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 biggest recent missed opportunity?

DISTRICT 1

Raymond Grim

The biggest missed opportunity for our city is not investing in new parks. A few years ago we passed a bond for public safety. That paid for two fire stations, an evidence center and land for a future police substation. We also passed a bond for expanding the roads of Greenway, Waddell, and Cactus east of the 303. Unfortunately we didn’t add money for the area of 163rd and Grand area which needed it as well. But we should have asked the voters if they wanted to invest in a new park. Peoria has a beautiful, recently opened Paloma Park off of Lake Pleasant Parkway. Goodyear just opened an 86 acre recreation campus with pools, fields, and a top tier recreational facility. Mesa recently opened a 350 acre complex called Bell Bank Park which will host numerous sporting events. It is projected to host about 5.5 million guests a year. Glendale just announced that there is a huge park that will have multiple pickle ball courts, indoor and outdoor event space, and multuse fields east of the 101 & Glendale. What Surprise could have done is secure the land and start developing a new park piece by piece as the funding is available. My goal is to keep this to the front of the priorities for our city. It’s time to take a missed opportunity and make it a city asset. 

Lew Guyn

I’m honestly not aware of any recent missed opportunities.

Nick Haney

The biggest recent missed opportunity is being reactive to growth rather than taking a proactive approach that forecasts what’s coming and manages new development strategically. Our failure to sufficiently plan has negatively impacted city services and stressed our infrastructure. Growth should never outpace services. I understand the importance of this guiding principle, and the necessity of bringing our current infrastructure up to date with the growth we have already experienced. Moving forward, we must ensure this balance through better planning, better deployment of resources and providing every taxpayer with a real return on their investment in the city they call home.

DISTRICT 5

Jack Hastings

High quality jobs have continued to evade our city, but the West Valley as a whole has been thriving. One thing I have realized is that instead of it being Surprise vs. Peoria vs. Goodyear, it is really West Valley vs. East Valley. The fact that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company is coming to the West Valley is a huge draw. Amazon here in Surprise is a big deal as well. We need to keep giving reasons for people outside of the West Valley and come this direction. We also need jobs and more entertainment close by for our residents.

DISTRICT 6

Chris Judd

Curbside recycling needs to return to Surprise. It’s no secret that the recycling industry has many challenges. The Surprise recycling solution must include partnering with an organization that is actually reusing the materials that our residents recycle – not just quietly throwing them in the landfill or burning them. We cannot allow ourselves to be fooled into paying to pretend to recycle again.

We need to do our part in making sure that the wildlife corridors that connect the White Tank Mountains the north and west are not cut off. We will do this through partnerships with surrounding cities, state and county departments, and by working with developers to find market driven solutions to establish wildlife corridors next to or through developments.