 at 5pm and the virtual community meeting will follow from 6-9pm. The council will set priorities on April 16 and 17.