Public urges more pedestrian safety, council refines community survey questions

A resident urged the Keizer City Council on Jan. 20 to prioritize sidewalks and safer pedestrian crossings on collector streets and to include a clear question on lowering residential speed limits in the city's upcoming community survey.

David Filbert told council that many of Keizer’s collectors and arterials are residential and that proposed cost‑share rules that would ask homeowners on those streets to pay a greater percentage are unfair. "Those streets do deserve streets that are as safe as possible," he said, and he urged the city to consider broader pedestrian safety—not just sidewalks but crossings—when designing improvements.

Filbert also asked that the city survey include a direct question on a council‑level recommendation to reduce speed limits on residential streets from 25 to 20 miles per hour. Council agreed to consider adding a discrete yes/no question about the 25→20 mph proposal and to place community outreach on the agenda for further discussion under a live platform if needed.

City staff described the planned Polco survey as a stratified random sample by address (mailed invitations with a unique QR code, English and Spanish materials) and said the statistical sample aims for roughly 2,000 household responses for validity. Council asked staff to remove boilerplate questions about services the city does not provide, to refine wording (for example on fluoride and police funding questions), and to route the cleaned survey instrument back through the Community Diversity Engagement Committee (CDEC) for review before mailing.

Council also agreed to hold focused public engagement (a live session or town hall) for any time‑sensitive or contentious items, such as the police funding question, which council asked staff to pause pending task‑force recommendations.

Staff said they aim to launch the main survey by mid‑February, with additional live or targeted questions run through the Polco platform as needed.