We Asked the Voters What They Think About Menlo Gateway. This is What They Said.

As plans for Menlo Gateway have progressed over the past two years, we have received positive feedback and enthusiastic support from people who are close to the project. Through neighborhood meetings, we also discovered that the project has many supporters in the greater community as well. But it was difficult to determine how broad and how deep the actual support is for the project. How to find out? Survey the people who may well end up determining the issue—the voters.

Based on a survey of 400 Menlo Park residents, we found a significant majority in favor of Menlo Gateway – 70 percent of respondents, in fact. In addition, support for the project had even increased since a similar survey conducted in 2009. Here’s how we went about this effort.

In January 2010, the Bohannon Organization hired Godbe Research to survey voters who were likely to vote in the November 2010 elections. Godbe Research has conducted thousands of polls for local government clients during the past 20 years. The firm has helped municipalities and agencies put issues on the ballot with a success rate of more than 90 percent passing, and it has an office in San Mateo.

Testing Both Sides
Godbe Research designed a survey methodology designed to identify which local issues are most important to voters, as well as to understand varying points of view and assess voter support for potential features of the Menlo Gateway project. Survey methodology was based on sophisticated stratified voter cluster sampling, which samples across demographic characteristics and the likelihood that people will vote, to help assure accurate representation of the Menlo Park community. Prior to the survey, two focus groups were conducted to confirm voters’ largest concerns and to identify any issues that might have been missed.

Next, 400 voters were surveyed by telephone. In addition to identifying the most important overall community issues, survey questions addressed arguments both in support of and in opposition to numerous features of the proposed Menlo Gateway project. This approach is somewhat unorthodox in that surveys usually are performed in support of one side of a controversial topic. However, the dual nature of the Godbe’s approach helped to ensure a fair survey free from questioning bias.

Primary Concerns the Same
The top four community issues that concerned survey respondents most were:

• Improving the local economy
• Increasing local job opportunities
• Maintaining local roads
• Reducing crime

These results were unchanged from a similar survey conducted in 2009.

Menlo Gateway Gains Even Stronger Support
After extensive questioning about various features of the proposed Menlo Gateway project, results were correlated and compared to the 2009 survey:

• 70% of respondents support the Menlo Gateway proposal
• 43% strongly support it—a 10% increase in strong support since 2009
• 27% somewhat support the proposal
• 15% oppose the proposal, unchanged from 2009

Survey respondents supported the proposed project for many reasons, the strongest ones being anticipated revenue generation for the City of Menlo Park, increased funding for local schools, replacing aging and inefficient industrial buildings, and creating local jobs.

“We had received significant anecdotal evidence of residents’ overall support for the project but the voter survey quantified and validated our assessment,” said David Bohannon, senior vice president, Bohannon Development Company. “Even though survey methodology included opposing arguments to the project proposal, the level of support for Menlo Gateway still ranked higher and stronger than last year. We are gratified by voters’ level of interest and the familiarity they have with local issues.”

The City of Menlo Park and Bohannon Organization are currently in negotiations for approval. Negotiation results are expected sometime this spring.