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Survey highlights challenges

Posted on March 25, 2010March 25, 2010 by Staff

BY KIRK ROSS
Staff Writer

CHAPEL HILL — A survey of town residents shows a high level of satisfaction with most town services, but at the same time underlines concerns about high taxes and perceptions of downtown.

The results of the survey, conducted during this past December and January by ETC Institute, were outlined at Monday night’s council meeting by Karen Falk, who led the project for the survey firm.

Among the findings:

• satisfaction with town services rated 24 percent higher than the national average;

• 90 percent of respondents were satisfied with the town’s quality of life and 76 percent were satisfied with the overall feeling of safety, but 56 percent were dissatisfied with the availability of affordable housing and only 43 percent were satisfied or very satisfied with the value received for town taxes and fees;

• managing growth is the top concern among residents;

• downtown was rated as the place residents feel least safe, with those who live outside downtown having stronger concerns than those living in downtown;

• 70 percent of residents have at least one member of their household who uses public transit;

• 51 percent of residents ride a bicycle;

• library and police and fire services got the highest marks;
• 73 percent of respondents want the town to continue to make efforts to keep Halloween a small and local event and;

• residents are more inclined to vote for bonds for bike paths, sidewalks and greenways and less inclined to vote for bonds for major park renovations and redevelopment of downtown.

Mayor Mark Kleinschmidt said that while he found the results informative, he was troubled by the dearth of black residents and students as part of the sample. The survey was sent to 2,000 households by mail and was followed up with phone calls. A map of the locations of households responding did not show significant numbers either from housing on campus or from the major locations for off-campus housing in the apartment complexes along Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard.

Kleinschmidt said he would like to have seen more student participation in the survey, particularly students’ perceptions of downtown.

The mayor and NAACP chapter president Michelle Laws also asked that in the next survey there be an effort to increase black participation. About 3 percent of those who participated in the survey were black, less than half of the town’s overall percentage of black residents.

The survey results can be download at townofchapelhill.org/index.aspx?page=1390

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