Airport, Safety Issues Rank High for Residents

A desire for an international airport and a feeling of safety were two of the sentiments expressed in an informal survey recently released by the city.

The survey, filled out by 337 people at the Palmdale Fall Festival earlier this month, showed that 88.4% felt that the Antelope Valley city should pursue an international airport, city officials said.

“If it was meant to be scientific, then we would have had an independent firm conduct it,” said Danny Roberts, executive director of Palmdale’s Economic Development Department. “We were just trying to do a small survey to measure people’s attitudes on some things.”

Results of the survey have not been fully tabulated, but will be released in time for the Nov. 5 City Council meeting.

The survey also found that 80.1% of respondents felt safe living in their Palmdale neighborhoods, city officials reported.

“I think eight out of 10 is an impressive number,” Roberts said. “There seems to be a lot of pride about living in Palmdale.”

Another finding showed that a majority of people would like to see additional aerospace companies relocate to Palmdale, Roberts said.

The restaurant most respondents said they wished would open in Palmdale was TGI Friday’s, with Claim Jumper a distant second, Roberts said.

Roberts said he expects the survey to serve as a baseline for future such informal surveys taken by the city.