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AGENDA BILL Agenda Item No. 4(8) Date: June 5, 2012 To: El Cerrito City Council From: Suzanne Iarla, Community Outreach Specialist Subject: Preliminary Results from 2012 National Citizen Survey ACTION REQUESTED Receive staff presentation on 2012 National Citizen Survey results. BACKGROUND The National Citizen Survey™ (NCS) is a statistically valid survey of resident opinions about community and services provided by local governments in the USA. 2012 is the fourth year the City of El Cerrito has participated in the NCS. Attached is a copy of the cover letter and the survey that was mailed out in April, 2012. Staff has received the draft report of the 2012 survey results and is pleased to share highlights with the Council. The final report of results will be available to the Council and the public later in June and will include full responses and benchmark comparisons with over 500 other jurisdictions, as well as El Cerrito results from previous years (2004, 2005 & 2007). 2012 Dra(t Results In April 2012, questionnaires were sent to a random sample of 1 ,200 households in El Cerrito as part of the National Citizen Survey™. The 5-page survey was sent on behalf of the City of El Cerrito and asked for feedback on the quality and usefulness of city services. A total of 362 completed surveys were returned, providing an overall response rate of 3 1 o/o. This is within the typical response rate range of 25% to 40o/o. 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. 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. Responses were able to be compared to the benchmark database. Of the 32 services for which ---PAGE BREAK--- Agenda Item No. 4(8) comparisons were available, 14 were above the benchmark comparison, 13 were similar to the benchmark comparison and 5 were below. A variety of characteristics of the community were 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, and ease of rail travel, walking and car travel in El Cerrito. The three characteristics receiving the least positive ratings were educational opportunities, opportunities to attend cultural activities and employment opportunities. Overall, ratings for many of El Cerrito's 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. About the Survey The National Citizen Survey (NCS) is a collaborative effort between Nation~! Research Center and the International City/County Management Association (ICMA). The NCS provides a statistically valid survey of resident opinions about community and services provided by local government. The questionnaire and survey procedure were designed based on the experience of hundreds of local governments, ranging in size from small to large. 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 area also measured in the survey. Scientific sampling and weighting of the responses in each city ensure accurate and reliable results. The results of the NCS provides the opinions of a representative sample of residents about community quality of life, service delivery, civic participation and unique issues of local interest. • The margin of error around results for the City of El Cerrito Survey (362 completed surveys) is plus or minus five percentage points. • Differences between prior years' results can be considered "'statistically significant" if they are greater than seven percentage points. • NRC's database of comparative resident opinion is comprised of resident perspectives gathered in citizen surveys from approximately 500 jurisdictions. A benchmark comparison uses the average rating from all the comparison jurisdictions where a similar question was asked. • On many of the questions in the survey respondents may answer "don't know." These responses have been removed from the analyses presented. In other words, the tables and graphs display the responses from respondents who had an opinion about a specific item. FINANCIAL CONSIDERATIONS None LEGAL CONSIDERATION None Page 2 ---PAGE BREAK--- Reviewed by: Scott~an~ Attachments: 1. Power Point Presentation 2. Draft "Appendix A: Complete Survey Frequencies" 3. Draft "Appendix B: Survey Methodology 4. Survey Materials Page 3 Agenda Item No. 4(8) ---PAGE BREAK--- The National Citizen Survey™ (The NCS) is a y collaborative effort between National Research Center, Inc. (NRC) and the International City/County Management Association (ICMA) Management Association (ICMA). NCS is a statistically valid survey of resident i i b t it d i opinions about community and services. El Cerrito participated in the NCS in 2012 as well as 2007, 2005 and 2003. Agenda Item No. 4(B) Attachment 1 ---PAGE BREAK--- Margin of Error is plus or minus “Don’t know” responses have been removed from Don t know responses have been removed from the analyses presented. NRC’s database of comparative resident opinion is NRC s database of comparative resident opinion is comprised of resident perspectives gathered in recent citizen surveys from approximately 500 jurisdictions. ---PAGE BREAK--- 1,200 surveys sent in April to randomly to randomly selected households 31% response rate ---PAGE BREAK--- A majority of respondents felt that the value of services for taxes paid was “excellent” or “good”; much above the national benchmark ---PAGE BREAK--- R d t l th i id d b th Cit Respondents value the services provided by the City. ---PAGE BREAK--- Most of the 47% of respondents who had contact p with a City employee in the last year, rated the service they received as “excellent” or “good”. ---PAGE BREAK--- Ease of rail or subway travel was given the most positive rating, followed by ease of walking. All positive rating, followed by ease of walking. All seven aspects of mobility were rated higher than the benchmark. ---PAGE BREAK--- The quality of street repair and street cleaning q y p g significantly increase from previous years. ---PAGE BREAK--- The overall appearance of El Cerrito was rated as “excellent” by 16% of respondents and as “good” by an additional 48%. additional 48%. ---PAGE BREAK--- 9% of respondents thought run down buildings, weed lots or junk vehicles were a “major” problem in El Cerrito. El Cerrito. ---PAGE BREAK--- Compared to other jurisdictions, more El Cerrito p j respondents believed that retail growth and jobs growth were too slow. ---PAGE BREAK--- The most positively rated community features p y y related to economic opportunity and growth were the overall quality of business and service establishments and shopping opportunities establishments and shopping opportunities. ---PAGE BREAK--- A majority gave positive ratings of safety in the City of El Cerrito. Daytime sense of safety was better than h f d f l f f nighttime safety. Respondents feel more safe from property crimes and from violent crimes compared to previous years. p y ---PAGE BREAK--- Similar to the benchmark, 11% of El Cerrito residents had been victims of crime in the past year; The reporting rate was above the benchmark. ---PAGE BREAK--- Police services rated more highly compared to other jurisdictions, while emergency preparedness rated jurisdictions, while emergency preparedness rated lower; other services were similar to the benchmark. ---PAGE BREAK--- Of those who had contact with the Police Department, 76% rated their impression as either excellent or good. ---PAGE BREAK--- Of those who had contact with the Fire Department, 90% rated their impression as either excellent or good. ---PAGE BREAK--- The overall quality of the natural environment was rated as excellent or good by 72% of survey respondents. ---PAGE BREAK--- Residents who recycled paper, cans or bottles from their home was much higher than the national average. ---PAGE BREAK--- Recreation opportunities and parks and recreation services in El Cerrito were rated positively. services in El Cerrito were rated positively. ---PAGE BREAK--- Recreation programs/classes and recreation facilities were rated higher than the benchmark. ---PAGE BREAK--- Compared to the benchmark data, the opportunity to attend cultural activities in El Cerrito and educational opportunities were all below comparison jurisdictions opportunities were all below comparison jurisdictions. ---PAGE BREAK--- Compared to the benchmark data, participation rate for library use and religious/spiritual activities were all for library use and religious/spiritual activities were all below comparison jurisdictions. ---PAGE BREAK--- Most residents rated the El Cerrito as an excellent or good place to raise kids retire and felt that the local good place to raise kids, retire and felt that the local sense of community was excellent or good. Most also felt El Cerrito was open and accepting towards people f di b k d h b h b h k of diverse backgrounds, much above the benchmark. ---PAGE BREAK--- Services to more vulnerable populations ranged from 42% to 71% with ratings of excellent or good. ---PAGE BREAK--- Providing help to a friend or neighbor showed similar rates of in ol ement compared to the benchmark rates of involvement compared to the benchmark. Other civic behaviors showed lower rates of community engagement. ---PAGE BREAK--- The amount of contact with neighbors was less than reported in other communities. ---PAGE BREAK--- City of El Cerrito residents showed the largest amount of ci ic engagement in the area of electoral of civic engagement in the area of electoral Participation. This rate of self-reported voting was higher than that of comparison communities. ---PAGE BREAK--- Public information services were rated similarly y compared to benchmark data. ---PAGE BREAK--- ---PAGE BREAK--- ---PAGE BREAK--- ---PAGE BREAK--- Most of the City of El Cerrito’s residents gave high ratings to their neighborhoods and the community as ratings to their neighborhoods and the community as a place to live. Further, a majority would recommend the community to others and plan to stay for the next fifive years.