Category: Survey Results
What Issues Are Important to Newtown Residents?
Residents Speak Out on the Issues
For more than 4 years now, I have been hosting my “Issues of Importance to Newtown Township Residents” survey. A lot has happened during that time and no doubt some issues have become more important this past year. And those issues will likely influence who wins the coveted BOS seats.
Before I get to those specific issues, let’s look at the overall survey results. As of April 1, 2021, 356 responses have been collected. See the figure below for a summary of the results.
What About Lately?
Has there been a shift in what’s considered “Very Important” from 2017 through 2020? I think so, as shown in the following chart.
I notice a few interesting trends:
- Keeping taxes low has shot up in importance in 2020, which is not surprising, since the township has raised real estate taxes by 89% in 2020 (read “Final 2021 Newtown Township Budget Approved!”);
- More respondents say that the preservation of open space and curbing overdevelopment is “Very Important.” Again, not surprising (read “Another Proposed Project on Newtown Bypass” and “Newtown Residents Lash Out Against Arcadia Settlement”);
- Bringing new business to the township, however, took a nose dive in terms of importance despite – or because of – the push by the newly-formed Economic Development Committee to change the zoning in certain districts to allow and entice new businesses to locate in Newtown (download “EDC Memo to BOS Re-Zoning for Businesses”).
Some Comments
Comments about these issues submitted by respondents during this period include the following. To see comments about other issues, read “Newtown Speaks Out on the Issues”.
Stop Arcadia development! ... Arcadia Green development should not happen ... Stop the over development tooo many toll house homes ruining the county side. Once developed its gone forever ... Please stop developing in and around newtown..its destroying it and once open space is gone...its gone forever ... The over development at the Village at Newtown shopping center is an outrage. It has become the new oxford valley mall. Traffic, parking and siphoning business from State Street are big problems.”
Bringing in new business is not as important as ensuring it is the right business for Newtown Township, and that it does not further compromise the quality of life that once made Newtown Township the ideal place to raise a family.
I’m a senior living on SS and fixed income so keeping my home taxes down are extremely important.
DISCLAIMER: THIS IS NOT A NEWTOWN TOWNSHIP APPROVED SURVEY. IT IS SOLELY A SURVEY POSTED BY JOHN MACK ACTING AS A PRIVATE CITIZEN. YOU MAY REMAIN ANONYMOUS - YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION IS NEVER REVEALED WITHOUT YOUR PERMISSION.
Read More...Posted on 01 Apr 2021, 11:53 - Category: Survey Results
How Do Newtown Residents Rate Township Services?
Newtown Township hired Econsult Solutions Inc. [ESI] for $69,450, half of which is being covered with a grant from the state Department of Economic and Community Development, to develop a five-year financial plan (read “Newtown Township To Develop a 5-Year Financial Plan”). Steve Wray and other company officials presented findings from its preliminary report during a recent virtual meeting with township supervisors (read a summary of those findsing here).
About the Survey Respondents
545 responses were collected.
Almost two-thirds of survey respondents are women and over 70% have lived in Newtown Township for over ten years. Nearly two-thirds (72%) are 45 years old or older. Half report that their annual household income is over $100,000 and 75% have a bachelors or higher education degree. Only 18% work in Newtown.
Rating of Services
Question 8 of the survey asked respondents to rate several services as Excellent, Good, Fair, or Poor. Responses weighted using scale of 1 to 4, with 1 being “poor” and 4 being “excellent.” The weighted average results are shown in the following figure.
Public Works services – snow removal, street cleaning, street lighting, and especially street/highway maintenance – are among the lowest rated services provided by the Township, whereas Fire and Police services are top rated.
Stoopville Road islands (see comment below).
What Services Need Improving?
Question 9 of that survey asked: “Rate the top two services the Township should focus on improving.” The following chart shows that overwhelmingly (70%), citizens want improvements to streets and highways. Meanwhile, only 19% chose "Police" and 6% chose "Fire."
Well maintained roads figure very large when considering "quality of life issues" as well as bringing new business to Newtown. Given this and the above survey results, it is a mystery to me why ESI did not recommend that Newtown hire more Public Works department personnel to improve services.
Meanwhile, according to the survey nearly 80% of 553 respondents rated the level of police presence Good (42%) to Excellent (37%). In addition, 75% said that the ability of police to prevent crime was Good (38%) to Excellent (37%). As for Fire Department responsiveness, respondents gave a 72% Good (26%) to Excellent (46%) rating. ESI recommended hiring 5 new firefights are 3 new police officers even though survey respondents seem very satisfied with these services.
Some Comments on Services
The following comments were from residents who rated road maintenance as "Poor."
FOR THE TAXES WE PAY, OUR ROADS SHOULD BE MAINTAINED BETTER [a resident who has lived in Newtown over 10 years].
The weeds growing on the medians are an eyesore every year.. It really makes Newtown look trashy. Would not take much to pull weeds or spray. Snowplowing is the worst. The only time it gets better is when you drive out of Newtown into Northampton. When they ploy my street, they only come down one side. Turning lanes are not done [a resident who has lived in Newtown over 10 years].
The services for filling in potholes are not timely [a resident who has lived in Newtown 4-6 years].
The roads in some of the developments are in terrible condition. After much complaining some work was started on sealing cracks in Rosefield but they never came back to finish the work. It looks awful and is a danger for cars and cyclists [a resident who has lived in Newtown over 10 years].
Road repair is important...have seen the same pot holes forever and on our neighborhood in Newtown grant we called about major issues causing our children injury in our cul-de-sac...we have not ret a response back since Feb. [a resident who has lived in Newtown 4-6 years].
The public works department does not do a good job with being a liason with the state roads. Stoopville Road the medians are horrible never cut weeds all over . We have to complain constantly for the township to maintain them before someone gets hurt because the can not see approaching traffic [a resident who has lived in Newtown over 10 years].
The following comments were from residents who rated street cleaning as "Poor."
Read More...If you don’t plan on street sweeping then sell the equipment and use the money on some other service besides cutting grass [a resident who has lived in Newtown over 10 years].
The roads are in terrible shape. I can’t remember the last time the streets were swept [a resident who has lived in Newtown over 10 years].
Posted on 30 Aug 2020, 01:44 - Category: Survey Results
Who Makes the Best Pizza in the Newtown Area?
Like hoagies, pizza is really BIG in Newtown! There are many pizzerias in Newtown and soon to be more (read "MOD Pizza to be Opening In Newtown").
But which one makes the best pizza?
To answer that question, I started a poll on Nextdoor, which included the 10 pizzerias most mentioned by pizza afficionados:
- Acqua e Farina
- Dolce Carini Pizzeria
- Dominick's Pizzeria
- Francesco's Pizzeria
- Jules Thin Crust Pizza
- Marco's Pizzeria
- Meglio Pizzeria
- Newtown Pizza
- Tre Fratelli
- Vince's Pizzeria
The chart below shows the results as of the date shown:
Of course, this is NOT a scientific survey and it doesn't get into why people voted for one or the other. Here is one comment I recieved from a respondent on Nextdoor:
The correct answer is none of the above. I’ve lived in Newtown since 2007 and have always had to travel outside of the township for a good pizza. We just really aren’t a pizza town 😂. Original Dominic’s in Trenton is only a short drive from Newtown and has pizza far better than any of the establishments listed here. Non Solo Pasta in Morrisville also has very good pizza.
My reply: There really is no correct answer. It's just a choice of "best" among the available pizzerias. IMHO, you cannot get better pizza anywhere in the U.S. than in NYC where I came from! Forgettaboutit!
What's MY favorite NEWTOWN pizzeria? Sorry, you're not going to get my opinion on that - I'm already in hot water because of my opinion regarding the best (Italian) hoagie in Newtown! [read "The Hoagies of Newtown vs. Wawa"]
The poll is still open should you care to vote (you have to be a member of Nextdoor to vote, sorry). I will update the chart if there are any significant changes.
Nextdoor is the world’s largest social network for the neighborhood. Nextdoor enables truly local conversations that empower neighbors to build stronger and safer communities.
Nextdoor has been very useful to me for keeping in touch with residents, posting information about Newtown Township public meetings, public service announcements and issues of importance to residents.
Recently, for example, I posted information about the Township's Pollution Reduction Plan & its potential impact on our parks. As a result, local residents helped modify the plan and formed "Friends of Roberts Ridge Park", a group whose goal is to plant more trees in the Park. Learn more about that here.
Posted on 09 Aug 2019, 01:17 - Category: Survey Results
Does Newtown Need a Mobile-Enabled Emergency Notification System?
Recently, there have been several emergency or near emergency situations in Newtown Township. On March 7, 2018, during a snow emergency power failure, the Township Building was open as a “warming center,” but before any township residents were made aware of this, power was restored; on October 24, 2018, Swamp Road and Route 413 experienced significant traffic delays due to an accident, but many residents were unaware of the problem.
The list goes on. And although the Newtown Police Department and/or the Township Manager were able to post information about some of these events on Twitter and Facebook or via email to homeowner association management companies (with the hope that it would passed along to HOAs and residents), these notices reached a limited number of residents, reached them too late, or never reached them at all.
Not only is there a limited ability for the Newtown Police and Administration Departments to send out emergency and other notices to residents, there is limited ability of residents to easily communicate information to the Township and be assured that a record is kept of each contact.
The Newtown Technology Committee has been investigating services that can solve these problems by sending notices to residents about active shooters, traffic incidents, community events, severe weather alerts, missing persons, etc., via text, mobile apps, email, voice, Twitter, and Facebook. One such system is NIXLE, which is used by over 8,000 communities across the country. For more information download the NIXLE data sheet.
Such a service would cost Newtown Township about $5,500 per year (plus $500 in the first year for implementation and training). The service is FREE to residents who sign up (opt-in) to use it. Is it worth it?
Listen to This Presentation
This is an edited recording of a presentation to the Newtown Technology Committee made by a Nixle sales representative. It covers all the major features of the system.
Recently, I spoke with the Chief of a Regional Police Department that uses NIXLE. According to him, "Nixle has been working very well for us. We purchased this service and permit the three municipalities in the region to also post notices/alerts through our system. All officers can post an alert. The system is very easy to use, especially the mobile application. I have already used NIXLE's mobile app from my car while traveling to the scene of an event."
Citizens and residents from surrounding municipalities can opt in to receive mobile, email or hard line phone notifications. His department created information cards and officers hand them out at community events to make people aware of the system.
"I would say that Nixle is a benefit and cost appropriate," said the Chief.
Another Option: Savvy Citizen
DISCLAIMER: This is not an official Newtown Township approved survey. Its purpose is solely to inform John Mack – a Newtown Supervisor – of the public’s opinion regarding this issue.
Read More...Posted on 13 Nov 2018, 10:40 - Category: Survey Results
The Hoagies of Newtown vs. Wawa
At a May 14, 2018, Newtown Township Board of Supervisors meeting, a resident claimed that "There is no place [in Newtown] to get a normal sandwich for less than $15". The comment was made in support of a plan for a Wawa superstore on Newtown Bypass (see here).
Actually, there are many places in Newtown where you can get a sandwich/hoagie for under $15.
To prove it, I bought hoagies/sandwiches from six Newtown Township businesses. All were priced under $15. But how did they compare with a Wawa hoagie?
To answer that question, I drove 6.0 miles to the Wawa located on 2nd Street Pike in Richboro, PA and purchased a chicken with spinach classic hoagie for $5.79.
Just for fun, I decided to create an online quiz that challenged people to identify the Wawa hoagie among the six Newtown hoagies that I purchased (see image above). Of course, it was only possible to judge based on photographs I took of each sandwich. It was not a popularity contest and unfortunately, not a taste test.
I also asked respondents to identify the highest priced hoagie among the group of seven.
Results
Over 215 people participated in the quiz. Only 22% of them were able to correctly identify the Wawa hoagie (#6).
The majority (55%) of respondents thought #3 was the Wawa hoagie, but it is an Italian hoagie from Shady Brook Farm. It cost about $8.
About 13% of respondents thought it was #4, which is an Italian hoagie from Acme and cost $5.
Here's the identity of all the hoagies:
- Slack’s Hoagie Shack half Italian hoagie. About $8.50.
- La Stalla “Frank Sinatra” sandwich. $ 11.95.
- 12” Italian hoagie from Shady Brook Farm costs about $8.
- 12” Italian hoagie from Acme. About $5.
- Primo mild sharp Italian hoagie. About $10 for 9” size.
- Chicken with spinach classic Wawa hoagie. About $5 for 10” size.
- Joey G’s grilled chicken with asparagus sandwich. $7.95.
NOTE: 36% of respondents identified #2 as the "priciest" hoagie among the seven (it also had the most meat!) whereas 23% guessed it was #7 and 22% said #5 (close, but no cigar!).
One person complained about the lack of fairness: “I don't know why the same sandwich wasn't ordered, and that the sandwiches were positioned differently. Not really a fair visual comparison.”
In my defense - if any is needed - I got the idea for the survey AFTER first buying the Wawa hoagie from the Richboro, PA store and noticing how it seemed to be thrown together without much care. Afterward, I started buying other hoagies to compare - my preference was for Italian hoagies but I did not think it mattered that all of them should be the same type of sandwich.
Show Me a Wawa Italian Hoagie
To be a fair visual comparison, I agree that I should have a photo of an Italian hoagie from Wawa. So, while attending an EPA meeting in Horsham on 25 July 2018, I purchased a classic Italian hoagie from a local Wawa (see my Instagram post below).
Read More...
Posted on 24 Jul 2018, 11:47 - Category: Survey Results
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