ANNOUNCEMENT

Friends of the Eagan Core Greenway (FOECG) has announced the results of its 2006 Eagan City Council and Mayoral Candidate Open Space Survey.

The survey is available at:

FOECG's motivation for the survey is closely tied to the group's mission---to serve the community by giving citizens valuable open space-related resources. Its specific reasons are three-fold:

1. Because an educated electorate is the bulwark of democracy;
   
   
2. Because the value of open space has been repeatedly underscored as one of the most important issues among the citizens of Eagan;
   
   
3. Because such a substantive survey addresses both of these key points by educating Eagan residents about their candidates' knowledge of the issues, analytical abilities, and values regarding open space.
   

This is the third local election for which Friends of the Eagan Core Greenway has conducted a survey, having done so in 2002 and 2004 as well.

The questions for this year's survey came from FOECG members themselves. The first four questions were asked of all of the City Council and Mayoral candidates before the primary (Round 1); the second four questions were asked of the winners shortly after the primary (Round 2). Candidates were asked to answer the two sets of questions with no more than six sentences per answer.

The Round 2 question set was designed to help voters assess the candidates' qualities of leadership, analysis, values & vision, and degree of commitment to the City's existing Comprehensive Plan and zoning.

Traditionally Friends of the Eagan Core Greenway has not endorsed candidates in local elections since avoiding such endorsements is a condition of 501(c)3 non-profit status for a group, a status that FOECG may wish to pursue in the future. (The Eagan Foundation has served as the group's fiscal agent since 2005.) Furthermore, FOECG needs to work with whichever candidate wins these elections.

Friends of the Eagan Core Greenway represents over 200 local families and facilitates communication between them via its electronic distribution list.