Craig: Payless Shoe Source Coming To Green Firs Village

The newest tenant at  shopping center will be a Payless Shoe Source, according to University Place Deputy City Manager Mariza Craig.

"There sure have been a lot of activities that are being proposed, or we anticipate, for Green Firs," she told the University Place City Council on Tuesday night. "A lot of re-tenanting there. A permit just came in for Payless Shoes that will be coming in right next to the ."

Craig revealed the future tenant during a presentation on University Place's commercial and residential development. The bulk of the city's major projects are related to the school district, including the new auditorium at Curtis High and the future aquatic center. Superintendent Patti Banks said the school district is aiming for an October opening, but she admitted there is a chance that construction could push the opening date back.

Craig didn't specify when the new Payless store would open.

In other City Council news:

Officials reviewed the findings of the annual survey that it sends to residents to gauge public perception of UP.

For the most part, according to Renee Houston, an associate professor of communication studies at the University of Puget Sound who was hired by the city to conduct the survey, most of the 600 or so residents who took the survey indicated that they were happy with the city's performance, particularly in terms of police protection and "feeling safe."

One concern for University Place leaders was a drop in the survey of citizens' confidence that the city is "moving in the right direction," according to the findings.

The study showed almost the an identical percentage of respondents agreed, disagreed or simply couldn't decide on whether they were confident in UP's direction.

The findings represent a drop in that category from the year before.

"That's really disconcerting to me," said Councilwoman Denise McCluskey.

Houston attributed much of that to Town Center, particularly the lack of construction in 2008 and 2009.

But she expects residents' perceived confidence in the city's direction to increase as more of Town Center is developed and tenants such as Applebee's open their doors.

"That perception will probably change," Houston said.

Most of the findings including a percentage of people who disagreed with the city in virtually all areas.

Councilman Gerald Gehring said he takes the percentage of people who simply don't agree with anything the city does with a grain of salt.

It's important to listen to them, he said, but "we learned long ago that there's always going to be about 20 percent of the people who don't like what you're doing no matter what," he said.