By YourValley
Candidates for the Surprise City Council answer questions each week leading up to the Aug. 2 primary election. There are three candidates in District 1 and two incumbents running unopposed in Districts 5 and 6.
THIS WEEK: What is Surprise’s top challenge in the next decade?
DISTRICT 1
Raymond Grim
The biggest challenge Surprise will have in the next decade is managing the growth that is here and will continue for a while. The mayor and city council will have to make sure we are getting state and federal funding to keep our roads growing and keep them from getting clogged up.
Make a plan to get our parks up to speed with the growth that is here. We are really behind in our parks compared to population. We need to make this a priority so we have enough open space to accommodate our city programs and club teams that currently have to go out of the city to get parks to practice.
The city needs to partner with our local schools to utilize their fields after school hours until we can get enough city parks up and running to accommodate the demand.
Lew Guyn
There are several challenges affecting the city in the next decade; adequate water supplies and reserves, good paying jobs, schools and services, maintaining and improving infrastructure, building additional parks, but the top one on my list right now would have to be effectively addressing the East/West corridors throughout the city.
In District 1, there are issues in the western rural areas to provide alternative access to Sun Valley Parkway, but particularly in the rapidly expanding areas around Grand, East/West access to the AZ 303 and beyond is vital to provide safe and efficient mobility.
