Ocean City Councilman Seeks Community Input With Survey

By MADDY VITALE Ocean City Councilman Jody Levchuk wants to know what the community thinks about a variety of issues in town -- from taxes to parking. Instead of asking people to walk up to the microphone and state their concerns or thoughts, he decided to put it in a survey, giving people an opportunity to fill out a multiple-choice survey, which he believes touches upon the main topics of discussion throughout the resort. To check out the survey and/or participate in it, click here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/JCJXXK2 People may also take the survey by going to Levchuk’s City Council Facebook page at facebook.com/CouncilmanLevchuk. The survey will run until Nov. 1. For each question, the person taking the survey has the range of choices from strongly agree through strongly disagree. Parking has been a major topic in town. Levchuk spoke about how he came up with the 10 questions in the survey. “I think for the most part, the 10 things that I put there stem from what people talk about the most and what goes on around town,” Levchuk, who represents the Third Ward, said in an interview. “Every town has its challenges and I feel this is a very good way to find out what people’s concerns are and what they are thinking in an unbiased format.” Residents, second homeowners, vacationers, business owners or anyone else who has a tie to Ocean City may take the survey anonymously or give their name, address and phone number. Here are a few of the questions:

• Ocean City, NJ has stable and affordable property taxes?
• Parking in many of our neighborhoods and business districts is a challenge?
• Flooding is an issue on my street or neighborhood more than a couple of times a year?
• Windmills off the coast of Ocean City, NJ will negatively impact our property values and tourism?
• My street or a street in my neighborhood has been negatively impacted by selfish over-development?
• Ocean City, NJ would benefit from a new modern hotel/resort?

“Hopefully a lot of people will take part in the survey,” said Levchuk, who co-owns the Jilly's Boardwalk and downtown shops. “It should take about 30 seconds to a minute of someone’s time to help make a difference in Ocean City.” He would like the names of the people taking the survey, but that is entirely up to them, he pointed out. “I won’t share anyone’s answers. But if someone puts their name down, then I could speak to them about their concerns,” he said. “It also would keep things real in the survey. I want as close to authentic results as possible.” For more information about the survey contact Councilman Jody Levchuk at [email protected].