[0:11] Hi Peachtree City, Mayor Kim Leonard
here. In our last City Council work
[0:16] session, we had fun introducing four new
mascots to represent Peachtree City.
[0:22] What jumps to your mind as a good
representation of our city?
[0:26] Maybe it's Manny the Manatee. That is
one of our four. We have Flat Creek
[0:32] Floyd, and Floyd is one of our mascots
going forward. We also have two peach
[0:38] related mascots. So far they're called
Pete and Peaches, but I encourage you to
[0:44] look at today's
slice e-newsletter where you can vote on
[0:49] what you want those peaches to be named.
So I think these mascots will help us
[0:53] all bring home the messages that
Peachtree City has to share, especially
[0:58] when it comes to public safety. And
certainly we're going to have a lot of
[1:02] fun with this at community events.
Peachtree City engaged Zen City to
[1:07] conduct a citizen satisfaction survey.
And in our City Council work session, we
[1:12] reviewed the results of the Zen City
survey. This is the fourth time we've
[1:17] conducted this annual survey, and it
helps city leaders gauge where we're
[1:22] doing well and where we maybe have an
opportunity to improve.
[1:28] One of the standout ratings from you,
our citizens, was we have an 84% citizen
[1:34] satisfaction level
with our overall Peachtree City quality
[1:38] of life. That rings very favorably, 7%
higher than cohort cities across the
[1:44] country, and 17% higher than a national
rating. The two highest scores, as
[1:51] presented by you, our citizens, were a
very high 89%
[1:56] satisfaction expressed with access to
quality education in Peachtree City and
[2:01] an 89% satisfaction rating with our
overall sense of safety in our city.
[2:08] That's very important to all of us.
The things we need to work on, the
[2:13] biggest drops since 1 year ago were a
whopping 14%
[2:19] drop in citizens satisfaction with
affordable housing,
[2:24] an 11% drop in availability of jobs that
pay a living wage,
[2:31] acceptance of residents of all
backgrounds, and here's one that I think
[2:36] everybody on City Council sat up and
took notice is a 10% drop in our
[2:42] citizens' ability to give input to the
Peachtree City government.
[2:47] The Zen City statistician seemed to
think that these drops represent
[2:53] something going on on a national level,
and this is something they're seeing
[2:57] across the country.
However, I do want to mention that we
[3:01] strive in Peachtree City to take citizen
input into account, and we make our
[3:07] government decisions based on your
feedback. We strive to convey updated
[3:12] city information through the Slice
e-newsletter, through our website, and
[3:17] through social media channels. We also
make an effort to hear from you, our
[3:22] citizens. We welcome the citizens of
Peachtree City to our City Council
[3:27] meetings, and we invite you to the
microphone to share anything that's on
[3:31] your mind during our public comment.
We conduct open houses, like the one we
[3:35] recently had on our annexation study,
and we have an upcoming open house on
[3:41] the UDO effort currently underway. More
about that in a minute. City Council
[3:46] members genuinely read all of our
emails, and we welcome the opportunity
[3:51] to sit down with our citizens for a
one-on-one coffee meeting or to meet in
[3:56] small groups. So, City Council has taken
notice. We're grateful for the
[4:00] opportunity to hear from you, our
citizens, and we'll be taking your
[4:04] feedback into account going forward. On
Thursday, this Thursday, September 10th,
[4:09] from 3:00 to 7:00 p.m. in the Peachtree
City Library, we will be conducting a
[4:14] UDO open house open to the public. UDO
means Unified Development Ordinance, and
[4:22] this is a robust effort we currently
have underway to combine, update, and
[4:28] streamline our city documents related to
land use and zoning. So, we as a city
[4:36] invite residents, businesses, and
stakeholders to come in
[4:40] and make your opinions known. This will
make a big difference in the way we plan
[4:44] for the future of our city. So, come and
join us in the library this Thursday,
[4:49] September 10th from 3:00 to 7:00 p.m.
And finally, I invite all of our
[4:55] citizens to join us for the 911
Remembrance Walk in Peachtree City. This
[5:01] is a special year for our annual walk
because it is the 25th anniversary of
[5:07] the events of September 11th. We will be
meeting in Drake Field at 8:30 in the
[5:13] morning and gathering to walk around
Lake Peachtree. This is a 3.5 mile flat
[5:21] paved path surface, and we'll be walking
with our first responders and our
[5:26] citizens alike. It's a very moving
tribute because some of our first
[5:30] responders will be in full gear, which
reminds us of the effort and sacrifices
[5:36] of September 11th. So, please come and
join us this Friday, September 11th,
[5:41] gathering at 8:30 in the morning. We'll
start the walk by 9:00. We'll walk
[5:44] around Lake Peachtree. Join us. walk
alongside us in remembrance, reverence,
[5:50] and gratitude.