Document elcerrito_gov_doc_a70c9874b1

2955 Valmont Road, Suite 300 777 North Capitol Street NE, Suite 500 Boulder, CO 80301 Washington, DC 20002 www.n-r-c.com • [PHONE REDACTED] www.icma.org • 202-289-ICMA The National Citizen Survey™ CITY OF EL CERRITO, CA 2012 ---PAGE BREAK--- City of El Cerrito I 2012 The National Citizen Survey™ The National Citizen Survey™ by National Research Center, Inc. Contents Survey Background 1 About The National Citizen Survey™ 1 Understanding the Results 3 Executive Summary 5 Community Ratings 7 Overall Community Quality 7 Community Design 9 Transportation 9 Housing 12 Land Use and Zoning 14 Economic Sustainability 17 Public Safety 19 Environmental Sustainability 23 Recreation and Wellness 25 Parks and Recreation 25 Culture, Arts and Education 27 Health and Wellness 29 Community Inclusiveness 30 Civic Engagement 32 Information and Awareness 35 Social Engagement 36 Public Trust 38 City of El Cerrito Employees 40 From Data to Action 42 Resident Priorities 42 City of El Cerrito Action Chart™ 43 Using Your Action Chart™ 45 Custom Questions 47 Appendix A: Complete Survey Frequencies 49 Frequencies Excluding “Don’t Know” Responses 49 Frequencies Including “Don’t Know” Responses 61 Appendix B: Survey Methodology 77 Appendix C: Survey Materials 87 ---PAGE BREAK--- City of El Cerrito I 2012 The National Citizen Survey™ 1 Survey Background ABOUT THE NATIONAL CITIZEN SURVEY™ The National Citizen Survey™ (The NCS) is a collaborative effort between National Research Center, Inc. (NRC) and the International City/County Management Association (ICMA). The NCS was developed by NRC to provide a statistically valid survey of resident opinions about community and services provided by local government. The survey results may be used by staff, elected officials and other stakeholders for community planning and resource allocation, program improvement and policy making. FIGURE 1: THE NATIONAL CITIZEN SURVEY™ METHODS AND GOALS The NCS focuses on a series of community characteristics and local government services, as well as issues of public trust. Resident behaviors related to civic engagement in the community also were measured in the survey. Assessment Goals Assessment Methods Survey Objectives • Multi-contact mailed survey • Representative sample of 1,200 households • 362 surveys returned; 31% response rate • 5% margin of error • Data statistically weighted to reflect population Immediate • Provide useful information for: • Planning • Resource allocation • Performance measurement • Program and policy evaluation • Identify community and weaknesses • Identify service and weaknesses Long-term • Improved services • More civic engagement • Better community quality of life • Stronger public trust ---PAGE BREAK--- City of El Cerrito I 2012 The National Citizen Survey™ 2 FIGURE 2: THE NATIONAL CITIZEN SURVEY™ FOCUS AREAS The survey and its administration are standardized to assure high quality research methods and directly comparable results across The National Citizen Survey™ jurisdictions. Participating households are selected at random and the household member who responds is selected without bias. Multiple mailings give each household more than one chance to participate with self- addressed and postage-paid envelopes. Results are statistically weighted to reflect the proper demographic composition of the entire community. A total of 362 completed surveys were obtained, providing an overall response rate of 31%. Typically, response rates obtained on citizen surveys range from 25% to 40%. The National Citizen Survey™ customized for the City of El Cerrito was developed in close cooperation with local jurisdiction staff. El Cerrito staff selected items from a menu of questions about services and community issues and provided the appropriate letterhead and signatures for mailings. City of El Cerrito staff also augmented The National Citizen Survey™ basic service through a variety of options including several custom questions. COMMUNITY QUALITY Quality of life Quality of neighborhood Place to live COMMUNITY DESIGN Transportation Ease of travel, transit services, street maintenance Housing Housing options, cost, affordability Land Use and Zoning New development, growth, code enforcement Economic Sustainability Employment, shopping and retail, City as a place to work PUBLIC SAFETY Safety in neighborhood and commercial areas Crime victimization Police, fire, EMS services Emergency preparedness ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY Cleanliness Air quality Preservation of natural areas Garbage and recycling services RECREATION AND WELLNESS Parks and Recreation Recreation opportunities, use of parks and facilities, programs and classes Culture, Arts and Education Cultural and educational opportunities, libraries, schools Health and Wellness Availability of food, health services, social services COMMUNITY INCLUSIVENESS Sense of community Racial and cultural acceptance Senior, youth and low-income services CIVIC ENGAGEMENT Civic Activity Volunteerism Civic attentiveness Voting behavior Social Engagement Neighborliness, social and religious events Information and Awareness Public information, publications, Web site PUBLIC TRUST Cooperation in community Value of services Direction of community Citizen involvement Employees ---PAGE BREAK--- City of El Cerrito I 2012 The National Citizen Survey™ 3 UNDERSTANDING THE RESULTS As shown in Figure 2, this report is based around respondents’ opinions about eight larger categories: community quality, community design, public safety, environmental sustainability, recreation and wellness, community inclusiveness, civic engagement and public trust. Each report section begins with residents’ ratings of community characteristics and is followed by residents’ ratings of service quality. For all evaluative questions, the percent of residents rating the service or community feature as “excellent” or “good” is presented. To see the full set of responses for each question on the survey, please see Appendix A: Complete Survey Frequencies. Margin of Error The margin of error around results for the City of El Cerrito Survey (362 completed surveys) is plus or minus five percentage points. This is a measure of the precision of your results; a larger number of completed surveys gives a smaller (more precise) margin of error, while a smaller number of surveys yields a larger margin of error. With your margin of error, you may conclude that when 60% of survey respondents report that a particular service is “excellent” or “good,” somewhere between 55-65% of all residents are likely to feel that way. Comparing Survey Results Certain kinds of services tend to be thought better of by residents in many communities across the country. For example, public safety services tend to be received better than transportation services by residents of most American communities. Where possible, the better comparison is not from one service to another in the City of El Cerrito, but from City of El Cerrito services to services like them provided by other jurisdictions. Interpreting Comparisons to Previous Years This report contains comparisons with prior years’ results. In this report, we are comparing this year’s data with existing data in the graphs. Differences between years can be considered “statistically significant” if they are greater than seven percentage points. Trend data for your jurisdiction represent important comparison data and should be examined for improvements or declines. Deviations from stable trends over time, especially represent opportunities for understanding how local policies, programs or public information may have affected residents’ opinions. Benchmark Comparisons NRC’s database of comparative resident opinion is comprised of resident perspectives gathered in citizen surveys from approximately 500 jurisdictions whose residents evaluated local government services and gave their opinion about the quality of community life. The comparison evaluations are from the most recent survey completed in each jurisdiction; most communities conduct surveys every year or in alternating years. NRC adds the latest results quickly upon survey completion, keeping the benchmark data fresh and relevant. The City of El Cerrito chose to have comparisons made to the entire database. A benchmark comparison (the average rating from all the comparison jurisdictions where a similar question was asked) has been provided when a similar question on the City of El Cerrito survey was included in NRC’s database and there were at least five jurisdictions in which the question was asked. For most questions compared to the entire dataset, there were more than 100 jurisdictions included in the benchmark comparison. ---PAGE BREAK--- City of El Cerrito I 2012 The National Citizen Survey™ 4 Where comparisons for quality ratings were available, the City of El Cerrito results were generally noted as being “above” the benchmark, “below” the benchmark or “similar” to the benchmark. For some questions – those related to resident behavior, circumstance or to a local problem – the comparison to the benchmark is designated as “more,” “similar” or “less” (for example, the percent of crime victims, residents visiting a park or residents identifying code enforcement as a problem.) In instances where ratings are considerably higher or lower than the benchmark, these ratings have been further demarcated by the attribute of “much,” (for example, “much less” or “much above”). These labels come from a statistical comparison of the City of El Cerrito's rating to the benchmark. “Don’t Know” Responses and Rounding On many of the questions in the survey respondents may answer “don’t know.” The proportion of respondents giving this reply is shown in the full set of responses included in Appendix A. However, these responses have been removed from the analyses presented in the body of the report. In other words, the tables and graphs display the responses from respondents who had an opinion about a specific item. For some questions, respondents were permitted to select more than one answer. When the total exceeds 100% in a table for a multiple response question, it is because some respondents did select more than one response. When a table for a question that only permitted a single response does not total to exactly 100%, it is due to the customary practice of percentages being rounded to the nearest whole number. For more information on understanding The NCS report, please see Appendix B: Survey Methodology. ---PAGE BREAK--- City of El Cerrito I 2012 The National Citizen Survey™ 5 Executive Summary This report of the City of El Cerrito survey provides the opinions of a representative sample of residents about community quality of life, service delivery, civic participation and unique issues of local interest. A periodic sounding of resident opinion offers staff, elected officials and other stakeholders an opportunity to identify challenges and to plan for and evaluate improvements and to sustain services and amenities for long-term success. Most residents experienced a good quality of life in the City of El Cerrito and believed the City was a good place to live. The overall quality of life in the City of El Cerrito was rated as “excellent” or “good” by 70% of respondents. A majority reported they plan on staying in the City of El Cerrito for the next five years. A variety of characteristics of the community was evaluated by those participating in the study. The four characteristics receiving the most favorable ratings were the openness and acceptance of the community toward people of diverse backgrounds, ease of rail travel, ease of walking and ease of car travel in El Cerrito. The three characteristics receiving the least positive ratings were educational opportunities, opportunities to attend cultural activities and employment opportunities. Ratings of community characteristics were compared to the benchmark database. Of the thirty-two characteristics for which comparisons were available, 12 were above the national benchmark comparison, 13 were similar to the national benchmark comparison and seven were below. Residents in the City of El Cerrito were somewhat civically engaged. While only 23% had attended a meeting of local elected public officials or other local public meeting in the previous 12 months, 93% had provided help to a friend or neighbor. Less than half had volunteered their time to some group or activity in the City of El Cerrito, which was lower than the benchmark. In general, survey respondents demonstrated trust in local government. A majority rated the overall direction being taken by the City of El Cerrito as “good” or “excellent.” This was much higher than the benchmark. Those residents who had interacted with an employee of the City of El Cerrito in the previous 12 months gave high marks to those employees. Most rated their overall impression of employees as “excellent” or “good.” On average, residents gave generally favorable ratings to most local government services. City services rated were able to be compared to the benchmark database. Of the 32 services for which comparisons were available, 14 were above the benchmark comparison, 13 were similar to the benchmark comparison and 5 were below. Respondents were asked to rate how frequently they participated in various activities in El Cerrito. The most popular activities included recycling and providing help to a friend or neighbor; while the least popular activities were watching a meeting of local elected officials and participating in a club or civic group. Generally, participation rates in the various activities in the community were lower than other communities. Overall, ratings for many of El Cerritos services and community features increased compared to the previous year’s survey. Increased ratings were found for ease of car travel, ease of bus travel, ease of walking, street repair, street cleaning, street lighting and sidewalk maintenance. Ratings also increased for land use, planning, and zoning, code enforcement, animal control, crime prevention, fire prevention and education, air quality, recycling, City parks, recreation centers and others. ---PAGE BREAK--- City of El Cerrito I 2012 The National Citizen Survey™ 6 A Key Driver Analysis was conducted for the City of El Cerrito which examined the relationships between ratings of each service and ratings of the City of El Cerrito’s services overall. Those key driver services that correlated most strongly with residents’ perceptions about overall City service quality have been identified. By targeting improvements in key services, the City of El Cerrito can focus on the services that have the greatest likelihood of influencing residents’ opinions about overall service quality. Services found to be influential in ratings of overall service quality from the Key Driver Analysis were: ƒ Preservation of natural areas ƒ Traffic signal timing Of these services, deserving the most attention may be that which was similar to the benchmark comparisons: traffic signal timing. For preservation of natural areas, the City of El Cerrito was above the benchmark and should continue to ensure high quality performance. ---PAGE BREAK--- City of El Cerrito I 2012 The National Citizen Survey™ 7 Community Ratings OVERALL COMMUNITY QUALITY Overall quality of community life may be the single best indicator of success in providing the natural ambience, services and amenities that make for an attractive community. The National Citizen Survey™ contained many questions related to quality of community life in the City of El Cerrito – not only direct questions about quality of life overall and in neighborhoods, but questions to measure residents’ commitment to the City of El Cerrito. Residents were asked whether they planned to move soon or if they would recommend the City of El Cerrito to others. Intentions to stay and willingness to make recommendations provide evidence that the City of El Cerrito offers services and amenities that work. Most of the City of El Cerrito’s residents gave high ratings to their neighborhoods and the community as a place to live. Further, a majority reported they would recommend the community to others and plan to stay for the next five years. Ratings for both the overall quality of life and neighborhoods as a place to live increased compared to the previous survey year. FIGURE 3: RATINGS OF OVERALL QUALITY OF LIFE BY YEAR 79% 77% 71% 83% 0% 25% 50% 75% 100% 2003 2005 2007 2012 Percent rating overall quality of life as "excellent" or "good" FIGURE 4: RATINGS OF OVERALL COMMUNITY QUALITY BY YEAR 2012 2007 2005 2003 The overall quality of life in El Cerrito 83% 71% 77% 79% Your neighborhood as a place to live 87% 76% 81% 82% El Cerrito as a place to live 89% 83% 85% 88% Percent "excellent" or "good" ---PAGE BREAK--- City of El Cerrito I 2012 The National Citizen Survey™ 8 FIGURE 5: LIKELIHOOD OF REMAINING IN COMMUNITY AND RECOMMENDING COMMUNITY 88% 93% 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% Remain in El Cerrito for the next five years Recommend living in El Cerrito to someone who asks Percent of "very" and "somewhat" likely FIGURE 6: OVERALL COMMUNITY QUALITY BENCHMARKS Comparison to benchmark Overall quality of life in El Cerrito Similar Your neighborhood as place to live Above El Cerrito as a place to live Above Recommend living in El Cerrito to someone who asks Much above Remain in El Cerrito for the next five years Above ---PAGE BREAK--- City of El Cerrito I 2012 The National Citizen Survey™ 9 COMMUNITY DESIGN Transportation Residents responding to the survey were given a list of seven aspects of mobility to rate on a scale of “excellent,” “good,” “fair” and “poor.” Ease of rail or subway travel was given the most positive rating, followed by ease of walking. These ratings were all much higher than the benchmark and the ratings for ease of car travel, ease of bus travel and ease of walking were higher than years past. FIGURE 7: RATINGS OF TRANSPORTATION IN COMMUNITY BY YEAR 2012 2007 2005 2003 Ease of car travel in El Cerrito 81% 66% 64% 64% Ease of bus travel in El Cerrito 66% 50% NA NA Ease of rail or subway travel in El Cerrito 87% 80% NA NA Ease of bicycle travel in El Cerrito 77% 73% 60% 60% Ease of walking in El Cerrito 82% 68% 66% 69% Availability of paths and walking trails 76% NA NA NA Traffic flow on major streets 61% NA NA NA Percent "excellent" or "good" FIGURE 8: COMMUNITY TRANSPORTATION BENCHMARKS Comparison to benchmark Ease of car travel in El Cerrito Much above Ease of bus travel in El Cerrito Much above Ease of rail or subway travel in El Cerrito Much above Ease of bicycle travel in El Cerrito Much above Ease of walking in El Cerrito Much above Availability of paths and walking trails Much above Traffic flow on major streets Much above ---PAGE BREAK--- City of El Cerrito I 2012 The National Citizen Survey™ 10 Seven transportation services were rated in El Cerrito. As compared to most communities across America, ratings tended to be somewhat favorable. Four were above the benchmark, two below the benchmark and one was similar to the benchmark. FIGURE 9: RATINGS OF TRANSPORTATION AND PARKING SERVICES BY YEAR 2012 2007 2005 2003 Street repair 57% 30% 33% 35% Street cleaning 71% 49% 54% 52% Street lighting 52% 40% 47% 45% Sidewalk maintenance 48% 28% 34% 32% Traffic signal timing 50% 43% NA NA Bus or transit services 65% 68% NA NA Amount of public parking 69% 61% 61% 55% Percent "excellent" or "good" FIGURE 10: TRANSPORTATION AND PARKING SERVICES BENCHMARKS Comparison to benchmark Street repair Much above Street cleaning Above Street lighting Below Sidewalk maintenance Below Traffic signal timing Similar Bus or transit services Much above Amount of public parking Much above ---PAGE BREAK--- City of El Cerrito I 2012 The National Citizen Survey™ 11 By measuring choice of travel mode over time, communities can monitor their success in providing attractive alternatives to the traditional mode of travel, the single-occupied automobile. When asked how they typically traveled to work, single-occupancy (SOV) travel was the most popular mode of use. However, 23% of work commute trips were made by transit, 3% by bicycle and 4% by foot. FIGURE 11: FREQUENCY OF BUS USE IN LAST 12 MONTHS BY YEAR 34% 33% 38% 38% 0% 25% 50% 75% 100% 2012 2007 2005 2003 Percent using at least once in past 12 months FIGURE 12: FREQUENCY OF BUS USE BENCHMARKS Comparison to benchmark Ridden a local bus within El Cerrito Much more FIGURE 13: MODE OF TRAVEL USED FOR WORK COMMUTE 9% 3% 4% 23% 9% 52% 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% Work at home Bicycle Walk Bus, rail, subway or other public transportation Motorized vehicle car, truck, van, etc.) with other children or adults Motorized vehicle car, truck, van, etc.) by myself Percent of days mode used for work commute FIGURE 14: DRIVE ALONE BENCHMARKS Comparison to benchmark Average percent of work commute trips made by driving alone Much less ---PAGE BREAK--- City of El Cerrito I 2012 The National Citizen Survey™ 12 Housing The survey of the City of El Cerrito residents asked respondents to reflect on the availability of affordable housing as well as the variety of housing options. The availability of affordable housing was rated as “excellent” or “good” by 51% of respondents, while the variety of housing options was rated as “excellent” or “good” by 58% of respondents. The rating of perceived affordable housing availability was better in the City of El Cerrito than the ratings, on average, in comparison jurisdictions. The ratings for the availability of affordable quality housing increased over time. FIGURE 15: RATINGS OF HOUSING IN COMMUNITY BY YEAR 2012 2007 2005 2003 Availability of affordable quality housing 51% 25% 23% 21% Variety of housing options 58% NA NA NA Percent "excellent" or "good" FIGURE 16: HOUSING CHARACTERISTICS BENCHMARKS Comparison to benchmark Availability of affordable quality housing Above Variety of housing options Similar ---PAGE BREAK--- City of El Cerrito I 2012 The National Citizen Survey™ 13 To augment the perceptions of affordable housing in El Cerrito, the cost of housing as reported in the survey was compared to residents’ reported income to create a rough estimate of the proportion of residents of the City of El Cerrito experiencing housing cost stress. Close to 40% of survey participants were found to pay housing costs of more than 30% of their household income. FIGURE 17: PROPORTION OF RESPONDENTS EXPERIENCING HOUSING COST STRESS Housing costs LESS than 30% of income 62% Housing costs 30% or MORE of income 38% FIGURE 18: HOUSING COSTS BENCHMARKS Comparison to benchmark Experiencing housing costs stress (housing costs 30% or MORE of income) Similar ---PAGE BREAK--- City of El Cerrito I 2012 The National Citizen Survey™ 14 Land Use and Zoning The overall quality of new development in the City of El Cerrito was rated as “excellent” by 13% of respondents and as “good” by an additional 44%. The overall appearance of El Cerrito was rated as “excellent” or “good” by 64% of respondents and was similar to the benchmark. When rating to what extent run down buildings, weed lots or junk vehicles were a problem in the City of El Cerrito, 9% thought they were a “major” problem. The service of land use, planning and zoning was rated above the benchmark and the services of code enforcement and animal control were similar to the benchmark. Ratings showed an upward pattern when compared to past years. FIGURE 19: RATINGS OF THE COMMUNITY'S "BUILT ENVIRONMENT" BY YEAR 2012 2007 2005 2003 Overall quality of new development in El Cerrito 57% 45% NA NA Overall appearance of El Cerrito 64% 41% 46% 44% Percent "excellent" or "good" FIGURE 20: BUILT ENVIRONMENT BENCHMARKS Comparison to benchmark Quality of new development in El Cerrito Similar Overall appearance of El Cerrito Similar ---PAGE BREAK--- City of El Cerrito I 2012 The National Citizen Survey™ 15 FIGURE 21: RATINGS OF POPULATION GROWTH BY YEAR 30% 31% 22% 14% 0% 25% 50% 75% 100% 2003 2005 2007 2012 Percent rating population growth as "too fast" FIGURE 22: POPULATION GROWTH BENCHMARKS Comparison to benchmark Population growth seen as too fast Much less FIGURE 23: RATINGS OF NUISANCE PROBLEMS BY YEAR 9% 10% 12% 9% 0% 25% 50% 75% 100% 2003 2005 2007 2012 Percent rating run down buildings, weed lots or junk vehicles as a "major" problem FIGURE 24: NUISANCE PROBLEMS BENCHMARKS Comparison to benchmark Run down buildings, weed lots and junk vehicles seen as a "major" problem Less ---PAGE BREAK--- City of El Cerrito I 2012 The National Citizen Survey™ 16 FIGURE 25: RATINGS OF PLANNING AND COMMUNITY CODE ENFORCEMENT SERVICES BY YEAR 2012 2007 2005 2003 Land use, planning and zoning 52% 31% 34% 36% Code enforcement (weeds, abandoned buildings, etc.) 43% 33% 41% 39% Animal control 61% 55% NA NA Percent "excellent" or "good" FIGURE 26: PLANNING AND COMMUNITY CODE ENFORCEMENT SERVICES BENCHMARKS Comparison to benchmark Land use, planning and zoning Above Code enforcement (weeds, abandoned buildings, etc.) Similar Animal control Similar ---PAGE BREAK--- City of El Cerrito I 2012 The National Citizen Survey™ 17 ECONOMIC SUSTAINABILITY The United States has been in recession since late 2007 with an accelerated downturn occurring in the fourth quarter of 2008. Officially we emerged from recession in the third quarter of 2009, but high unemployment lingers, keeping a lid on a strong recovery. Many readers worry that the ill health of the economy will color how residents perceive their environment and the services that local government delivers. NRC researchers have found that the economic downturn has chastened Americans’ view of their own economic futures but has not colored their perspectives about community services or quality of life. Survey respondents were asked to rate a number of community features related to economic opportunity and growth. The most positively rated features were the overall quality of business and service establishments and shopping opportunities. Receiving the lowest rating was employment opportunities; however ratings of employment opportunities had improved since 2007. FIGURE 27: RATINGS OF ECONOMIC SUSTAINABILITY AND OPPORTUNITIES BY YEAR 2012 2007 2005 2003 Employment opportunities 26% 17% 19% 10% Shopping opportunities 55% 50% 57% 62% El Cerrito as a place to work 53% 47% NA NA Overall quality of business and service establishments in El Cerrito 59% NA NA NA Percent "excellent" or "good" FIGURE 28: ECONOMIC SUSTAINABILITY AND OPPORTUNITIES BENCHMARKS Comparison to benchmark Employment opportunities Similar Shopping opportunities Similar El Cerrito as a place to work Similar Overall quality of business and service establishments in El Cerrito Similar Residents were asked to evaluate the speed of jobs growth and retail growth on a scale from “much too slow” to “much too fast.” When asked about the rate of jobs growth in El Cerrito, 81% responded that it was “too slow,” while 52% reported retail growth as “too slow.” More residents in El Cerrito compared to other jurisdictions believed that retail growth was too slow and more residents believed that jobs growth was too slow. FIGURE 29: RATINGS OF RETAIL AND JOBS GROWTH BY YEAR 2012 2007 2005 2003 Retail growth seen as too slow 52% 41% 22% 20% Jobs growth seen as too slow 81% 64% 75% 73% Percent of respondents FIGURE 30: RETAIL AND JOB GROWTH BENCHMARKS Comparison to benchmark Retail growth seen as too slow Much more Jobs growth seen as too slow More ---PAGE BREAK--- City of El Cerrito I 2012 The National Citizen Survey™ 18 FIGURE 31: RATINGS OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT SERVICES BY YEAR 47% 41% 36% 48% 0% 25% 50% 75% 100% 2003 2005 2007 2012 Percent "excellent" or "good" FIGURE 32: ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT SERVICES BENCHMARKS Comparison to benchmark Economic development Similar Residents were asked to reflect on their economic prospects in the near term. Twenty-three percent of the City of El Cerrito residents expected that the coming six months would have a “somewhat” or “very” positive impact on their family. The percent of residents with an optimistic outlook on their household income was more than comparison jurisdictions. FIGURE 33: RATINGS OF PERSONAL ECONOMIC FUTURE BY YEAR 21% 21% 15% 23% 0% 25% 50% 75% 100% 2003 2005 2007 2012 Percent "very" or "somewhat" positive FIGURE 34: PERSONAL ECONOMIC FUTURE BENCHMARKS Comparison to benchmark Positive impact of economy on household income Above ---PAGE BREAK--- City of El Cerrito I 2012 The National Citizen Survey™ 19 PUBLIC SAFETY Residents were asked to rate their feelings of safety from violent crimes, property crimes, fire and environmental dangers and to evaluate the local agencies whose main charge is to provide protection from these dangers. A majority gave positive ratings of safety in the City of El Cerrito. About 68% of those completing the questionnaire said they felt “very” or “somewhat” safe from violent crimes and 74% felt “very” or “somewhat” safe from environmental hazards. Daytime sense of safety was better than nighttime safety. The ratings for safety from property crimes and from violent crimes increased from 2007 to 2012. FIGURE 35: RATINGS OF COMMUNITY AND PERSONAL PUBLIC SAFETY BY YEAR 2012 2007 2005 2003 Safety in your neighborhood during the day 92% 89% 92% 90% Safety in your neighborhood after dark 64% 63% 66% 64% Safety in El Cerrito's commercial area during the day 89% 84% 84% 84% Safety in El Cerrito's commercial area after dark 52% 45% 47% 49% Safety from violent crime rape, assault, robbery) 68% 59% 66% 66% Safety from property crimes burglary, theft) 52% 42% 47% 46% Safety from environmental hazards 74% NA NA NA Percent "very" or "somewhat" safe FIGURE 36: COMMUNITY AND PERSONAL PUBLIC SAFETY BENCHMARKS Comparison to benchmark In your neighborhood during the day Similar In your neighborhood after dark Much below In El Cerrito's commercial area during the day Similar In El Cerrito's commercial area after dark Below Violent crime rape, assault, robbery) Below Property crimes burglary, theft) Much below Environmental hazards, including toxic waste Similar ---PAGE BREAK--- City of El Cerrito I 2012 The National Citizen Survey™ 20 As assessed by the survey, 11% of respondents reported that someone in the household had been the victim of one or more crimes in the past year. Of those who had been the victim of a crime, 87% had reported it to police. Compared to other jurisdictions about the same percent of El Cerrito residents had been victims of crime in the 12 months preceding the survey and many more El Cerrito residents had reported their most recent crime victimization to the police. FIGURE 37: CRIME VICTIMIZATION AND REPORTING BY YEAR 2012 2007 2005 2003 During the past 12 months, were you or anyone in your household the victim of any crime? 11% 17% 24% 20% If yes, was this crime (these crimes) reported to the police? 87% 85% 82% 84% Percent "yes" FIGURE 38: CRIME VICTIMIZATION AND REPORTING BENCHMARKS Comparison to benchmark Victim of crime Similar Reported crimes Much more ---PAGE BREAK--- City of El Cerrito I 2012 The National Citizen Survey™ 21 Residents rated eight City public safety services; of these, one was rated above the benchmark comparison, six were rated similar to the benchmark comparison and one was rated below the benchmark comparison. Fire services and ambulance or emergency medical services received the highest ratings, while traffic enforcement and emergency preparedness received the lowest ratings. The ratings for crime prevention and fire prevention and education improved from 2007 to 2012. FIGURE 39: RATINGS OF PUBLIC SAFETY SERVICES BY YEAR 2012 2007 2005 2003 Police services 83% 79% 83% 82% Fire services 92% 90% 93% 93% Ambulance or emergency medical services 89% 85% 90% 91% Crime prevention 64% 46% 54% 57% Fire prevention and education 76% 62% 69% 73% Municipal courts 64% NA NA NA Traffic enforcement 59% 61% 64% 61% Emergency preparedness (services that prepare the community for natural disasters or other emergency services) 56% NA NA NA Percent "excellent" or "good" FIGURE 40: PUBLIC SAFETY SERVICES BENCHMARKS Comparison to benchmark Police services Above Fire services Similar Ambulance or emergency medical services Similar Crime prevention Similar Fire prevention and education Similar Traffic enforcement Similar Courts Similar Emergency preparedness (services that prepare the community for natural disasters or other emergency situations) Below ---PAGE BREAK--- City of El Cerrito I 2012 The National Citizen Survey™ 22 FIGURE 41: CONTACT WITH POLICE DEPARTMENT Yes 36% No 64% Have you had any in-person or phone contact with an employee of the City of El Cerrito Police Department within the last 12 months? Good 27% Fair 19% Poor 6% Excellent 49% What was your overall impression of your most recent contact with the City of El Cerrito Police Department? FIGURE 42: CONTACT WITH FIRE DEPARTMENT Yes 15% No 85% Have you had any in-person or phone contact with an employee of the City of El Cerrito Fire Department within the last 12 months? Good 28% Fair 5% Poor 6% Excellent 62% What was your overall impression of your most recent contact with the City of El Cerrito Fire Department? FIGURE 43: CONTACT WITH POLICE AND FIRE DEPARTMENTS BENCHMARKS Comparison to benchmark Had contact with the City of El Cerrito Police Department Similar Overall impression of most recent contact with the City of El Cerrito Police Department Above Had contact with the City of El Cerrito Fire Department Similar Overall impression of most recent contact with the City of El Cerrito Fire Department Similar ---PAGE BREAK--- City of El Cerrito I 2012 The National Citizen Survey™ 23 ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY Residents of the City of El Cerrito were asked to evaluate their local environment and the services provided to ensure its quality. The overall quality of the natural environment was rated as “excellent” or “good” by 72% of survey respondents. Air quality received the highest rating, and it was similar to the benchmark. Ratings for air quality increased when compared to the previous year’s data. FIGURE 44: RATINGS OF THE COMMUNITY'S NATURAL ENVIRONMENT 73% 72% 66% 74% 0% 25% 50% 75% 100% Cleanliness of El Cerrito Quality of overall natural environment in El Cerrito Preservation of natural areas such as open space, farmlands and greenbelts Air quality Percent "exellent" or "good" FIGURE 45: COMMUNITY ENVIRONMENT BENCHMARKS Comparison to benchmark Cleanliness of El Cerrito Similar Quality of overall natural environment in El Cerrito Similar Preservation of natural areas such as open space, farmlands and greenbelts Much above Air quality Similar ---PAGE BREAK--- City of El Cerrito I 2012 The National Citizen Survey™ 24 Resident recycling was much greater than recycling reported in comparison communities. FIGURE 46: FREQUENCY OF RECYCLING IN LAST 12 MONTHS BY YEAR 96% 99% 98% 98% 0% 25% 50% 75% 100% 2003 2005 2007 2012 Percent using at least once in past 12 months FIGURE 47: FREQUENCY OF RECYCLING BENCHMARKS Comparison to benchmark Recycled used paper, cans or bottles from your home Much more Of the four utility services rated by those completing the questionnaire, all were much higher than the benchmark comparison. These service ratings trends were upward when compared to past surveys. FIGURE 48: RATINGS OF UTILITY SERVICES BY YEAR 2012 2007 2005 2003 Storm drainage 71% 55% 53% 58% Yard waste pick-up 90% 77% 87% 82% Recycling 94% 83% 83% 91% Garbage collection 92% 85% 90% 88% Percent "excellent" or "good" FIGURE 49: UTILITY SERVICES BENCHMARKS Comparison to benchmark Storm drainage Much above Yard waste pick-up Much above Recycling Much above Garbage collection Much above ---PAGE BREAK--- City of El Cerrito I 2012 The National Citizen Survey™ 25 RECREATION AND WELLNESS Parks and Recreation Recreation opportunities in the City of El Cerrito were rated positively as were services related to parks and recreation. Recreation programs or classes and recreation centers or facilities were rated higher than the benchmark while City parks were similar to the benchmark. Resident use of El Cerrito parks and recreation facilities tells its own story about the attractiveness and accessibility of those services. The percent of residents that used El Cerrito recreation centers was smaller than the percent of users in comparison jurisdictions. However, recreation program use in El Cerrito was about the same as use in comparison jurisdictions. FIGURE 50: RATINGS OF COMMUNITY RECREATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES BY YEAR 46% 50% 49% 62% 0% 25% 50% 75% 100% 2003 2005 2007 2012 Percent "excellent" or "good" FIGURE 51: COMMUNITY RECREATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES BENCHMARKS Comparison to benchmark Recreation opportunities Similar ---PAGE BREAK--- City of El Cerrito I 2012 The National Citizen Survey™ 26 FIGURE 52: PARTICIPATION IN PARKS AND RECREATION OPPORTUNITIES BY YEAR 2012 2007 2005 2003 Used El Cerrito recreation centers 53% 58% 55% 46% Participated in a recreation program or activity 46% 39% 37% 32% Visited a neighborhood park or City park 87% 88% 84% 82% Percent using at least once in last 12 months FIGURE 53: PARTICIPATION IN PARKS AND RECREATION OPPORTUNITIES BENCHMARKS Comparison to benchmark Used El Cerrito recreation centers Less Participated in a recreation program or activity Similar Visited a neighborhood park or City park Similar FIGURE 54: RATINGS OF PARKS AND RECREATION SERVICES BY YEAR 2012 2007 2005 2003 City parks 87% 65% 67% 64% Recreation programs or classes 77% 65% 72% 64% Recreation centers or facilities 79% 62% 70% 60% Percent "excellent" or "good" FIGURE 55: PARKS AND RECREATION SERVICES BENCHMARKS Comparison to benchmark City parks Similar Recreation programs or classes Above Recreation centers or facilities Above ---PAGE BREAK--- City of El Cerrito I 2012 The National Citizen Survey™ 27 Culture, Arts and Education Opportunities to attend cultural activities were rated as “excellent” or “good” by 42% of respondents. Educational opportunities were rated as “excellent” or “good” by 43% of respondents. Compared to the benchmark data, educational opportunities were below the average of comparison jurisdictions as were cultural activity opportunities. About 56% of El Cerrito residents used a City library at least once in the 12 months preceding the survey. This participation rate for library use was below comparison jurisdictions. FIGURE 56: RATINGS OF CULTURAL AND EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES BY YEAR 2012 2007 2005 2003 Opportunities to attend cultural activities 42% 35% NA NA Educational opportunities 43% 37% NA NA Percent "excellent" or "good" FIGURE 57: CULTURAL AND EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES BENCHMARKS Comparison to benchmark Opportunities to attend cultural activities Below Educational opportunities Much below FIGURE 58: PARTICIPATION IN CULTURAL AND EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES BY YEAR 2012 2007 2005 2003 Used El Cerrito public libraries or their services 56% 56% 58% 62% Participated in religious or spiritual activities in El Cerrito 23% NA NA NA Percent using at least once in last 12 months FIGURE 59: PARTICIPATION IN CULTURAL AND EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES BENCHMARKS Comparison to benchmark Used El Cerrito public libraries or their services Much less Participated in religious or spiritual activities in El Cerrito Much less ---PAGE BREAK--- City of El Cerrito I 2012 The National Citizen Survey™ 28 FIGURE 60: PERCEPTION OF CULTURAL AND EDUCATIONAL SERVICES BY YEAR 2012 2007 2005 2003 Public schools 49% 26% NA NA Public library services 64% 56% 48% 55% Percent "excellent" or "good" FIGURE 61: CULTURAL AND EDUCATIONAL SERVICES BENCHMARKS Comparison to benchmark Public schools Much below Public library services Much below ---PAGE BREAK--- City of El Cerrito I 2012 The National Citizen Survey™ 29 Health and Wellness Residents of the City of El Cerrito were asked to rate the community’s health services as well as the availability of health care, high quality affordable food and preventive health care services. The availability of availability of affordable quality food was rated most positively for the City of El Cerrito, while the availability for affordable quality health care and the availability of preventative health services were rated less favorably by residents. Ratings for the availability of affordable quality health care and affordable quality food had increased over time. Among El Cerrito residents, 47% rated affordable quality health care as “excellent” or “good.” Those ratings were below the ratings of comparison communities. FIGURE 62: RATINGS OF COMMUNITY HEALTH AND WELLNESS ACCESS AND OPPORTUNITIES BY YEAR 2012 2007 2005 2003 Availability of affordable quality health care 47% 36% NA NA Availability of affordable quality food 68% 59% NA NA Availability of preventive health services 52% NA NA NA Percent "excellent" or "good" FIGURE 63: COMMUNITY HEALTH AND WELLNESS ACCESS AND OPPORTUNITIES BENCHMARKS Comparison to benchmark Availability of affordable quality health care Below Availability of affordable quality food Above Availability of preventive health services Below ---PAGE BREAK--- City of El Cerrito I 2012 The National Citizen Survey™ 30 COMMUNITY INCLUSIVENESS A high percentage of residents rated the City of El Cerrito as an “excellent” or “good” place to raise kids and a high percentage rated it as an excellent or good place to retire. Most residents felt that the local sense of community was “excellent” or “good.” Most survey respondents felt the City of El Cerrito was open and accepting towards people of diverse backgrounds. The availability of affordable quality child care was rated the lowest by residents but was much higher than the benchmark. Ratings of overall community quality and inclusiveness had increased over time. FIGURE 64: RATINGS OF COMMUNITY QUALITY AND INCLUSIVENESS BY YEAR 2012 2007 2005 2003 Sense of community 66% 50% 52% 52% Openness and acceptance of the community toward people of diverse backgrounds 87% 76% NA NA Availability of affordable quality child care 51% 32% 40% 36% El Cerrito as a place to raise children 78% 61% 59% 59% El Cerrito as a place to retire 74% 57% 64% 66% Percent "excellent" or "good" FIGURE 65: COMMUNITY QUALITY AND INCLUSIVENESS BENCHMARKS Comparison to benchmark Sense of community Similar Openness and acceptance of the community toward people of diverse backgrounds Much above Availability of affordable quality child care Much above El Cerrito as a place to raise kids Similar El Cerrito as a place to retire Much above ---PAGE BREAK--- City of El Cerrito I 2012 The National Citizen Survey™ 31 Services to more vulnerable populations seniors, youth or low-income residents) ranged from 42% to 71% with ratings of “excellent” or “good.” Services to seniors and services to youth were above the benchmark while services to low income people were similar to the benchmark. These ratings had increased over time. FIGURE 66: RATINGS OF QUALITY OF SERVICES PROVIDED FOR POPULATION SUBGROUPS BY YEAR 2012 2007 2005 2003 Services to seniors 71% 63% 73% 75% Services to youth 69% 50% 52% 52% Services to low-income people 42% 28% NA NA Percent "excellent" or "good" FIGURE 67: SERVICES PROVIDED FOR POPULATION SUBGROUPS BENCHMARKS Comparison to benchmark Services to seniors Above Services to youth Much above Services to low income people Similar ---PAGE BREAK--- City of El Cerrito I 2012 The National Citizen Survey™ 32 CIVIC ENGAGEMENT Respondents were asked about the perceived community volunteering opportunities and their participation as citizens of the City of El Cerrito. Survey participants rated the volunteer opportunities in the City of El Cerrito somewhat favorably. Opportunities to attend or participate in community matters were rated similarly. The rating for opportunities to participate in community matters was similar to the benchmark while the rating for opportunities to volunteer was below. FIGURE 68: RATINGS OF CIVIC ENGAGEMENT OPPORTUNITIES 64% 65% 0% 25% 50% 75% 100% Opportunities to participate in community matters Opportunities to volunteer Percent "excellent" or "good" Note: These questions were not asked in previous surveys. FIGURE 69: CIVIC ENGAGEMENT OPPORTUNITIES BENCHMARKS Comparison to benchmark Opportunities to participate in community matters Similar Opportunities to volunteer Much below ---PAGE BREAK--- City of El Cerrito I 2012 The National Citizen Survey™ 33 Most of the participants in this survey had not attended a public meeting, volunteered time to a group or participated in a club in the 12 months prior to the survey, but the vast majority had helped a friend. The participation rates of these civic behaviors were compared to the rates in other jurisdictions. Providing help to a friend or neighbor showed similar rates of involvement. All other civic engagement opportunities showed lower rates of community engagement. FIGURE 70: PARTICIPATION IN CIVIC ENGAGEMENT OPPORTUNITIES BY YEAR1 2012 2007 2005 2003 Attended a meeting of local elected officials or other local public meeting 23% 26% 27% 22% Watched a meeting of local elected officials or other public meeting on cable television, the Internet or other media 21% 28% 31% 29% Volunteered your time to some group or activity in El Cerrito 23% 30% 30% 30% Participated in a club or civic group in El Cerrito 19% NA NA NA Provided help to a friend or neighbor 93% NA NA NA Percent participating at least once in the last 12 months FIGURE 71: PARTICIPATION IN CIVIC ENGAGEMENT OPPORTUNITIES BENCHMARKS Comparison to benchmark Attended a meeting of local elected officials or other local public meeting Less Watched a meeting of local elected officials or other public meeting on cable television, the Internet or other media Much less Volunteered your time to some group or activity in El Cerrito Much less Participated in a club or civic group in El Cerrito Much less Provided help to a friend or neighbor Similar 1 Over the past few years, local governments have adopted communication strategies that embrace the Internet and new media. In 2010, the question, “Watched a meeting of local elected officials or other local public meeting on cable television” was revised to include “the Internet or other media” to better reflect this trend. ---PAGE BREAK--- City of El Cerrito I 2012 The National Citizen Survey™ 34 City of El Cerrito residents showed the largest amount of civic engagement in the area of electoral participation. Eighty-seven percent reported they were registered to vote and 83% indicated they had voted in the last general election. This rate of self-reported voting was higher than that of comparison communities. FIGURE 72: REPORTED VOTING BEHAVIOR BY YEAR2 2012 2007 2005 2003 Registered to vote 87% 83% 89% 86% Voted in the last general election 83% 80% 91% 79% Percent "yes" FIGURE 73: VOTING BEHAVIOR BENCHMARKS Comparison to benchmark Registered to vote Similar Voted in last general election More 2 Note: In addition to the removal of “don’t know” responses, those who said “ineligible to vote” also have been omitted from this calculation. The full frequencies appear in Appendix A. ---PAGE BREAK--- City of El Cerrito I 2012 The National Citizen Survey™ 35 Information and Awareness Those completing the survey were asked about their use and perceptions of various information sources and local government media services. When asked whether they had visited the City of El Cerrito Web site in the previous 12 months, 67% reported they had done so at least once. Public information services were rated similarly compared to benchmark data. FIGURE 74: USE OF INFORMATION SOURCES BY YEAR 2012 2007 2005 2003 Read El Cerrito Newsletter 86% 88% NA 83% Visited the City of El Cerrito Web site (at www.el-cerrito.org) 67% NA NA NA Percent using at least once in last 12 months FIGURE 75: USE OF INFORMATION SOURCES BENCHMARKS Comparison to benchmark Read El Cerrito Newsletter Much more Visited the City of El Cerrito Web site More FIGURE 76: RATINGS OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT MEDIA SERVICES AND INFORMATION DISSEMINATION BY YEAR 2012 2007 2005 2003 Public information services 62% 48% NA NA Percent "excellent" or "good" FIGURE 77: LOCAL GOVERNMENT MEDIA SERVICES AND INFORMATION DISSEMINATION BENCHMARKS Comparison to benchmark Public information services Similar ---PAGE BREAK--- City of El Cerrito I 2012 The National Citizen Survey™ 36 Social Engagement Opportunities to participate in social events and activities were rated as “excellent” or “good” by 53% of respondents, while even more rated opportunities to participate in religious or spiritual events and activities as “excellent” or “good.” FIGURE 78: RATINGS OF SOCIAL ENGAGEMENT OPPORTUNITIES 19% 10% 43% 43% 0% 25% 50% 75% 100% Opportunities to participate in religious or spiritual events and activities Opportunities to participate in social events and activities Percent of respondents Excellent Good Note: This question was not asked in previous surveys. FIGURE 79: SOCIAL ENGAGEMENT OPPORTUNITIES BENCHMARKS Comparison to benchmark Opportunities to participate in social events and activities Below Opportunities to participate in religious or spiritual events and activities Much below ---PAGE BREAK--- City of El Cerrito I 2012 The National Citizen Survey™ 37 Residents in El Cerrito reported a fair amount of neighborliness. About 43% indicated talking or visiting with their neighbors at least several times a week. This amount of contact with neighbors was less than the amount of contact reported in other communities. FIGURE 80: CONTACT WITH IMMEDIATE NEIGHBORS Several times a week 27% Several times a month 30% Less than several times a month 28% Just about everyday 16% About how often, if at all, do you talk to or visit with your immediate neighbors? FIGURE 81: CONTACT WITH IMMEDIATE NEIGHBORS BENCHMARKS Comparison to benchmark Has contact with neighbors at least several times per week Much less ---PAGE BREAK--- City of El Cerrito I 2012 The National Citizen Survey™ 38 PUBLIC TRUST Trust can be measured in residents’ opinions about the overall direction the City of El Cerrito is taking, their perspectives about the service value their taxes purchase and the openness of government to citizen participation. In addition, resident opinion about services provided by the City of El Cerrito could be compared to their opinion about services provided by the state and federal governments. If residents find nothing to admire in the services delivered by any level of government, their opinions about the City of El Cerrito may be colored by their dislike of what all levels of government provide. A majority of respondents felt that the value of services for taxes paid was “excellent” or “good.” When asked to rate the job the City of El Cerrito does at welcoming citizen involvement, 59% rated it as “excellent” or “good.” Of these four ratings, three were much above the benchmark and one was similar to the benchmark. FIGURE 82: PUBLIC TRUST RATINGS BY YEAR 2012 2007 2005 2003 The value of services for the taxes paid to El Cerrito* 61% 53% 59% 64% The overall direction that El Cerrito is taking* 64% 56% 57% 64% The job El Cerrito government does at welcoming citizen involvement* 59% 58% 64% 63% Overall image or reputation of El Cerrito 66% 53% NA NA Percent "excellent" or "good" * For jurisdictions that have conducted The NCS prior to 2008, the change in the wording of response options may cause a decline in the percent of residents who offer a positive perspective on public trust. It is well to factor in the possible change due to question wording this way: if you show an increase, you may have found even more improvement with the same question wording; if you show no change, you may have shown a slight increase with the same question wording; if you show a decrease, community sentiment is probably about stable. FIGURE 83: PUBLIC TRUST BENCHMARKS Comparison to benchmark Value of services for the taxes paid to El Cerrito Much above The overall direction that El Cerrito is taking Much above Job El Cerrito government does at welcoming citizen involvement Much above Overall image or reputation of El Cerrito Similar ---PAGE BREAK--- City of El Cerrito I 2012 The National Citizen Survey™ 39 On average, residents of the City of El Cerrito gave the highest evaluations to their own local government and the lowest average rating to the State Government. The overall quality of services delivered by the City of El Cerrito was rated as “excellent” or “good” by 78% of survey participants. The City of El Cerrito’s rating was above the benchmark when compared to other communities in the nation. Ratings of overall City services had increased over time. FIGURE 84: RATING OVERALL QUALITY OF SERVICES PROVIDED BY THE CITY OF EL CERRITO BY YEAR 69% 68% 63% 78% 0% 25% 50% 75% 100% 2003 2005 2007 2012 Percent "excellent" or "good" FIGURE 85: RATINGS OF SERVICES PROVIDED BY LOCAL, STATE AND FEDERAL GOVERNMENTS BY YEAR 2012 2007 2005 2003 Services provided by City of El Cerrito 78% 63% 68% 69% Services provided by the Federal Government 40% 23% 23% 22% Services provided by the State Government 31% 28% 22% 23% Services provided by Contra Costa County Government 40% NA NA NA Percent "excellent" or "good" FIGURE 86: SERVICES PROVIDED BY LOCAL, STATE AND FEDERAL GOVERNMENTS BENCHMARKS Comparison to benchmark Services provided by the City of El Cerrito Above Services provided by the Federal Government Similar Services provided by the State Government Below Services provided by Contra Costa County Government Below ---PAGE BREAK--- City of El Cerrito I 2012 The National Citizen Survey™ 40 City of El Cerrito Employees Those completing the survey were asked if they had been in contact with a City employee either in- person, over the phone or via email in the last 12 months; the 47% who reported that they had been in contact (a percent that is much lower than the benchmark comparison) were then asked to indicate overall how satisfied they were with the employee in their most recent contact. City employees were rated highly; 76% of respondents rated their overall impression as “excellent” or “good.” Employees tended to be similar to or higher than the benchmark. FIGURE 87: PROPORTION OF RESPONDENTS WHO HAD CONTACT WITH CITY EMPLOYEES IN PREVIOUS 12 MONTHS BY YEAR 56% 63% 52% 47% 0% 25% 50% 75% 100% 2003 2005 2007 2012 Percent "yes" FIGURE 88: CONTACT WITH CITY EMPLOYEES BENCHMARKS Comparison to benchmark Had contact with City employee(s) in last 12 months Much less ---PAGE BREAK--- City of El Cerrito I 2012 The National Citizen Survey™ 41 FIGURE 89: RATINGS OF CITY EMPLOYEES (AMONG THOSE WHO HAD CONTACT) BY YEAR 2012 2007 2005 2003 Knowledge 82% 76% 78% 78% Responsiveness 74% 67% 78% 77% Courtesy 79% 73% 79% 80% Overall impression 76% 67% 73% 76% Percent "excellent" or "good" FIGURE 90: RATINGS OF CITY EMPLOYEES (AMONG THOSE WHO HAD CONTACT) BENCHMARKS Comparison to benchmark Knowledge Above Responsiveness Similar Courteousness Similar Overall impression Similar ---PAGE BREAK--- City of El Cerrito I 2012 The National Citizen Survey™ 42 From Data to Action RESIDENT PRIORITIES Knowing where to focus limited resources to improve residents’ opinions of local government requires information that targets the services that are most important to residents. However, when residents are asked what services are most important, they rarely stray beyond core services – those directed to save lives and improve safety. In market research, identifying the most important characteristics of a transaction or product is called Key Driver Analysis (KDA). The key drivers that are identified from that analysis do not come from asking customers to self-report which service or product characteristic most influenced their decision to buy or return, but rather from statistical analyses of the predictors of their behavior. When customers are asked to name the most important characteristics of a good or service, responses often are expected or misleading – just as they can be in the context of a citizen survey. For example, air travelers often claim that safety is the primary consideration in their choice of an airline, yet key driver analysis reveals that frequent flier perks or in-flight entertainment predicts their buying decisions. In local government core services – like fire protection – invariably land at the top of the list created when residents are asked about the most important local government services. And core services are important. But by using KDA, our approach digs deeper to identify the less obvious, but more influential services that are most related to residents’ ratings of overall quality of local government services. Because services focused directly on life and safety remain essential to quality government, it is suggested that core services should remain the focus of continuous monitoring and improvement where necessary – but monitoring core services or asking residents to identify important services is not enough. A KDA was conducted for the City of El Cerrito by examining the relationships between ratings of each service and ratings of the City of El Cerrito’s overall services. Those Key Driver services that correlated most highly with residents’ perceptions about overall City service quality have been identified. By targeting improvements in key services, the City of El Cerrito can focus on the services that have the greatest likelihood of influencing residents’ opinions about overall service quality. Because a strong correlation is not the same as a cause, there is no guarantee that improving ratings on key drivers necessarily will improve ratings. What is certain from these analyses is that key drivers are good predictors of overall resident opinion and that the key drivers presented may be useful focus areas to consider for enhancement of overall service ratings. Services found to be most strongly correlated with ratings of overall service quality from the El Cerrito Key Driver Analysis were: ƒ Preservation of natural areas ƒ Traffic signal timing ---PAGE BREAK--- City of El Cerrito I 2012 The National Citizen Survey™ 43 CITY OF EL CERRITO ACTION CHART™ The 2012 City of El Cerrito Action Chart™ on the following page combines three dimensions of performance: ƒ Comparison to resident evaluations from other communities. When a comparison is available, the background color of each service box indicates whether the service is above the national benchmark (green), similar to the benchmark (yellow) or below the benchmark (red). ƒ Identification of key services. A black key icon ( ) next to a service box indicates it as a key driver for the City. ƒ Trendline icons (up and down arrows), indicating whether the current ratings are higher or lower than the previous survey. Twelve services were included in the KDA for the City of El Cerrito. Of these, seven were above the benchmark, two were below the benchmark and three were similar to the benchmark. Considering all performance data included in the Action Chart, a jurisdiction typically will want to consider improvements to any key driver services that are trending down or that are not at least similar to the benchmark. In the case of El Cerrito, no key drivers were below the benchmark or trending lower in the current survey. Therefore, El Cerrito may wish to seek improvements to traffic signal timing, as this key driver received ratings similar to other benchmark jurisdictions. More detail about interpreting results can be found in the next section. Services with a high percent of respondents answering “don’t know” were excluded from the analysis and were considered services that would be less influential. See Appendix A: Complete Survey Frequencies, Frequencies Including “Don’t Know” Responses for the percent “don’t know” for each service. ---PAGE BREAK--- City of El Cerrito I 2012 The National Citizen Survey™ 44 FIGURE 91: CITY OF EL CERRITO ACTION CHART™ Overall Quality of City of El Cerrito Services Legend Above Benchmark Similar to Benchmark Below Benchmark Rating decrease Rating increase Key Driver Public Safety Traffic enforcement Police services Recreation and Wellness City parks Environmental Sustainability Garbage collection Preservation of natural areas Recycling Storm drainage Community Design Traffic signal timing Sidewalk maintenance Street lighting Street repair Street cleaning ---PAGE BREAK--- City of El Cerrito I 2012 The National Citizen Survey™ 45 USING YOUR ACTION CHART™ The key drivers derived for the City of El Cerrito provide a list of those services that are uniquely related to overall service quality. Those key drivers are marked with the symbol of a key in the action chart. Because key driver results are based on a relatively small number of responses, the relationships or correlations that define the key drivers are subject to more variability than is seen when key drivers are derived from a large national dataset of resident responses. To benefit the City of El Cerrito, NRC lists the key drivers derived from tens of thousands of resident responses from across the country. This national list is updated periodically so that you can compare your key drivers to the key drivers from the entire NRC dataset. Where your locally derived key drivers overlap national key drivers, it makes sense to focus even more strongly on your keys. Similarly, when your local key drivers overlap your core services, there is stronger argument to make for attending to your key drivers that overlap with core services. As staff review key drivers, not all drivers may resonate as likely links to residents’ perspectives about overall service quality. For example, in El Cerrito, planning and zoning and police services may be obvious links to overall service delivery (and each is a key driver from our national database), since it could be easy for staff to see how residents’ view of overall service delivery could be colored by how well they perceive police and land use planning to be delivered. But garbage collection could be a surprise. Before rejecting a key driver that does not pass the first test of conventional wisdom, consider whether residents’ opinions about overall service quality could reasonably be influenced by this unexpected driver. For example, in the case of garbage collection, was there a visible case of violation prior to the survey data collection? Do El Cerrito residents have different expectations for garbage collection than what current policy provides? If, after deeper review, the “suspect” driver still does not square with your understanding of the services that could influence residents’ perspectives about overall service quality (and if that driver is not a core service or a key driver from NRC’s national research), put action in that area on hold and wait to see if it appears as a key driver the next time the survey is conducted. In the following table, we have listed your key drivers, core services and the national key drivers and we have indicated (in bold typeface and with the symbol the City of El Cerrito key drivers that overlap core services or the nationally derived keys. In general, key drivers below the benchmark may be targeted for improvement. Additionally, we have indicated (with the symbol those services that neither are local nor national key drivers nor are they core services. It is these services that could be considered first for resource reductions. ---PAGE BREAK--- City of El Cerrito I 2012 The National Citizen Survey™ 46 FIGURE 92: KEY DRIVERS COMPARED Service City of El Cerrito Key Drivers National Key Drivers Core Services Police services 9 9 Traffic enforcement Street repair 9 Street cleaning Street lighting Sidewalk maintenance Traffic signal timing 9 Garbage collection 9 Recycling Storm drainage 9 City parks Preservation of natural areas 9 • Key driver overlaps with national and or core services ---PAGE BREAK--- City of El Cerrito I 2012 The National Citizen Survey™ 47 Custom Questions “Don’t know” responses have been removed from the following questions, when applicable. Custom Question 1 Please indicate how likely or unlikely you would be to subscribe to an email or online newsletter to receive information from the following City departments: Very likely Somewhat likely Not at all likely Total Recreation 35% 38% 27% 100% Environmental services 32% 39% 29% 100% Economic development 27% 33% 40% 100% Police 27% 38% 35% 100% Fire 26% 35% 40% 100% General (all departments) 24% 46% 30% 100% City Council 21% 31% 49% 100% Planning & building (development services) 21% 33% 46% 100% Public works 21% 42% 37% 100% Custom Question 2 The City is considering implementing more options to contact the Police Department for non-emergency issues (such as requesting a police report). Please indicate how likely or unlikely you would be to contact the Police using each of the following means of communication: Very likely Somewhat likely Not at all likely Total Telephone 60% 28% 12% 100% Online via the Internet 54% 25% 22% 100% Email 53% 27% 20% 100% In person (during regular business hours) 21% 50% 29% 100% Mail 18% 35% 47% 100% Text message 17% 26% 57% 100% Social media Facebook, Twitter) 7% 18% 75% 100% Fax 7% 15% 78% 100% ---PAGE BREAK--- City of El Cerrito I 2012 The National Citizen Survey™ 48 Custom Question 3 To comply with the federally mandated Clean Water Act, the City of El Cerrito needs to improve the street sweeping program to more effectively remove trash and debris that pollutes our waterways and the San Francisco Bay. Currently, the street sweepers are often not able to sweep effectively due to cars parked on the street. Please indicate how much you would support or oppose the City taking each of the following actions: Strongly support Somewhat support Somewhat oppose Strongly oppose Total Increase education about the street sweeping schedule 70% 25% 3% 2% 100% Install permanent signs about the street sweeping schedule 54% 26% 13% 7% 100% Increase the sweeping frequency on residential streets 36% 40% 15% 9% 100% Enact parking restrictions on alternate sides of the street 35% 25% 15% 25% 100% Enact parking restrictions by block 27% 24% 20% 28% 100% ---PAGE BREAK--- City of El Cerrito I 2012 The National Citizen Survey™ 49 Appendix A: Complete Survey Frequencies FREQUENCIES EXCLUDING “DON’T KNOW” RESPONSES Question 1: Quality of Life Please rate each of the following aspects of quality of life in El Cerrito: Excellent Good Fair Poor Total El Cerrito as a place to live 36% 53% 11% 0% 100% Your neighborhood as a place to live 39% 48% 11% 2% 100% El Cerrito as a place to raise children 30% 47% 19% 3% 100% El Cerrito as a place to work 17% 36% 29% 17% 100% El Cerrito as a place to retire 33% 41% 19% 7% 100% The overall quality of life in El Cerrito 27% 55% 17% 0% 100% Question 2: Community Characteristics Please rate each of the following characteristics as they relate to El Cerrito as a whole: Excellent Good Fair Poor Total Sense of community 15% 51% 27% 7% 100% Openness and acceptance of the community toward people of diverse backgrounds 27% 60% 11% 2% 100% Overall appearance of El Cerrito 16% 48% 32% 4% 100% Cleanliness of El Cerrito 16% 57% 24% 3% 100% Overall quality of new development in El Cerrito 13% 44% 33% 10% 100% Variety of housing options 14% 44% 35% 7% 100% Overall quality of business and service establishments in El Cerrito 10% 49% 33% 7% 100% Shopping opportunities 13% 42% 37% 8% 100% Opportunities to attend cultural activities 8% 34% 47% 12% 100% Recreational opportunities 15% 47% 31% 7% 100% Employment opportunities 3% 23% 43% 31% 100% Educational opportunities 8% 34% 41% 16% 100% Opportunities to participate in social events and activities 10% 43% 41% 6% 100% Opportunities to participate in religious or spiritual events and activities 19% 43% 33% 5% 100% Opportunities to volunteer 14% 51% 29% 6% 100% Opportunities to participate in community matters 16% 48% 30% 7% 100% Ease of car travel in El Cerrito 25% 56% 17% 2% 100% Ease of bus travel in El Cerrito 22% 44% 28% 6% 100% Ease of rail or subway travel in El Cerrito 42% 46% 11% 2% 100% Ease of bicycle travel in El Cerrito 26% 51% 18% 4% 100% Ease of walking in El Cerrito 30% 51% 17% 2% 100% Availability of paths and walking trails 24% 52% 20% 5% 100% ---PAGE BREAK--- City of El Cerrito I 2012 The National Citizen Survey™ 50 Question 2: Community Characteristics Please rate each of the following characteristics as they relate to El Cerrito as a whole: Excellent Good Fair Poor Total Traffic flow on major streets 9% 52% 31% 8% 100% Amount of public parking 13% 55% 27% 5% 100% Availability of affordable quality housing 6% 45% 34% 14% 100% Availability of affordable quality child care 12% 40% 42% 7% 100% Availability of affordable quality health care 8% 38% 34% 19% 100% Availability of affordable quality food 17% 51% 27% 5% 100% Availability of preventive health services 10% 41% 36% 13% 100% Air quality 19% 56% 23% 3% 100% Quality of overall natural environment in El Cerrito 19% 53% 26% 3% 100% Overall image or reputation of El Cerrito 16% 50% 28% 6% 100% Question 3: Growth Please rate the speed of growth in the following categories in El Cerrito over the past 2 years: Much too slow Somewhat too slow Right amount Somewhat too fast Much too fast Total Population growth 0% 6% 81% 11% 3% 100% Retail growth (stores, restaurants, etc.) 15% 37% 43% 3% 1% 100% Jobs growth 35% 46% 16% 2% 1% 100% Question 4: Code Enforcement To what degree, if at all, are run down buildings, weed lots or junk vehicles a problem in El Cerrito? Percent of respondents Not a problem 15% Minor problem 44% Moderate problem 32% Major problem 9% Total 100% Question 5: Community Safety Please rate how safe or unsafe you feel from the following in El Cerrito: Very safe Somewhat safe Neither safe nor unsafe Somewhat unsafe Very unsafe Total Violent crime rape, assault, robbery) 26% 42% 14% 17% 1% 100% Property crimes burglary, theft) 11% 41% 13% 26% 9% 100% Environmental hazards, including toxic waste 37% 37% 17% 7% 2% 100% ---PAGE BREAK--- City of El Cerrito I 2012 The National Citizen Survey™ 51 Question 6: Personal Safety Please rate how safe or unsafe you feel: Very safe Somewhat safe Neither safe nor unsafe Somewhat unsafe Very unsafe Total In your neighborhood during the day 59% 34% 4% 3% 1% 100% In your neighborhood after dark 19% 45% 17% 14% 4% 100% In El Cerrito's commercial area during the day 48% 41% 7% 4% 1% 100% In El Cerrito's commercial area after dark 13% 39% 23% 19% 6% 100% Question 7: Contact with Police Department Have you had any in-person or phone contact with an employee of the City of El Cerrito Police Department within the last 12 months? No Yes Total Have you had any in-person or phone contact with an employee of the City of El Cerrito Police Department within the last 12 months? 64% 36% 100% Question 8: Ratings of Contact with Police Department What was your overall impression of your most recent contact with the City of El Cerrito Police Department? Excellent Good Fair Poor Total What was your overall impression of your most recent contact with the City of El Cerrito Police Department? 49% 27% 19% 6% 100% Question 9: Crime Victim During the past 12 months, were you or anyone in your household the victim of any crime? Percent of respondents No 89% Yes 11% Total 100% Question 10: Crime Reporting If yes, was this crime (these crimes) reported to the police? Percent of respondents No 13% Yes 87% Total 100% ---PAGE BREAK--- City of El Cerrito I 2012 The National Citizen Survey™ 52 Question 11: Resident Behaviors In the last 12 months, about how many times, if ever, have you or other household members participated in the following activities in El Cerrito? Never Once or twice 3 to 12 times 13 to 26 times More than 26 times Total Used El Cerrito public libraries or their services 44% 24% 19% 5% 7% 100% Used El Cerrito recreation centers 47% 21% 15% 7% 10% 100% Participated in a recreation program or activity 54% 21% 13% 5% 8% 100% Visited a neighborhood park or City park 13% 23% 31% 13% 20% 100% Ridden a local bus within El Cerrito 66% 17% 8% 3% 6% 100% Attended a meeting of local elected officials or other local public meeting 77% 17% 4% 1% 1% 100% Watched a meeting of local elected officials or other City-sponsored public meeting on cable television, the Internet or other media 79% 17% 3% 1% 1% 100% Read El Cerrito Newsletter 14% 26% 44% 11% 6% 100% Visited the City of El Cerrito Web site (at www.el-cerrito.org) 33% 30% 24% 6% 7% 100% Recycled used paper, cans or bottles from your home 4% 3% 7% 10% 76% 100% Volunteered your time to some group or activity in El Cerrito 77% 9% 5% 4% 6% 100% Participated in religious or spiritual activities in El Cerrito 77% 8% 5% 2% 8% 100% Participated in a club or civic group in El Cerrito 81% 9% 5% 2% 4% 100% Provided help to a friend or neighbor 7% 26% 40% 17% 10% 100% Question 12: Neighborliness About how often, if at all, do you talk to or visit with your immediate neighbors (people who live in the 10 or 20 households that are closest to you)? Percent of respondents Just about everyday 16% Several times a week 27% Several times a month 30% Less than several times a month 28% Total 100% ---PAGE BREAK--- City of El Cerrito I 2012 The National Citizen Survey™ 53 Question 13: Service Quality Please rate the quality of each of the following services in El Cerrito: Excellent Good Fair Poor Total Police services 32% 51% 13% 3% 100% Fire services 38% 54% 8% 0% 100% Ambulance or emergency medical services 40% 50% 10% 1% 100% Crime prevention 16% 48% 26% 11% 100% Fire prevention and education 19% 57% 22% 2% 100% Municipal courts 14% 50% 27% 10% 100% Traffic enforcement 12% 47% 32% 9% 100% Street repair 16% 41% 33% 9% 100% Street cleaning 16% 56% 24% 5% 100% Street lighting 10% 42% 32% 16% 100% Sidewalk maintenance 6% 42% 37% 16% 100% Traffic signal timing 8% 43% 35% 15% 100% Bus or transit services 16% 49% 30% 5% 100% Garbage collection 45% 47% 7% 0% 100% Recycling 57% 37% 6% 0% 100% Yard waste pick-up 52% 38% 8% 1% 100% Storm drainage 17% 54% 24% 5% 100% City parks 24% 63% 11% 2% 100% Recreation programs or classes 23% 53% 22% 2% 100% Recreation centers or facilities 25% 54% 20% 1% 100% Land use, planning and zoning 10% 42% 36% 12% 100% Code enforcement (weeds, abandoned buildings, etc.) 9% 34% 37% 19% 100% Animal control 11% 51% 29% 10% 100% Economic development 8% 41% 39% 13% 100% Services to seniors 22% 49% 26% 3% 100% Services to youth 15% 54% 24% 7% 100% Services to low-income people 12% 30% 46% 12% 100% Public library services 17% 47% 25% 11% 100% Public information services 16% 46% 35% 3% 100% Public schools 15% 34% 34% 18% 100% Emergency preparedness (services that prepare the community for natural disasters or other emergency situations) 9% 47% 34% 11% 100% Preservation of natural areas such as open space, farmlands and greenbelts 19% 47% 30% 4% 100% ---PAGE BREAK--- City of El Cerrito I 2012 The National Citizen Survey™ 54 Question 14: Government Services Overall Overall, how would you rate the quality of the services provided by each of the following? Excellent Good Fair Poor Total The City of El Cerrito 22% 57% 19% 3% 100% The Federal Government 8% 32% 44% 17% 100% The State Government 6% 25% 46% 23% 100% Contra Costa County Government 7% 34% 45% 15% 100% Question 15: Recommendation and Longevity Please indicate how likely or unlikely you are to do each of the following: Very likely Somewhat likely Somewhat unlikely Very unlikely Total Recommend living in El Cerrito to someone who asks 55% 39% 6% 1% 100% Remain in El Cerrito for the next five years 60% 27% 8% 4% 100% Question 16: Impact of the Economy What impact, if any, do you think the economy will have on your family income in the next 6 months? Do you think the impact will be: Percent of respondents Very positive 6% Somewhat positive 16% Neutral 57% Somewhat negative 19% Very negative 3% Total 100% Question 17: Contact with Fire Department Have you had any in-person or phone contact with an employee of the City of El Cerrito Fire Department within the last 12 months? No Yes Total Have you had any in-person or phone contact with an employee of the City of El Cerrito Fire Department within the last 12 months? 85% 15% 100% Question 18: Ratings of Contact with Fire Department What was your overall impression of your most recent contact with the City of El Cerrito Fire Department? Excellent Good Fair Poor Total What was your overall impression of your most recent contact with the City of El Cerrito Fire Department? 62% 28% 5% 6% 100% ---PAGE BREAK--- City of El Cerrito I 2012 The National Citizen Survey™ 55 Question 19: Contact with City Employees Have you had any in-person, phone or email with an employee of the City of El Cerrito within the last 12 months (including police, receptionists, planners or any others)? Percent of respondents No 53% Yes 47% Total 100% Question 20: City Employees What was your impression of the employee(s) of the City of El Cerrito in your most recent contact? Excellent Good Fair Poor Total Knowledge 43% 39% 14% 4% 100% Responsiveness 47% 27% 12% 14% 100% Courtesy 52% 27% 8% 13% 100% Overall impression 40% 36% 13% 11% 100% Question 21: Government Performance Please rate the following categories of El Cerrito government performance: Excellent Good Fair Poor Total The value of services for the taxes paid to El Cerrito 18% 44% 30% 9% 100% The overall direction that El Cerrito is taking 17% 48% 26% 10% 100% The job El Cerrito government does at welcoming citizen involvement 19% 40% 31% 10% 100% Question 22a: Custom Question 1 Please indicate how likely or unlikely you would be to subscribe to an email or online newsletter to receive information from the following City departments: Very likely Somewhat likely Not at all likely Total City Council 21% 31% 49% 100% Environmental services 32% 39% 29% 100% Economic development 27% 33% 40% 100% Fire 26% 35% 40% 100% Planning & building (development services) 21% 33% 46% 100% Police 27% 38% 35% 100% Public works 21% 42% 37% 100% Recreation 35% 38% 27% 100% General (all departments) 24% 46% 30% 100% ---PAGE BREAK--- City of El Cerrito I 2012 The National Citizen Survey™ 56 Question 22b: Custom Question 2 The City is considering implementing more options to contact the Police Department for non-emergency issues (such as requesting a police report). Please indicate how likely or unlikely you would be to contact the Police using each of the following means of communication: Very likely Somewhat likely Not at all likely Total Online via the Internet 54% 25% 22% 100% Text message 17% 26% 57% 100% Social media Facebook, Twitter) 7% 18% 75% 100% Email 53% 27% 20% 100% Telephone 60% 28% 12% 100% Fax 7% 15% 78% 100% Mail 18% 35% 47% 100% In person (during regular business hours) 21% 50% 29% 100% Question 22c: Custom Question 3 To comply with the federally mandated Clean Water Act, the City of El Cerrito needs to improve the street sweeping program to more effectively remove trash and debris that pollutes our waterways and the San Francisco Bay. Currently, the street sweepers are often not able to sweep effectively due to cars parked on the street. Please indicate how much you would support or oppose the City taking each of the following actions: Strongly support Somewhat support Somewhat oppose Strongly oppose Total Increase education about the street sweeping schedule 70% 25% 3% 2% 100% Install permanent signs about the street sweeping schedule 54% 26% 13% 7% 100% Enact parking restrictions by block 27% 24% 20% 28% 100% Enact parking restrictions on alternate sides of the street 35% 25% 15% 25% 100% Increase the sweeping frequency on residential streets 36% 40% 15% 9% 100% Question D1: Employment Status Are you currently employed for pay? Percent of respondents No 28% Yes, full-time 58% Yes, part-time 14% Total 100% ---PAGE BREAK--- City of El Cerrito I 2012 The National Citizen Survey™ 57 Question D2: Mode of Transportation Used for Commute During a typical week, how many days do you commute to work (for the longest distance of your commute) in each of the ways listed below? Percent of days mode used Motorized vehicle car, truck, van, etc.) by myself 52% Motorized vehicle car, truck, van, etc.) with other children or adults 9% Bus, rail, subway or other public transportation 23% Walk 4% Bicycle 3% Work at home 9% Other 1% Question D3: Length of Residency How many years have you lived in El Cerrito? Percent of respondents Less than 2 years 11% 2 to 5 years 20% 6 to 10 years 18% 11 to 20 years 17% More than 20 years 33% Total 100% Question D4: Housing Unit Type Which best describes the building you live in? Percent of respondents One family house detached from any other houses 70% House attached to one or more houses a duplex or townhome) 5% Building with two or more apartments or condominiums 24% Mobile home 0% Other 1% Total 100% Question D5: Housing Tenure (Rent/Own) Is this house, apartment or mobile home… Percent of respondents Rented for cash or occupied without cash payment 38% Owned by you or someone in this house with a mortgage or free and clear 62% Total 100% ---PAGE BREAK--- City of El Cerrito I 2012 The National Citizen Survey™ 58 Question D6: Housing Cost About how much is the housing cost for the place you live (including rent, mortgage payment, property tax, property insurance and homeowners" association (HOA) fees)? Percent of respondents Less than $300 per month 5% $300 to $599 per month 9% $600 to $999 per month 12% $1,000 to $1,499 per month 21% $1,500 to $2,499 per month 30% $2,500 or more per month 22% Total 100% Question D7: Presence of Children in Household Do any children 17 or under live in your household? Percent of respondents No 69% Yes 31% Total 100% Question D8: Presence of Older Adults in Household Are you or any other members of your household aged 65 or older? Percent of respondents No 69% Yes 31% Total 100% Question D9: Household Income How much do you anticipate your household's total income before taxes will be for the current year? (Please include in your total income money from all sources for all persons living in your household.) Percent of respondents Less than $24,999 11% $25,000 to $49,999 17% $50,000 to $99,999 33% $100,000 to $149,000 18% $150,000 or more 21% Total 100% Question D10: Ethnicity Are you Spanish, Hispanic or Latino? Percent of respondents No, not Spanish, Hispanic or Latino 94% Yes, I consider myself to be Spanish, Hispanic or Latino 6% Total 100% ---PAGE BREAK--- City of El Cerrito I 2012 The National Citizen Survey™ 59 Question D11: Race What is your race? (Mark one or more races to indicate what race(s) you consider yourself to be.) Percent of respondents American Indian or Alaskan Native 1% Asian, Asian Indian or Pacific Islander 32% Black or African American 9% White 57% Other 7% Total may exceed 100% as respondents could select more than one option Question D12: Age In which category is your age? Percent of respondents 18 to 24 years 3% 25 to 34 years 19% 35 to 44 years 14% 45 to 54 years 22% 55 to 64 years 16% 65 to 74 years 13% 75 years or older 13% Total 100% Question D13: Gender What is your sex? Percent of respondents Female 53% Male 47% Total 100% Question D14: Registered to Vote Are you registered to vote in your jurisdiction? Percent of respondents No 12% Yes 82% Ineligible to vote 6% Total 100% ---PAGE BREAK--- City of El Cerrito I 2012 The National Citizen Survey™ 60 Question D15: Voted in Last General Election Many people don't have time to vote in elections. Did you vote in the last general election? Percent of respondents No 15% Yes 77% Ineligible to vote 7% Total 100% Question D16: Has Cell Phone Do you have a cell phone? Percent of respondents No 8% Yes 92% Total 100% Question D17: Has Land Line Do you have a land line at home? Percent of respondents No 25% Yes 75% Total 100% Question D18: Primary Phone If you have both a cell phone and a land line, which do you consider your primary telephone number? Percent of respondents Cell 31% Land line 45% Both 24% Total 100% ---PAGE BREAK--- City of El Cerrito I 2012 The National Citizen Survey™ 61 FREQUENCIES INCLUDING “DON’T KNOW” RESPONSES These tables contain the percentage of respondents for each response category as well as the or total number of respondents for each category, next to the percentage. Question 1: Quality of Life Please rate each of the following aspects of quality of life in El Cerrito: Excellent Good Fair Poor Don't know Total El Cerrito as a place to live 36% 130 53% 191 11% 39 0% 1 0% 0 100% 360 Your neighborhood as a place to live 39% 141 48% 171 11% 40 2% 6 0% 0 100% 358 El Cerrito as a place to raise children 25% 89 39% 138 16% 57 2% 8 17% 61 100% 353 El Cerrito as a place to work 10% 36 21% 74 17% 61 10% 36 41% 144 100% 352 El Cerrito as a place to retire 24% 85 31% 107 14% 49 5% 18 25% 89 100% 349 The overall quality of life in El Cerrito 27% 97 55% 198 17% 62 0% 1 0% 1 100% 359 Question 2: Community Characteristics Please rate each of the following characteristics as they relate to El Cerrito as a whole: Excellent Good Fair Poor Don't know Total Sense of community 15% 51 49% 170 26% 89 6% 23 4% 16 100% 347 Openness and acceptance of the community toward people of diverse backgrounds 25% 90 56% 200 10% 37 2% 7 7% 24 100% 357 Overall appearance of El Cerrito 16% 56 48% 171 32% 114 4% 13 1% 2 100% 356 Cleanliness of El Cerrito 16% 59 56% 202 24% 85 3% 11 0% 1 100% 358 Overall quality of new development in El Cerrito 11% 40 37% 132 28% 98 9% 32 14% 50 100% 351 Variety of housing options 12% 41 37% 131 29% 104 6% 21 16% 58 100% 354 Overall quality of business and service establishments in El Cerrito 10% 35 48% 170 33% 115 7% 26 2% 8 100% 354 Shopping opportunities 13% 46 41% 147 37% 131 8% 29 1% 4 100% 356 Opportunities to attend cultural activities 7% 25 30% 106 42% 147 10% 36 10% 34 100% 348 Recreational opportunities 14% 49 43% 150 28% 99 6% 21 8% 29 100% 347 Employment opportunities 2% 5 12% 41 21% 75 15% 53 50% 177 100% 352 Educational opportunities 7% 24 28% 97 34% 117 13% 46 18% 62 100% 346 ---PAGE BREAK--- City of El Cerrito I 2012 The National Citizen Survey™ 62 Question 2: Community Characteristics Please rate each of the following characteristics as they relate to El Cerrito as a whole: Excellent Good Fair Poor Don't know Total Opportunities to participate in social events and activities 8% 29 36% 126 35% 122 5% 19 16% 56 100% 352 Opportunities to participate in religious or spiritual events and activities 10% 34 23% 79 17% 60 3% 10 47% 162 100% 345 Opportunities to volunteer 10% 34 37% 129 21% 74 4% 14 28% 97 100% 349 Opportunities to participate in community matters 12% 42 37% 127 23% 79 5% 18 22% 77 100% 344 Ease of car travel in El Cerrito 24% 86 55% 194 17% 59 2% 8 2% 8 100% 355 Ease of bus travel in El Cerrito 15% 52 29% 101 18% 64 4% 15 34% 121 100% 353 Ease of rail or subway travel in El Cerrito 40% 139 43% 151 10% 35 2% 6 5% 19 100% 351 Ease of bicycle travel in El Cerrito 21% 76 42% 148 15% 53 3% 12 18% 64 100% 353 Ease of walking in El Cerrito 30% 104 50% 177 16% 57 2% 7 2% 7 100% 351 Availability of paths and walking trails 23% 81 51% 180 19% 67 5% 16 3% 12 100% 356 Traffic flow on major streets 9% 31 52% 183 31% 110 8% 29 0% 2 100% 355 Amount of public parking 13% 45 53% 188 26% 90 4% 16 4% 14 100% 353 Availability of affordable quality housing 5% 17 33% 115 25% 88 10% 37 27% 95 100% 352 Availability of affordable quality child care 5% 16 16% 55 17% 57 3% 10 60% 207 100% 345 Availability of affordable quality health care 4% 16 20% 71 18% 63 10% 35 47% 164 100% 349 Availability of affordable quality food 16% 58 49% 171 26% 90 5% 16 5% 16 100% 352 Availability of preventive health services 5% 16 19% 64 16% 55 6% 20 55% 190 100% 345 Air quality 18% 63 53% 189 22% 77 3% 9 4% 15 100% 354 Quality of overall natural environment in El Cerrito 18% 64 51% 179 25% 87 3% 10 3% 9 100% 349 Overall image or reputation of El Cerrito 16% 56 49% 174 27% 98 6% 22 2% 6 100% 356 ---PAGE BREAK--- City of El Cerrito I 2012 The National Citizen Survey™ 63 Question 3: Growth Please rate the speed of growth in the following categories in El Cerrito over the past 2 years: Much too slow Somewhat too slow Right amount Somewhat too fast Much too fast Don't know Total Population growth 0% 0 3% 12 49% 172 7% 23 2% 6 40% 139 100% 351 Retail growth (stores, restaurants, etc.) 13% 45 31% 110 37% 128 3% 10 1% 4 15% 54 100% 351 Jobs growth 14% 48 18% 62 6% 21 1% 3 0% 1 61% 215 100% 351 Question 4: Code Enforcement To what degree, if at all, are run down buildings, weed lots or junk vehicles a problem in El Cerrito? Percent of respondents Count Not a problem 13% 47 Minor problem 41% 140 Moderate problem 30% 102 Major problem 8% 28 Don't know 8% 28 Total 100% 345 Question 5: Community Safety Please rate how safe or unsafe you feel from the following in El Cerrito: Very safe Somewhat safe Neither safe nor unsafe Somewhat unsafe Very unsafe Don't know Total Violent crime rape, assault, robbery) 26% 91 41% 144 13% 47 17% 59 1% 3 2% 7 100% 352 Property crimes burglary, theft) 11% 40 40% 142 13% 46 26% 90 8% 30 2% 6 100% 353 Environmental hazards, including toxic waste 32% 113 33% 115 15% 52 6% 21 2% 7 13% 45 100% 353 ---PAGE BREAK--- City of El Cerrito I 2012 The National Citizen Survey™ 64 Question 6: Personal Safety Please rate how safe or unsafe you feel: Very safe Somewhat safe Neither safe nor unsafe Somewhat unsafe Very unsafe Don't know Total In your neighborhood during the day 58% 207 34% 119 4% 13 3% 10 1% 4 0% 2 100% 356 In your neighborhood after dark 19% 67 44% 158 17% 61 14% 50 4% 13 2% 7 100% 356 In El Cerrito's commercial area during the day 47% 168 41% 144 6% 23 4% 14 1% 2 1% 4 100% 356 In El Cerrito's commercial area after dark 12% 43 37% 133 22% 78 18% 64 6% 21 5% 16 100% 356 Question 7: Contact with Police Department Have you had any in-person or phone contact with an employee of the City of El Cerrito Police Department within the last 12 months? No Yes Don't know Total Have you had any in-person or phone contact with an employee of the City of El Cerrito Police Department within the last 12 months? 63% 222 36% 127 1% 2 100% 350 Question 8: Ratings of Contact with Police Department What was your overall impression of your most recent contact with the City of El Cerrito Police Department? Excellent Good Fair Poor Don't know Total What was your overall impression of your most recent contact with the City of El Cerrito Police Department? 49% 62 27% 34 19% 24 6% 8 0% 0 100% 127 Question 9: Crime Victim During the past 12 months, were you or anyone in your household the victim of any crime? Percent of respondents Count No 89% 309 Yes 11% 40 Don't know 0% 0 Total 100% 349 ---PAGE BREAK--- City of El Cerrito I 2012 The National Citizen Survey™ 65 Question 10: Crime Reporting If yes, was this crime (these crimes) reported to the police? Percent of respondents Count No 13% 5 Yes 87% 35 Don't know 0% 0 Total 100% 40 Question 11: Resident Behaviors In the last 12 months, about how many times, if ever, have you or other household members participated in the following activities in El Cerrito? Never Once or twice 3 to 12 times 13 to 26 times More than 26 times Total Used El Cerrito public libraries or their services 44% 156 24% 85 19% 69 5% 18 7% 27 100% 355 Used El Cerrito recreation centers 47% 166 21% 73 15% 53 7% 24 10% 34 100% 351 Participated in a recreation program or activity 54% 188 21% 74 13% 47 5% 16 8% 27 100% 352 Visited a neighborhood park or City park 13% 45 23% 81 31% 109 13% 44 20% 70 100% 349 Ridden a local bus within El Cerrito 66% 230 17% 60 8% 29 3% 11 6% 20 100% 350 Attended a meeting of local elected officials or other local public meeting 77% 270 17% 60 4% 16 1% 2 1% 4 100% 351 Watched a meeting of local elected officials or other City- sponsored public meeting on cable television, the Internet or other media 79% 281 17% 59 3% 9 1% 2 1% 2 100% 354 Read El Cerrito Newsletter 14% 48 26% 91 44% 156 11% 38 6% 20 100% 353 Visited the City of El Cerrito Web site (at www.el- cerrito.org) 33% 115 30% 104 24% 82 6% 21 7% 24 100% 346 Recycled used paper, cans or bottles from your home 4% 13 3% 10 7% 25 10% 34 76% 261 100% 344 Volunteered your time to some group or activity in El Cerrito 77% 265 9% 31 5% 18 4% 12 6% 20 100% 346 Participated in religious or spiritual activities in El Cerrito 77% 270 8% 29 5% 18 2% 7 8% 27 100% 351 Participated in a club or civic group in El Cerrito 81% 283 9% 32 5% 17 2% 5 4% 13 100% 350 Provided help to a friend or neighbor 7% 24 26% 92 40% 144 17% 61 10% 34 100% 356 ---PAGE BREAK--- City of El Cerrito I 2012 The National Citizen Survey™ 66 Question 12: Neighborliness About how often, if at all, do you talk to or visit with your immediate neighbors (people who live in the 10 or 20 households that are closest to you)? Percent of respondents Count Just about everyday 16% 55 Several times a week 27% 93 Several times a month 30% 104 Less than several times a month 28% 97 Total 100% 350 Question 13: Service Quality Please rate the quality of each of the following services in El Cerrito: Excellent Good Fair Poor Don't know Total Police services 27% 95 42% 149 11% 39 3% 9 16% 58 100% 350 Fire services 24% 84 34% 119 5% 18 0% 1 36% 125 100% 347 Ambulance or emergency medical services 21% 73 26% 92 5% 19 0% 1 47% 164 100% 349 Crime prevention 11% 36 32% 108 17% 58 7% 24 34% 116 100% 343 Fire prevention and education 11% 36 31% 107 12% 42 1% 4 45% 156 100% 345 Municipal courts 3% 11 11% 39 6% 21 2% 7 77% 265 100% 343 Traffic enforcement 8% 29 34% 115 22% 77 6% 22 29% 100 100% 343 Street repair 15% 52 38% 134 31% 108 9% 30 7% 24 100% 348 Street cleaning 15% 51 53% 183 23% 78 5% 17 5% 17 100% 346 Street lighting 10% 35 41% 142 31% 109 16% 55 3% 9 100% 351 Sidewalk maintenance 5% 18 40% 138 34% 119 15% 51 6% 21 100% 348 Traffic signal timing 7% 26 41% 142 34% 117 14% 49 4% 14 100% 349 Bus or transit services 11% 38 34% 117 20% 71 4% 12 31% 109 100% 348 Garbage collection 44% 155 46% 163 7% 26 0% 1 2% 8 100% 353 Recycling 57% 200 36% 128 6% 22 0% 1 1% 3 100% 353 Yard waste pick-up 45% 158 33% 116 7% 25 1% 4 13% 45 100% 348 Storm drainage 15% 51 46% 159 20% 70 4% 15 15% 51 100% 346 City parks 22% 77 57% 198 10% 34 2% 7 9% 31 100% 347 ---PAGE BREAK--- City of El Cerrito I 2012 The National Citizen Survey™ 67 Question 13: Service Quality Please rate the quality of each of the following services in El Cerrito: Excellent Good Fair Poor Don't know Total Recreation programs or classes 14% 48 31% 108 13% 44 1% 3 41% 142 100% 345 Recreation centers or facilities 16% 56 35% 122 13% 45 1% 3 35% 121 100% 346 Land use, planning and zoning 5% 18 23% 78 19% 66 6% 21 46% 158 100% 342 Code enforcement (weeds, abandoned buildings, etc.) 5% 17 19% 65 20% 71 11% 37 45% 156 100% 346 Animal control 6% 20 27% 92 15% 52 5% 17 47% 164 100% 345 Economic development 4% 14 22% 73 21% 69 7% 23 47% 159 100% 339 Services to seniors 10% 36 23% 81 12% 43 1% 4 53% 183 100% 347 Services to youth 8% 27 27% 95 12% 42 4% 12 50% 173 100% 348 Services to low-income people 3% 10 7% 24 11% 38 3% 10 76% 262 100% 344 Public library services 11% 39 31% 107 16% 57 8% 26 34% 117 100% 346 Public information services 10% 33 27% 92 21% 70 2% 6 41% 140 100% 342 Public schools 9% 32 21% 72 21% 72 11% 38 38% 131 100% 345 Emergency preparedness (services that prepare the community for natural disasters or other emergency situations) 5% 18 28% 95 20% 68 6% 21 40% 136 100% 338 Preservation of natural areas such as open space, farmlands and greenbelts 14% 49 36% 122 23% 79 3% 9 24% 83 100% 342 Question 14: Government Services Overall Overall, how would you rate the quality of the services provided by each of the following? Excellent Good Fair Poor Don't know Total The City of El Cerrito 20% 70 53% 186 18% 62 2% 8 7% 23 100% 350 The Federal Government 6% 21 25% 86 34% 118 13% 45 22% 77 100% 346 The State Government 5% 16 19% 68 36% 126 18% 63 22% 75 100% 347 Contra Costa County Government 5% 16 23% 81 31% 108 11% 37 30% 105 100% 347 ---PAGE BREAK--- City of El Cerrito I 2012 The National Citizen Survey™ 68 Question 15: Recommendation and Longevity Please indicate how likely or unlikely you are to do each of the following: Very likely Somewhat likely Somewhat unlikely Very unlikely Don't know Total Recommend living in El Cerrito to someone who asks 54% 191 38% 136 6% 20 1% 3 1% 4 100% 354 Remain in El Cerrito for the next five years 58% 206 26% 93 8% 28 4% 14 4% 13 100% 354 Question 16: Impact of the Economy What impact, if any, do you think the economy will have on your family income in the next 6 months? Do you think the impact will be: Percent of respondents Count Very positive 6% 21 Somewhat positive 16% 56 Neutral 57% 198 Somewhat negative 19% 65 Very negative 3% 10 Total 100% 350 Question 17: Contact with Fire Department Have you had any in-person or phone contact with an employee of the City of El Cerrito Fire Department within the last 12 months? No Yes Don't know Total Have you had any in-person or phone contact with an employee of the City of El Cerrito Fire Department within the last 12 months? 84% 294 14% 50 1% 5 100% 349 Question 18: Ratings of Contact with Fire Department What was your overall impression of your most recent contact with the City of El Cerrito Fire Department? Excellent Good Fair Poor Don't know Total What was your overall impression of your most recent contact with the City of El Cerrito Fire Department? 61% 30 28% 14 4% 2 5% 3 1% 0 100% 49 ---PAGE BREAK--- City of El Cerrito I 2012 The National Citizen Survey™ 69 Question 19: Contact with City Employees Have you had any in-person, phone or email with an employee of the City of El Cerrito within the last 12 months (including police, receptionists, planners or any others)? Percent of respondents Count No 53% 188 Yes 47% 165 Total 100% 353 Question 20: City Employees What was your impression of the employee(s) of the City of El Cerrito in your most recent contact? Excellent Good Fair Poor Don't know Total Knowledge 41% 67 37% 60 14% 22 3% 5 5% 8 100% 162 Responsiveness 46% 76 27% 44 12% 19 14% 23 1% 1 100% 163 Courtesy 51% 83 27% 44 8% 14 12% 20 2% 2 100% 163 Overall impression 39% 65 36% 59 12% 20 11% 18 1% 1 100% 164 Question 21: Government Performance Please rate the following categories of El Cerrito government performance: Excellent Good Fair Poor Don't know Total The value of services for the taxes paid to El Cerrito 14% 50 35% 125 24% 84 7% 26 20% 70 100% 355 The overall direction that El Cerrito is taking 14% 51 41% 144 22% 78 8% 29 15% 53 100% 355 The job El Cerrito government does at welcoming citizen involvement 13% 46 28% 100 22% 78 7% 25 29% 102 100% 352 ---PAGE BREAK--- City of El Cerrito I 2012 The National Citizen Survey™ 70 Question 22a: Custom Question 1 Please indicate how likely or unlikely you would be to subscribe to an email or online newsletter to receive information from the following City departments: Very likely Somewhat likely Not at all likely Total City Council 21% 71 31% 106 49% 167 100% 345 Environmental services 32% 109 39% 134 29% 101 100% 343 Economic development 27% 92 33% 114 40% 136 100% 341 Fire 26% 87 35% 119 40% 135 100% 340 Planning & building (development services) 21% 71 33% 113 46% 156 100% 340 Police 27% 91 38% 131 35% 119 100% 341 Public works 21% 72 42% 141 37% 126 100% 339 Recreation 35% 121 38% 129 27% 93 100% 343 General (all departments) 24% 82 46% 161 30% 104 100% 347 Question 22b: Custom Question 2 The City is considering implementing more options to contact the Police Department for non-emergency issues (such as requesting a police report). Please indicate how likely or unlikely you would be to contact the Police using each of the following means of communication: Very likely Somewhat likely Not at all likely Total Online via the Internet 54% 183 25% 85 22% 74 100% 342 Text message 17% 57 26% 88 57% 191 100% 336 Social media Facebook, Twitter) 7% 24 18% 59 75% 253 100% 336 Email 53% 180 27% 93 20% 69 100% 342 Telephone 60% 207 28% 95 12% 42 100% 343 Fax 7% 23 15% 52 78% 260 100% 335 Mail 18% 62 35% 117 47% 161 100% 340 In person (during regular business hours) 21% 71 50% 172 29% 100 100% 343 ---PAGE BREAK--- City of El Cerrito I 2012 The National Citizen Survey™ 71 Question 22c: Custom Question 3 To comply with the federally mandated Clean Water Act, the City of El Cerrito needs to improve the street sweeping program to more effectively remove trash and debris that pollutes our waterways and the San Francisco Bay. Currently, the street sweepers are often not able to sweep effectively due to cars parked on the street. Please indicate how much you would support or oppose the City taking each of the following actions: Strongly support Somewhat support Somewhat oppose Strongly oppose Don't know Total Increase education about the street sweeping schedule 68% 238 24% 85 3% 11 2% 6 4% 12 100% 352 Install permanent signs about the street sweeping schedule 52% 183 25% 87 13% 44 7% 25 4% 14 100% 353 Enact parking restrictions by block 25% 88 23% 79 19% 66 26% 90 7% 23 100% 347 Enact parking restrictions on alternate sides of the street 32% 113 23% 81 14% 48 24% 83 7% 26 100% 350 Increase the sweeping frequency on residential streets 32% 112 35% 124 13% 47 8% 28 11% 40 100% 351 Question D1: Employment Status Are you currently employed for pay? Percent of respondents Count No 28% 100 Yes, full-time 58% 207 Yes, part-time 14% 48 Total 100% 355 ---PAGE BREAK--- City of El Cerrito I 2012 The National Citizen Survey™ 72 Question D2: Mode of Transportation Used for Commute During a typical week, how many days do you commute to work (for the longest distance of your commute) in each of the ways listed below? Percent of days mode used Motorized vehicle car, truck, van, etc.) by myself 52% Motorized vehicle car, truck, van, etc.) with other children or adults 9% Bus, rail, subway or other public transportation 23% Walk 4% Bicycle 3% Work at home 9% Other 1% Question D3: Length of Residency How many years have you lived in El Cerrito? Percent of respondents Count Less than 2 years 11% 40 2 to 5 years 20% 73 6 to 10 years 18% 63 11 to 20 years 17% 63 More than 20 years 33% 120 Total 100% 358 Question D4: Housing Unit Type Which best describes the building you live in? Percent of respondents Count One family house detached from any other houses 70% 251 House attached to one or more houses a duplex or townhome) 5% 19 Building with two or more apartments or condominiums 24% 87 Mobile home 0% 0 Other 1% 2 Total 100% 359 ---PAGE BREAK--- City of El Cerrito I 2012 The National Citizen Survey™ 73 Question D5: Housing Tenure (Rent/Own) Is this house, apartment or mobile home… Percent of respondents Count Rented for cash or occupied without cash payment 38% 131 Owned by you or someone in this house with a mortgage or free and clear 62% 211 Total 100% 342 Question D6: Housing Cost About how much is the housing cost for the place you live (including rent, mortgage payment, property tax, property insurance and homeowners" association (HOA) fees)? Percent of respondents Count Less than $300 per month 5% 19 $300 to $599 per month 9% 32 $600 to $999 per month 12% 41 $1,000 to $1,499 per month 21% 74 $1,500 to $2,499 per month 30% 103 $2,500 or more per month 22% 77 Total 100% 345 Question D7: Presence of Children in Household Do any children 17 or under live in your household? Percent of respondents Count No 69% 246 Yes 31% 110 Total 100% 355 Question D8: Presence of Older Adults in Household Are you or any other members of your household aged 65 or older? Percent of respondents Count No 69% 247 Yes 31% 109 Total 100% 356 ---PAGE BREAK--- City of El Cerrito I 2012 The National Citizen Survey™ 74 Question D9: Household Income How much do you anticipate your household's total income before taxes will be for the current year? (Please include in your total income money from all sources for all persons living in your household.) Percent of respondents Count Less than $24,999 11% 37 $25,000 to $49,999 17% 58 $50,000 to $99,999 33% 111 $100,000 to $149,000 18% 60 $150,000 or more 21% 71 Total 100% 336 Question D10: Ethnicity Are you Spanish, Hispanic or Latino? Percent of respondents Count No, not Spanish, Hispanic or Latino 94% 329 Yes, I consider myself to be Spanish, Hispanic or Latino 6% 21 Total 100% 351 Question D11: Race What is your race? (Mark one or more races to indicate what race(s) you consider yourself to be.) Percent of respondents Count American Indian or Alaskan Native 1% 5 Asian, Asian Indian or Pacific Islander 32% 114 Black or African American 9% 30 White 57% 203 Other 7% 25 Total may exceed 100% as respondents could select more than one option ---PAGE BREAK--- City of El Cerrito I 2012 The National Citizen Survey™ 75 Question D12: Age In which category is your age? Percent of respondents Count 18 to 24 years 3% 12 25 to 34 years 19% 69 35 to 44 years 14% 51 45 to 54 years 22% 80 55 to 64 years 16% 57 65 to 74 years 13% 45 75 years or older 13% 45 Total 100% 359 Question D13: Gender What is your sex? Percent of respondents Count Female 53% 188 Male 47% 167 Total 100% 355 Question D14: Registered to Vote Are you registered to vote in your jurisdiction? Percent of respondents Count No 12% 43 Yes 80% 287 Ineligible to vote 6% 20 Don't know 2% 7 Total 100% 358 ---PAGE BREAK--- City of El Cerrito I 2012 The National Citizen Survey™ 76 Question D15: Voted in Last General Election Many people don't have time to vote in elections. Did you vote in the last general election? Percent of respondents Count No 15% 55 Yes 77% 275 Ineligible to vote 7% 26 Don't know 0% 1 Total 100% 358 Question D16: Has Cell Phone Do you have a cell phone? Percent of respondents Count No 8% 27 Yes 92% 329 Total 100% 356 Question D17: Has Land Line Do you have a land line at home? Percent of respondents Count No 25% 89 Yes 75% 266 Total 100% 355 Question D18: Primary Phone If you have both a cell phone and a land line, which do you consider your primary telephone number? Percent of respondents Count Cell 31% 76 Land line 45% 110 Both 24% 57 Total 100% 243 ---PAGE BREAK--- City of El Cerrito I 2012 The National Citizen Survey™ 77 Appendix B: Survey Methodology The National Citizen Survey™ (The NCS) was developed to provide local jurisdictions an accurate, affordable and easy way to assess and interpret resident opinion about important community issues. While standardization of question wording and survey methods provide the rigor to assure valid results, each jurisdiction has enough flexibility to construct a customized version of The NCS that asks residents about key local services and important local issues. Results offer insight into residents’ perspectives about local government performance and as such provide important benchmarks for jurisdictions working on performance measurement. The NCS is designed to help with budget, land use and strategic planning as well as to communicate with local residents. The NCS permits questions to test support for local policies and answers to its questions also speak to community trust and involvement in community-building activities as well as to resident demographic characteristics. SURVEY VALIDITY The question of survey validity has two parts: 1) how can a jurisdiction be confident that the results from those who completed the questionnaire are representative of the results that would have been obtained had the survey been administered to the entire population? and 2) how closely do the perspectives recorded on the survey reflect what residents really believe or do? To answer the first question, the best survey research practices were used for the resources spent to ensure that the results from the survey respondents reflect the opinions of residents in the entire jurisdiction. These practices include: ƒ Using a mail-out/mail-back methodology, which typically gets a higher response rate than phone for the same dollars spent. A higher response rate lessens the worry that those who did not respond are different than those who did respond. ƒ Selecting households at random within the jurisdiction to receive the survey. A random selection ensures that the households selected to receive the survey are similar to the entire population. A non-random sample may only include households from one geographic area, or from households of only one type. ƒ Over-sampling multi-family housing units to improve response from hard-to-reach, lower income, or younger apartment dwellers. ƒ Selecting the respondent within the household using an unbiased sampling procedure; in this case, the “birthday method.” The cover letter included an instruction requesting that the respondent in the household be the adult (18 years old or older) who most recently had a birthday, irrespective of year of birth. ƒ Contacting potential respondents three times to encourage response from people who may have different opinions or habits than those who would respond with only a single prompt. ƒ Soliciting response on jurisdiction letterhead signed by the highest ranking elected official or staff member, thus appealing to the recipients’ sense of civic responsibility. ƒ Providing a self-addressed, postage-paid return envelope. ƒ Offering the survey in Spanish when appropriate and requested by City officials. ƒ Using the most recent available information about the characteristics of jurisdiction residents to weight the data to reflect the demographics of the population. The answer to the second question about how closely the perspectives recorded on the survey reflect what residents really believe or do is more complex. Resident responses to surveys are influenced by a variety of factors. For questions about service quality, residents’ expectations for ---PAGE BREAK--- City of El Cerrito I 2012 The National Citizen Survey™ 78 service quality play a role as well as the “objective” quality of the service provided, the way the resident perceives the entire community (that is, the context in which the service is provided), the scale on which the resident is asked to record his or her opinion and, of course, the opinion, itself, that a resident holds about the service. Similarly a resident’s report of certain behaviors is colored by what he or she believes is the socially desirable response reporting tolerant behaviors toward “oppressed groups,” likelihood of voting a tax increase for services to poor people, use of alternative modes of travel to work besides the single occupancy vehicle), his or her memory of the actual behavior (if it is not a question speculating about future actions, like a vote), his or her confidence that he or she can be honest without suffering any negative consequences (thus the need for anonymity) as well as the actual behavior itself. How closely survey results come to recording the way a person really feels or behaves often is measured by the coincidence of reported behavior with observed current behavior driving habits), reported intentions to behave with observed future behavior voting choices) or reported opinions about current community quality with objective characteristics of the community feelings of safety correlated with rates of crime). There is a body of scientific literature that has investigated the relationship between reported behaviors and actual behaviors. Well-conducted surveys, by and large, do capture true respondent behaviors or intentions to act with great accuracy. Predictions of voting outcomes tend to be quite accurate using survey research, as do reported behaviors that are not about highly sensitive issues family abuse or other illegal or morally sanctioned activities). For self-reports about highly sensitive issues, statistical adjustments can be made to correct for the respondents’ tendency to report what they think the “correct” response should be. Research on the correlation of resident opinion about service quality and “objective” ratings of service quality tend to be ambiguous, some showing stronger relationships than others. NRC’s own research has demonstrated that residents who report the lowest ratings of street repair live in communities with objectively worse street conditions than those who report high ratings of street repair (based on road quality, delay in street repair, number of road repair employees). Similarly, the lowest rated fire services appear to be “objectively” worse than the highest rated fire services (expenditures per capita, response time, “professional” status of firefighters, breadth of services and training provided). Whether or not some research confirms the relationship between what residents think about a community and what can be seen “objectively” in a community, NRC has argued that resident opinion is a perspective that cannot be ignored by government administrators. NRC principals have written, “If you collect trash three times a day but residents think that your trash haul is lousy, you still have a problem.” SURVEY SAMPLING “Sampling” refers to the method by which survey recipients were chosen. All households within the City of El Cerrito were eligible to participate in the survey; 1,200 were selected to receive the survey. These 1,200 households were randomly selected from a comprehensive list of all housing units within the City of El Cerrito boundaries. The basis of the list of all housing units was a United States Postal Service listing of housing units within zip codes. Since some of the zip codes that serve the City of El Cerrito households may also serve addresses that lie outside of the jurisdiction, the exact geographic location of each housing unit was compared to jurisdiction boundaries, using the most current municipal boundary file (updated on a quarterly basis), and addresses located outside of the City of El Cerrito boundaries were removed from consideration. ---PAGE BREAK--- City of El Cerrito I 2012 The National Citizen Survey™ 79 To choose the 1,200 survey recipients, a systematic sampling method was applied to the list of households known to be within the City of El Cerrito. Systematic sampling is a procedure whereby a complete list of all possible items is culled, selecting every Nth one until the appropriate amount of items is selected. Multi-family housing units were over sampled as residents of this type of housing typically respond at lower rates to surveys than do those in single-family housing units. FIGURE 93: LOCATION OF SURVEY RECIPIENTS An individual within each household was selected using the birthday method. The birthday method selects a person within the household by asking the “person whose birthday has most recently passed” to complete the questionnaire. The underlying assumption in this method is that day of ---PAGE BREAK--- City of El Cerrito I 2012 The National Citizen Survey™ 80 birth has no relationship to the way people respond to surveys. This instruction was contained in the cover letter accompanying the questionnaire. In response to the growing number of the cell-phone population (so-called “cord cutters”), which includes a large proportion of young adults, questions about cell phones and land lines are included on The NCS™ questionnaire. As of the middle of 2010 (the most recent estimates available as of the end of 2010), 26.6% of U.S. households had a cell phone but no landline.3 Among younger adults (age 18-34), 53.7% of households were “cell-only.” Based on survey results, El Cerrito has a “cord cutter” population similar to the nationwide 2010 estimates. FIGURE 94: PREVALENCE OF CELL-PHONE ONLY RESPONDENTS IN EL CERRITO 54% 25% 24% 7% 0% 25% 50% 75% 100% 18-34 35-54 55+ Overall Percent of respondents reporting having a "cell phone" only SURVEY ADMINISTRATION Selected households received three mailings, one week apart, beginning April 4, 2012. The first mailing was a prenotification postcard announcing the upcoming survey. The next mailing contained a letter from the Mayor inviting the household to participate, a questionnaire and a postage-paid return envelope. The final mailing contained a reminder letter, another survey and a postage-paid return envelope. The second cover letter asked those who had not completed the survey to do so and those who have already done so to refrain from turning in another survey. Completed surveys were collected over the following five weeks. SURVEY RESPONSE RATE AND CONFIDENCE INTERVALS It is customary to describe the precision of estimates made from surveys by a “level of confidence” and accompanying “confidence interval” (or margin of error). A traditional level of confidence, and the one used here, is 95%. The 95% confidence interval can be any size and quantifies the sampling error or imprecision of the survey results because some residents' opinions are relied on to estimate all residents' opinions. The confidence interval for the City of El Cerrito survey is no greater than plus or minus five percentage points around any given percent reported for the entire sample (362 completed surveys). A 95% confidence interval indicates that for every 100 random samples of this many residents, 95 of the confidence intervals created will include the “true” population response. This theory is applied in practice to mean that the “true” perspective of the target population lies within the confidence interval created for a single survey. For example, if 75% of residents rate a service as “excellent” or “good,” then the 4% margin of error (for the 95% confidence interval) indicates that the range of likely responses for the entire jurisdiction is between 71% and 79%. This source of 3 http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nhis/earlyrelease/wireless201012.pdf ---PAGE BREAK--- City of El Cerrito I 2012 The National Citizen Survey™ 81 error is called sampling error. In addition to sampling error, other sources of error may affect any survey, including the non-response of residents with opinions different from survey responders. Though standardized on The NCS, on other surveys, differences in question wording, order, translation and data entry, as examples, can lead to somewhat varying results. For subgroups of responses, the margin of error increases because the sample size for the subgroup is smaller. For subgroups of approximately 100 respondents, the margin of error is plus or minus 10 percentage points SURVEY PROCESSING (DATA ENTRY) Completed surveys received by NRC were assigned a unique identification number. Additionally, each survey was reviewed and “cleaned” as necessary. For example, a question may have asked a respondent to pick two items out of a list of five, but the respondent checked three; NRC staff would choose randomly two of the three selected items to be coded in the dataset. Once all surveys were assigned a unique identification number, they were entered into an electronic dataset. This dataset was subject to a data entry protocol of “key and verify,” in which survey data were entered twice into an electronic dataset and then compared. Discrepancies were evaluated against the original survey form and corrected. Range checks as well as other forms of quality control were also performed. ---PAGE BREAK--- City of El Cerrito I 2012 The National Citizen Survey™ 82 SURVEY DATA WEIGHTING The demographic characteristics of the survey sample were compared to those found in the 2010 Census estimates and the 2005-2009 American Community Survey other population norms for adults in the City of El Cerrito. Sample results were weighted using the population norms to reflect the appropriate percent of those residents. Other discrepancies between the whole population and the sample were also aided by the weighting due to the intercorrelation of many socioeconomic characteristics. The variables used for weighting were housing tenure, housing unit type, race and ethnicity and sex and age. This decision was based on: ƒ The disparity between the survey respondent characteristics and the population norms for these variables ƒ The saliency of these variables in detecting differences of opinion among subgroups ƒ The importance to the community of correct ethnic representation ƒ The historical use of the variables and the desirability of consistently representing different groups over the years The primary objective of weighting survey data is to make the survey sample reflective of the larger population of the community. This is done by: 1) reviewing the sample demographics and comparing them to the population norms from the most recent Census or other sources and 2) comparing the responses to different questions for demographic subgroups. The demographic characteristics that are least similar to the Census and yield the most different results are the best candidates for data weighting. A third criterion sometimes used is the importance that the community places on a specific variable. For example, if a jurisdiction feels that accurate race representation is key to staff and public acceptance of the study results, additional consideration will be given in the weighting process to adjusting the race variable. A special software program using mathematical algorithms is used to calculate the appropriate weights. Data weighting can adjust up to 5 demographic variables. Several different weighting “schemes” may be tested to ensure the best fit for the data. The process actually begins at the point of sampling. Knowing that residents in single family dwellings are more likely to respond to a mail survey, NRC oversamples residents of multi-family dwellings to ensure their proper representation in the sample data. Rather than giving all residents an equal chance of receiving the survey, this is systematic, stratified sampling, which gives each resident of the jurisdiction a known chance of receiving the survey (and apartment dwellers, for example, a greater chance than single family home dwellers). As a consequence, results must be weighted to recapture the proper representation of apartment dwellers. The results of the weighting scheme are presented in the table on the following page. ---PAGE BREAK--- City of El Cerrito I 2012 The National Citizen Survey™ 83 El Cerrito, CA Citizen Survey Weighting Table Characteristic Population Norm1 Unweighted Data Weighted Data Housing Rent home 39% 34% 38% Own home 61% 66% 62% Detached unit 70% 67% 70% Attached unit 30% 33% 30% Race and Ethnicity White 55% 61% 54% Not white 45% 39% 46% Not Hispanic 90% 94% 94% Hispanic 10% 6% 6% White alone, not Hispanic 50% 59% 51% Hispanic and/or other race 50% 41% 49% Sex and Age Female 53% 61% 53% Male 47% 39% 47% 18-34 years of age 23% 11% 23% 35-54 years of age 37% 30% 36% 55+ years of age 40% 59% 41% Females 18-34 11% 6% 11% Females 35-54 19% 19% 20% Females 55+ 22% 36% 23% Males 18-34 12% 5% 12% Males 35-54 18% 10% 17% Males 55+ 17% 23% 18% 1 Source: 2010 Census/2005-2009 ACS ---PAGE BREAK--- City of El Cerrito I 2012 The National Citizen Survey™ 84 SURVEY DATA ANALYSIS AND REPORTING The survey dataset was analyzed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS). Frequency distributions were presented in the body of the report. Use of the “Excellent, Good, Fair, Poor” Response Scale The scale on which respondents are asked to record their opinions about service and community quality is “excellent,” “good,” “fair” or “poor” (EGFP). This scale has important advantages over other scale possibilities (very good to very bad; very satisfied to very dissatisfied; strongly agree to strongly disagree, as examples). EGFP is used by the plurality of jurisdictions conducting citizen surveys across the U.S. The advantage of familiarity was one that NRC did not want to dismiss when crafting The National Citizen Survey™ questionnaire, because elected officials, staff and residents already are acquainted with opinion surveys measured this way. EGFP also has the advantage of offering three positive options, rather than only two, over which a resident can offer an opinion. While symmetrical scales often are the right choice in other measurement tasks, NRC has found that ratings of almost every local government service in almost every jurisdiction tend, on average, to be positive (that is, above the scale midpoint). Therefore, to permit finer distinctions among positively rated services, EGFP offers three options across which to spread those ratings. EGFP is more neutral because it requires no positive statement of service quality to judge (as agree- disagree scales require) and, finally, EGFP intends to measure absolute quality of service delivery or community quality (unlike satisfaction scales which ignore residents’ perceptions of quality in favor of their report on the acceptability of the level of service offered). “Don’t Know” Responses On many of the questions in the survey respondents may answer “don’t know.” The proportion of respondents giving this reply is shown in the full set of responses included in Appendix A. However, these responses have been removed from the analyses presented in the body of the report. In other words, the tables and graphs display the responses from respondents who had an opinion about a specific item. Benchmark Comparisons NRC has been leading the strategic use of surveys for local governments since 1991, when the principals of the company wrote the first edition of what became the classic text on citizen surveying. In Citizen Surveys: how to do them, how to use them, what they mean, published by ICMA, not only were the principles for quality survey methods articulated, but both the idea of benchmark data for citizen opinion and the method for gathering benchmark data were pioneered. The argument for benchmarks was called “In Search of Standards.” “What has been missing from a local government’s analysis of its survey results is the context that school administrators can supply when they tell parents how an 80 percent score on the social studies test compares to test results from other school systems...” NRC’s database of comparative resident opinion is comprised of resident perspectives gathered in citizen surveys from approximately 500 jurisdictions whose residents evaluated local government services. Conducted with typically no fewer than 400 residents in each jurisdiction, opinions are intended to represent over 30 million Americans. NRC has innovated a method for quantitatively integrating the results of surveys that are conducted by NRC with those that others have conducted. The integration methods have been thoroughly described not only in the Citizen Surveys book, but also in Public Administration Review, Journal of Policy Analysis and Management. Scholars who ---PAGE BREAK--- City of El Cerrito I 2012 The National Citizen Survey™ 85 specialize in the analysis of citizen surveys regularly have relied on this work Kelly, J. & Swindell, D. (2002). Service quality variation across urban space: First steps towards a model of citizen satisfaction. Journal of Urban Affairs, 24, 271-288.; Van Ryzin, Muzzio, Immerwahr, Gulick, L. & Martinez, E. (2004). Drivers and consequences of citizen satisfaction: An application of the American Customer Satisfaction Index Model to New York City, Public Administration Review, 64, 331- 341). The method described in those publications is refined regularly and statistically tested on a growing number of citizen surveys in NRC’s proprietary databases. NRC’s work on calculating national benchmarks for resident opinions about service delivery and quality of life won the Samuel C. May award for research excellence from the Western Governmental Research Association. The comparison evaluations are from the most recent survey completed in each jurisdiction; most communities conduct surveys every year or in alternating years. NRC adds the latest results quickly upon survey completion, keeping the benchmark data fresh and relevant. The Role of Comparisons Benchmark comparisons are used for performance measurement. Jurisdictions use the comparative information to help interpret their own citizen survey results, to create or revise community plans, to evaluate the success of policy or budget decisions and to measure local government performance. Taking the pulse of the community has little meaning without knowing what pulse rate is too high and what is too low. When surveys of service satisfaction turn up “good” citizen evaluations, jurisdictions need to know how others rate their services to understand if “good” is good enough. Furthermore, in the absence of national or peer community comparisons, a jurisdiction is left with comparing its fire protection rating to its street maintenance rating. That comparison is unfair. Streets always lose to fire. More important and harder questions need to be asked; for example, how do residents’ ratings of fire service compare to opinions about fire service in other communities? A police department that provides the fastest and most efficient service – one that closes most of its cases, solves most of its crimes and keeps the crime rate low – still has a problem to fix if the residents in the community it intends to protect believe services are not very good compared to ratings given by residents to their own objectively “worse” departments. The benchmark data can help that police department – or any department – to understand how well citizens think it is doing. Without the comparative data, it would be like bowling in a tournament without knowing what the other teams are scoring. NRC recommends that citizen opinion be used in conjunction with other sources of data about budget, personnel and politics to help managers know how to respond to comparative results. Jurisdictions in the benchmark database are distributed geographically across the country and range from small to large in population size. Most commonly, comparisons are made to the entire database. Comparisons may also be made to subsets of jurisdictions (for example, within a given region or population category). Despite the differences in jurisdiction characteristics, all are in the business of providing local government services to residents. Though individual jurisdiction circumstances, resources and practices vary, the objective in every community is to provide services that are so timely, tailored and effective that residents conclude the services are of the highest quality. High ratings in any jurisdiction, like SAT scores in any teen household, bring pride and a sense of accomplishment. ---PAGE BREAK--- City of El Cerrito I 2012 The National Citizen Survey™ 86 Comparison of El Cerrito to the Benchmark Database The City of El Cerrito chose to have comparisons made to the entire database. A benchmark comparison (the average rating from all the comparison jurisdictions where a similar question was asked) has been provided when a similar question on the City of El Cerrito Survey was included in NRC’s database and there were at least five jurisdictions in which the question was asked. For most questions compared to the entire dataset, there were more than 100 jurisdictions included in the benchmark comparison. Where comparisons for quality ratings were available, the City of El Cerrito results were generally noted as being “above” the benchmark, “below” the benchmark or “similar” to the benchmark. For some questions – those related to resident behavior, circumstance or to a local problem – the comparison to the benchmark is designated as “more,” “similar” or “less” (for example, the percent of crime victims, residents visiting a park or residents identifying code enforcement as a problem.) In instances where ratings are considerably higher or lower than the benchmark, these ratings have been further demarcated by the attribute of “much,” (for example, “much less” or “much above”). These labels come from a statistical comparison of the City of El Cerrito's rating to the benchmark where a rating is considered “similar” if it is within the margin of error; “above,” “below,” “more” or “less” if the difference between your jurisdiction’s rating and the benchmark is greater the margin of error; and “much above,” “much below,” “much more” or “much less” if the difference between your jurisdiction’s rating and the benchmark is more than twice the margin of error. ---PAGE BREAK--- City of El Cerrito I 2012 The National Citizen Survey™ 87 Appendix C: Survey Materials The following pages contain copies of the survey materials sent to randomly selected households within the City of El Cerrito. ---PAGE BREAK--- Dear El Cerrito Resident, Your household has been selected at random to participate in an anonymous citizen survey about the City of El Cerrito. You will receive a copy of the survey next week in the mail with instructions for completing and returning it. Thank you in advance for helping us with this important project! Sincerely, William C. Jones III Mayor Dear El Cerrito Resident, Your household has been selected at random to participate in an anonymous citizen survey about the City of El Cerrito. You will receive a copy of the survey next week in the mail with instructions for completing and returning it. Thank you in advance for helping us with this important project! Sincerely, William C. Jones III Mayor Dear El Cerrito Resident, Your household has been selected at random to participate in an anonymous citizen survey about the City of El Cerrito. You will receive a copy of the survey next week in the mail with instructions for completing and returning it. Thank you in advance for helping us with this important project! Sincerely, William C. Jones III Mayor Dear El Cerrito Resident, Your household has been selected at random to participate in an anonymous citizen survey about the City of El Cerrito. You will receive a copy of the survey next week in the mail with instructions for completing and returning it. Thank you in advance for helping us with this important project! Sincerely, William C. Jones III Mayor ---PAGE BREAK--- Presorted First Class Mail US Postage PAID Boulder, CO Permit NO. 94 10890 San Pablo Ave El Cerrito, CA 94530 Return Service Requested Presorted First Class Mail US Postage PAID Boulder, CO Permit NO. 94 10890 San Pablo Ave El Cerrito, CA 94530 Return Service Requested Presorted First Class Mail US Postage PAID Boulder, CO Permit NO. 94 10890 San Pablo Ave El Cerrito, CA 94530 Return Service Requested Presorted First Class Mail US Postage PAID Boulder, CO Permit NO. 94 10890 San Pablo Ave El Cerrito, CA 94530 Return Service Requested ---PAGE BREAK--- CITY HALL 10890 San Pablo Avenue, El Cerrito, CA 94530 Website: www.el‐ceritto.org April 2012 Dear City of El Cerrito Resident: The City of El Cerrito wants to know what you think about our community and municipal government. You have been randomly selected to participate in El Cerrito’s 2012 Citizen Survey. Please take a few minutes to fill out the enclosed Citizen Survey. Your feedback will help the City set benchmarks for tracking the quality of services provided to residents. Your answers will help the City Council make decisions that affect our community. You should find the questions interesting and we will definitely find your answers useful. Please participate! To get a representative sample of El Cerrito residents, the adult (anyone 18 years or older) in your household who most recently had a birthday should complete this survey. Year of birth of the adult does not matter. Please have the appropriate member of the household spend a few minutes to answer all the questions and return the survey in the enclosed postage-paid envelope. Your responses will remain completely anonymous. Your participation in this survey is very important – especially since your household is one of only a small number of households being surveyed. If you have any questions about the Citizen Survey please call [PHONE REDACTED]. Please help us shape the future of El Cerrito. Thank you for your time and participation. Sincerely, William C. Jones III Mayor ---PAGE BREAK--- CITY HALL 10890 San Pablo Avenue, El Cerrito, CA 94530 Website: www.el‐ceritto.org April 2012 Dear City of El Cerrito Resident: About one week ago, you should have received a copy of the enclosed survey. If you completed it and sent it back, we thank you for your time and ask you to recycle this survey. Please do not respond twice. If you have not had a chance to complete the survey, we would appreciate your response. The City of El Cerrito wants to know what you think about our community and municipal government. You have been randomly selected to participate in the City of El Cerrito’s Citizen Survey. Please take a few minutes to fill out the enclosed Citizen Survey. Your feedback will help the City set benchmarks for tracking the quality of services provided to residents. Your answers will help the City Council make decisions that affect our community. You should find the questions interesting and we will definitely find your answers useful. Please participate! To get a representative sample of El Cerrito residents, the adult (anyone 18 years or older) in your household who most recently had a birthday should complete this survey. Year of birth of the adult does not matter. Please have the appropriate member of the household spend a few minutes to answer all the questions and return the survey in the enclosed postage-paid envelope. Your responses will remain completely anonymous. Your participation in this survey is very important – especially since your household is one of only a small number of households being surveyed. If you have any questions about the Citizen Survey please call [PHONE REDACTED]. Please help us shape the future of El Cerrito. Thank you for your time and participation. Sincerely, William C. Jones III Mayor ---PAGE BREAK--- The City of El Cerrito 2012 Citizen Survey Page 1 of 5 Please complete this questionnaire if you are the adult (age 18 or older) in the household who most recently had a birthday. The adult's year of birth does not matter. Please select the response (by circling the number or checking the box) that most closely represents your opinion for each question. Your responses are anonymous and will be reported in group form only. 1. Please rate each of the following aspects of quality of life in El Cerrito: Excellent Good Fair Poor Don't know El Cerrito as a place to live 1 2 3 4 5 Your neighborhood as a place to live 1 2 3 4 5 El Cerrito as a place to raise children 1 2 3 4 5 El Cerrito as a place to work 1 2 3 4 5 El Cerrito as a place to retire 1 2 3 4 5 The overall quality of life in El Cerrito 1 2 3 4 5 2. Please rate each of the following characteristics as they relate to El Cerrito as a whole: Excellent Good Fair Poor Don't know Sense of community 1 2 3 4 5 Openness and acceptance of the community toward people of diverse backgrounds 1 2 3 4 5 Overall appearance of El Cerrito 1 2 3 4 5 Cleanliness of El Cerrito 1 2 3 4 5 Overall quality of new development in El Cerrito 1 2 3 4 5 Variety of housing options 1 2 3 4 5 Overall quality of business and service establishments in El Cerrito 1 2 3 4 5 Shopping opportunities 1 2 3 4 5 Opportunities to attend cultural activities 1 2 3 4 5 Recreational opportunities 1 2 3 4 5 Employment opportunities 1 2 3 4 5 Educational opportunities 1 2 3 4 5 Opportunities to participate in social events and activities 1 2 3 4 5 Opportunities to participate in religious or spiritual events and activities 1 2 3 4 5 Opportunities to volunteer 1 2 3 4 5 Opportunities to participate in community matters 1 2 3 4 5 Ease of car travel in El Cerrito 1 2 3 4 5 Ease of bus travel in El Cerrito 1 2 3 4 5 Ease of rail or subway travel in El Cerrito 1 2 3 4 5 Ease of bicycle travel in El Cerrito 1 2 3 4 5 Ease of walking in El Cerrito 1 2 3 4 5 Availability of paths and walking trails 1 2 3 4 5 Traffic flow on major streets 1 2 3 4 5 Amount of public parking 1 2 3 4 5 Availability of affordable quality housing 1 2 3 4 5 Availability of affordable quality child care 1 2 3 4 5 Availability of affordable quality health care 1 2 3 4 5 Availability of affordable quality food 1 2 3 4 5 Availability of preventive health services 1 2 3 4 5 Air quality 1 2 3 4 5 Quality of overall natural environment in El Cerrito 1 2 3 4 5 Overall image or reputation of El Cerrito 1 2 3 4 5 3. Please rate the speed of growth in the following categories in El Cerrito over the past 2 years: Much Somewhat Right Somewhat Much Don't too slow too slow amount too fast too fast know Population growth 1 2 3 4 5 6 Retail growth (stores, restaurants, 1 2 3 4 5 6 Jobs growth 1 2 3 4 5 6 ---PAGE BREAK--- The National Citizen Survey™ • © 2001-2012 National Research Center, Inc. Page 2 of 5 The National Citizen Survey™ 4. To what degree, if at all, are run down buildings, weed lots or junk vehicles a problem in El Cerrito?  Not a problem  Minor problem  Moderate problem  Major problem  Don’t know 5. Please rate how safe or unsafe you feel from the following in El Cerrito: Very Somewhat Neither safe Somewhat Very Don't safe safe nor unsafe unsafe unsafe know Violent crime rape, assault, robbery) 1 2 3 4 5 6 Property crimes burglary, theft) 1 2 3 4 5 6 Environmental hazards, including toxic waste 1 2 3 4 5 6 6. Please rate how safe or unsafe you feel: Very Somewhat Neither safe Somewhat Very Don't safe safe nor unsafe unsafe unsafe know In your neighborhood during the day 1 2 3 4 5 6 In your neighborhood after dark 1 2 3 4 5 6 In El Cerrito's commercial area during the day 1 2 3 4 5 6 In El Cerrito's commercial area after dark 1 2 3 4 5 6 7. Have you had any in-person or phone contact with an employee of the City of El Cerrito Police Department within the last 12 months?  No Î Go to Question 9  Yes Î Go to Question 8  Don’t know Î Go to Question 9 8. What was your overall impression of your most recent contact with the City of El Cerrito Police Department?  Excellent  Good  Fair  Poor  Don’t know 9. During the past 12 months, were you or anyone in your household the victim of any crime?  No Î Go to Question 11  Yes Î Go to Question 10  Don’t know Î Go to Question 11 10. If yes, was this crime (these crimes) reported to the police?  No  Yes  Don’t know 11. In the last 12 months, about how many times, if ever, have you or other household members participated in the following activities in El Cerrito? Once or 3 to 12 13 to 26 More than Never twice times times 26 times Used El Cerrito public libraries or their services 1 2 3 4 5 Used El Cerrito recreation centers 1 2 3 4 5 Participated in a recreation program or activity 1 2 3 4 5 Visited a neighborhood park or City park 1 2 3 4 5 Ridden a local bus within El Cerrito 1 2 3 4 5 Attended a meeting of local elected officials or other local public meeting 1 2 3 4 5 Watched a meeting of local elected officials or other City-sponsored public meeting on cable television, the Internet or other media 1 2 3 4 5 Read El Cerrito Newsletter 1 2 3 4 5 Visited the City of El Cerrito Web site (at www.el-cerrito.org) 1 2 3 4 5 Recycled used paper, cans or bottles from your 1 2 3 4 5 Volunteered your time to some group or activity in El Cerrito 1 2 3 4 5 Participated in religious or spiritual activities in El Cerrito 1 2 3 4 5 Participated in a club or civic group in El Cerrito 1 2 3 4 5 Provided help to a friend or neighbor 1 2 3 4 5 12. About how often, if at all, do you talk to or visit with your immediate neighbors (people who live in the 10 or 20 households that are closest to you)?  Just about every day  Several times a week  Several times a month  Less than several times a month ---PAGE BREAK--- The City of El Cerrito 2012 Citizen Survey Page 3 of 5 13. Please rate the quality of each of the following services in El Cerrito: Excellent Good Fair Poor Don't know Police services 1 2 3 4 5 Fire services 1 2 3 4 5 Ambulance or emergency medical services 1 2 3 4 5 Crime prevention 1 2 3 4 5 Fire prevention and education 1 2 3 4 5 Municipal courts 1 2 3 4 5 Traffic enforcement 1 2 3 4 5 Street repair 1 2 3 4 5 Street cleaning 1 2 3 4 5 Street lighting 1 2 3 4 5 Sidewalk maintenance 1 2 3 4 5 Traffic signal timing 1 2 3 4 5 Bus or transit services 1 2 3 4 5 Garbage collection 1 2 3 4 5 Recycling 1 2 3 4 5 Yard waste pick-up 1 2 3 4 5 Storm drainage 1 2 3 4 5 City parks 1 2 3 4 5 Recreation programs or classes 1 2 3 4 5 Recreation centers or facilities 1 2 3 4 5 Land use, planning and zoning 1 2 3 4 5 Code enforcement (weeds, abandoned buildings, etc.) 1 2 3 4 5 Animal control 1 2 3 4 5 Economic development 1 2 3 4 5 Services to seniors 1 2 3 4 5 Services to youth 1 2 3 4 5 Services to low-income people 1 2 3 4 5 Public library services 1 2 3 4 5 Public information services 1 2 3 4 5 Public schools 1 2 3 4 5 Emergency preparedness (services that prepare the community for natural disasters or other emergency situations) 1 2 3 4 5 Preservation of natural areas such as open space, farmlands and greenbelts 1 2 3 4 5 14. Overall, how would you rate the quality of the services provided by each of the following? Excellent Good Fair Poor Don't know The City of El Cerrito 1 2 3 4 5 The Federal Government 1 2 3 4 5 The State Government 1 2 3 4 5 Contra Costa County Government 1 2 3 4 5 15. Please indicate how likely or unlikely you are to do each of the following: Very Somewhat Somewhat Very Don’t likely likely unlikely unlikely know Recommend living in El Cerrito to someone who asks 1 2 3 4 5 Remain in El Cerrito for the next five years 1 2 3 4 5 16. What impact, if any, do you think the economy will have on your family income in the next 6 months? Do you think the impact will be:  Very positive  Somewhat positive  Neutral  Somewhat negative  Very negative 17. Have you had any in-person or phone contact with an employee of the City of El Cerrito Fire Department within the last 12 months?  No Î Go to Question 19  Yes Î Go to Question 18  Don’t know Î Go to Question 19 18. What was your overall impression of your most recent contact with the City of El Cerrito Fire Department?  Excellent  Good  Fair  Poor  Don’t know ---PAGE BREAK--- The National Citizen Survey™ • © 2001-2012 National Research Center, Inc. Page 4 of 5 The National Citizen Survey™ 19. Have you had any in-person, phone or email contact with an employee of the City of El Cerrito within the last 12 months (including police, receptionists, planners or any others)?  No Î Go to Question 21  Yes Î Go to Question 20 20. What was your impression of the employee(s) of the City of El Cerrito in your most recent contact? (Rate each characteristic below.) Excellent Good Fair Poor Don't know 1 2 3 4 5 Responsiveness 1 2 3 4 5 Courtesy 1 2 3 4 5 Overall impression 1 2 3 4 5 21. Please rate the following categories of El Cerrito government performance: Excellent Good Fair Poor Don't know The value of services for the taxes paid to El Cerrito 1 2 3 4 5 The overall direction that El Cerrito is taking 1 2 3 4 5 The job El Cerrito government does at welcoming citizen involvement 1 2 3 4 5 22. Please check the response that comes closest to your opinion for each of the following questions: a. Please indicate how likely or unlikely you would be to subscribe to an email or online newsletter to receive information from the following City departments: Very likely Somewhat likely Not at all likely City Council 1 2 3 Environmental services 1 2 3 Economic development 1 2 3 Fire 1 2 3 Planning & building (development services) 1 2 3 Police 1 2 3 Public works 1 2 3 Recreation 1 2 3 General (all departments) 1 2 3 b. The City is considering implementing more options to contact the Police Department for non-emergency issues (such as requesting a police report). Please indicate how likely or unlikely you would be to contact the Police using each of the following means of communication: Very likely Somewhat likely Not at all likely Online via the Internet 1 2 3 Text message 1 2 3 Social media Facebook, Twitter) 1 2 3 Email 1 2 3 Telephone 1 2 3 Fax 1 2 3 Mail 1 2 3 In person (during regular business hours) 1 2 3 c. To comply with the federally mandated Clean Water Act, the City of El Cerrito needs to improve the street sweeping program to more effectively remove trash and debris that pollutes our waterways and the San Francisco Bay. Currently, the street sweepers are often not able to sweep effectively due to cars parked on the street. Please indicate how much you would support or oppose the City taking each of the following actions: Strongly Somewhat Somewhat Strongly Don’t support support oppose oppose know Increase education about the street sweeping schedule 1 2 3 4 5 Install permanent signs about the street sweeping schedule 1 2 3 4 5 Enact parking restrictions by block 1 2 3 4 5 Enact parking restrictions on alternate sides of the street 1 2 3 4 5 Increase the sweeping frequency on residential streets 1 2 3 4 5 ---PAGE BREAK--- The City of El Cerrito 2012 Citizen Survey Page 5 of 5 Our last questions are about you and your household. Again, all of your responses to this survey are completely anonymous and will be reported in group form only. D1. Are you currently employed for pay?  No Î Go to Question D3  Yes, full time Î Go to Question D2  Yes, part time Î Go to Question D2 D2. During a typical week, how many days do you commute to work (for the longest distance of your commute) in each of the ways listed below? (Enter the total number of days, using whole numbers.) Motorized vehicle car, truck, van, etc.) by myself days Motorized vehicle car, truck, van, etc.) with other children or adults days Bus, rail, subway or other public transportation days Walk days Bicycle days Work at home days Other days D3. How many years have you lived in El Cerrito?  Less than 2 years  11-20 years  2-5 years  More than 20 years  6-10 years D4. Which best describes the building you live in?  One family house detached from any other houses  House attached to one or more houses a duplex or townhome)  Building with two or more apartments or condominiums  Mobile home  Other D5. Is this house, apartment or mobile home...  Rented for cash or occupied without cash payment?  Owned by you or someone in this house with a mortgage or free and clear? D6. About how much is your housing cost for the place you live (including rent, mortgage payment, property tax, property insurance and homeowners’ association (HOA) fees)?  Less than $300 per month  $300 to $599 per month  $600 to $999 per month  $1,000 to $1,499 per month  $1,500 to $2,499 per month  $2,500 or more per month D7. Do any children 17 or under live in your household?  No  Yes D8. Are you or any other members of your household aged 65 or older?  No  Yes D9. How much do you anticipate your household's total income before taxes will be for the current year? (Please include in your total income money from all sources for all persons living in your household.)  Less than $24,999  $25,000 to $49,999  $50,000 to $99,999  $100,000 to $149,999  $150,000 or more Please respond to both questions D10 and D11: D10. Are you Spanish, Hispanic or Latino?  No, not Spanish, Hispanic or Latino  Yes, I consider myself to be Spanish, Hispanic or Latino D11. What is your race? (Mark one or more races to indicate what race you consider yourself to be.)  American Indian or Alaskan Native  Asian, Asian Indian or Pacific Islander  Black or African American  White  Other D12. In which category is your age?  18-24 years  55-64 years  25-34 years  65-74 years  35-44 years  75 years or older  45-54 years D13. What is your sex?  Female  Male D14. Are you registered to vote in your jurisdiction?  No  Ineligible to vote  Yes  Don’t know D15. Many people don't have time to vote in elections. Did you vote in the last general election?  No  Ineligible to vote  Yes  Don’t know D16. Do you have a cell phone?  No  Yes D17. Do you have a land line at home?  No  Yes D18. If you have both a cell phone and a land line, which do you consider your primary telephone number?  Cell  Land line  Both Thank you for completing this survey. Please return the completed survey in the postage-paid envelope to: National Research Center, Inc., PO Box 549, Belle Mead, NJ 08502 ---PAGE BREAK--- Presorted First Class Mail US Postage PAID Boulder, CO Permit NO.94 10890 San Pablo Ave El Cerrito, CA 94530 Return Service Requested ---PAGE BREAK---