City launches public input survey

As part of efforts to create a downtown strategic vision, the city is soliciting feedback over the next few weeks via a survey.

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“The city is currently in the process of developing a strategic vision plan for downtown Rahway. As a Rahway stakeholder, we would like to hear your thoughts regarding how you see the present and future of downtown Rahway,” according to the survey.

The survey can be accessed directly here and has been posted on the city’s website and Facebook page. It will close Aug. 27 at midnight.

UPDATED, Sept. 1: The deadline for the survey has been extended two weeks, through Friday, Sept. 10.

More than a dozen multiple-choice, agree/disagree, and open-ended questions ask folks how often, when and why they visit downtown; and what types of establishment are missing from downtown, among others.

Respondents are asked to describe downtown today — and when they imagine downtown in five years — in three words of less. It also seeks input on what other downtowns you frequent and what draws you there. Several agree/disagree questions ask how much traffic and circulation, parking, safety, and cleanliness impact your desire to visit downtown.

City Council in May awarded a contract to a planning firm to develop a strategic vision plan, which is expected to be completed in the fall.

Among the various polls over the years by RahwayRising.com, we’ve asked readers on what stores they’d like to see downtown in 2012 and again in 2015.

About 14 years ago, the Rahway Center Partnership (RCP) conducted a survey about downtown, culminating in a 22-page report. The RCP was the first downtown management corporation overseeing the Special Improvement District (SID) and the precursor to the Rahway Arts & Business Partnership (RABP).

Click on the Rahway Survey tag for an archive of the posts that detailed the RCP’s survey results. It makes for an interesting read, especially when you consider how much retail/commercial and downtowns have changed in the past 20 years, through the Great Recession of 2008-09 and the shift to online shopping and delivery services over the past decade but especially since the start of the pandemic.