Westmoreland Survey Results

1
Westmoreland Survey Results

• October 23, 2007

2
Citizen Perception Survey

• Approximately 250 respondents
• 35 respondents live outside the city limits
• 1 have lived in the city for less than 1 year
• 59 have lived in Westmoreland for more than 20
  years or all my life
• 29 are high school graduates, 61 have some form
  of post-secondary education
• 54 of respondents are females
• 78 are 36 or older

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Citizen Perception Survey

• What is the biggest problem that you would like
  local government to address?
• (From from a List)
• Availability of quality jobs56
• Level of crime and drug activity7
• Young people moving out of community5
• Inadequate shopping opportunities5
• Attractiveness of town and downtown5

4
Citizen Perception Survey

• Please indicate how satisfied you are with the
  following in your community
• Greatest Strengths
• Elementary and secondary education 84
• Telephone service 68
• Major highways serving the community 61
• Race relations 45
• Law enforcement 46
• Housing availability and cost 42
• Colleges and universities 41

5
Citizen Perception Survey

• Please indicate how satisfied you are with the
  following in your community
• Greatest weaknesses
• Availability of quality jobs 94
• Retail shopping 86
• City planning 71
• Local streets and roads 69
• Recreation facilities 67
• Downtown 67
• Recreation programs 64
• Water and sewer service 61

6
Citizen Perception Survey

• How is your community
• As a place to live14 improved, 46 stayed
  the same, 33 worse
• A place to raise children12 improved, 54
  stayed the same, 27 worse
• As a place to work2 improved, 11 stayed
  the same, 79 worse
• As a place to retire18 improved, 47 stayed
  the same, 33 worse

7
Citizen Perception Survey

• How do you rate the local governments efforts on
  the following issues?
• Addressing the needs of low income residents
  
• 48 somewhat poor or very poor
• Improving the attractiveness of the community
• 62 somewhat poor or very poor
• Stimulating growth of quality jobs
• 89 somewhat poor or very poor
• Assisting the local business community
• 51 somewhat poor or very poor
• Informing the public about important local issues
  
• 62 somewhat poor or very poor

8
Citizen Perception Survey

• How would you describe growth and development in
  the community over the past 10 years?

9
Citizen Perception Survey

• What is your opinion of these quality of life
  aspects of the community?
• Significant strengths
• Level of crime 14
• Adequate local clinics and health care
  professionals for basic care 18
• Housing 9

10
Citizen Perception Survey

• What is your opinion of these quality of life
  aspects of the community?
• Significant weaknesses
• Availability of recreational opportunities-67
• Adequate social services-59
• Availability of adequate local hospital-57
• General appearance of the community-55
• Rate of pop growth in the community-59

11
Citizen Perception Survey

• What is your opinion of the local education
  situation?
• Great responses for quality of local elementary
  school, local secondary school, and involvement
  of local residents and parents in the schools
• Improvement needed in availability of vocational
  programs at the secondary level

12
Citizen Perception Survey

• What is your opinion of the local government
  situation?
• Greatest Strengths
• Fire protection -17
• Trash pickup - 13
• Police protection and safety 12

• Greatest Weaknesses
• Long-range planning for municipal
  improvements 52
• Adequacy of local leadership 62
• Adequacy of local planning and zoning - 74
• Local permitting and regulation process for
  business 52
• Level of local property taxes 51

13
Citizen Perception Survey

• What is your opinion of the local market
  situation?
• Strength
• Adequacy of newspaper for promoting business
  activity
• Weaknesses
• Availability of local hotels and motels 91
• Range of retail stores and goods 88
• Availability of personal services 84
• Availability of business services and
  professional services to support business and
  industry 82
• Range of attractions for expanded tourism 82
• Availability of a range of quality restaurants
  81
• Appearance of downtown 77

14
Citizen Perception Survey

• In your opinion, what are the 2 most important
  issues facing Westmoreland today?
• (Whatever you wanted to
  write in)
• Jobs availability
• Retail and restaurants
• Infrastructure/water/sewer
• Image/cleanliness of town
• Ineffective local government
• Recreation opportunities
• Drug use
• Taxes
• Lack of progressive thinking/actions by residents

15
Citizen Perception Survey

• 81 have a computer at home
• 75 use the internet and email at home

16
Citizen Perception Survey

• 51 have used the Westmoreland website
• Services they would like to see on the
  Westmoreland website
• Information from city council meetings 74
• Community Calendar 67
• Information on ED opportunities/activities 59
• Contact information for city officials 56
• Access to local newspaper 50

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Citizen Perception Survey
18
Citizen Perception Survey
19
Citizen Perception Survey
20
Business Survey

• Those with a business in Westmoreland were
  encouraged to complete survey
• Approximately 33 responses

21
Business Survey

• Demographic Information
• 48 have owned their business more than 10 years
• All have owned their business more than 1 year
• 51 do 50 or less of their business in
  Westmoreland
• 23 do more than 75 of their business in
  Westmoreland
• 40 are members of the Chamber of Commerce

22
Business Survey

• How is your community
• As a place to live18 improved, 39
  stayed the same 38 worse
• As a place to raise children19 improved, 53
  stayed the same, 25 worse
• As a place to work9 improved, 21
  stayed the same, 70 worse
• As a place to retire9 improved, 58
  stayed the same, 27 worse

23
Business Survey

• How do you rate the local governments efforts
• Addressing the needs of low income residents12
  excellent or good, 53 somewhat poor or very poor
• Improving the attractiveness of the
  community--15 excellent or good, 60 somewhat
  poor or very poor
• Stimulating growth of quality jobs3 excellent
  or good, 87 somewhat poor or very
• Assisting the local business community9
  excellent or good, 54 somewhat poor or very poor
• Informing the public about important issues21
  excellent or good, 48 somewhat poor or very
  poor

24
Business Survey

• How would you describe the growth and development
  over the past 10 years?

25
Business Survey

• What is your opinion about the local education
  situation?
• Quality of local elementary school
• 67 say it is a strength
• Quality of local secondary school
• 64 say it is a strength
• Quality and availability of post-secondary
  education
• 42 label is as a weakness
• Availability of vocational programs
  
• 47 say it is a weakness

26
Business Survey

• What is your opinion of the local govt
  situation? (areas with significant Weaknesses)
• Long range planning for municipal
  improvements84
• Cooperation of local government entities with
  each other58
• Adequacy of local leadership53
• Cooperation of local government with business56
• State and local permitting and regulation process
  for business48
• Adequacy of local planning and zoning47
• Level of local property and level of local sales
  taxes47

27
Business Survey

• What is your opinion of the local leadership
  situation?
• All 8 Question on the topics below had a
  48-71 response as a Weakness
• Adequate level of professional staff in
  government offices and developmental
  organizations
• Involvement of public and private sectors in
  developmental programs of community
• Leadership support of ED programs
• Cooperation between orgs involved with
  development programs
• Awareness of community about development programs
• Funding for development programs
• Cooperation with other development programs in
  the state
• Leadership commitment to development

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Business Survey

• What is your opinion of the labor situation?
• Availability of quality jobs for the
  workforce94
• Availability of apprenticeship programs74
• Level of wages and salaries paid locally63
• Availability of post-secondary vocational
  training60
• Availability of adult/continuing ed57

29
Business Survey

• What is your opinion of the local transportation
  situation?
• 63 stated that the condition and maintenance of
  local streets and roads is a Weakness

30
Business Survey

• What is your opinion of the local utility
  situation?
• 58 said availability of water and sewer lines to
  for industrial/commercial sites is a problem
• 71 said the cost of water and sewer is a weakness

31
Business Survey

• What is your opinion of the local real estate
  situation?
• Important Weak areas
• Availability of fully served attractive
  industrial sites67
• Availability of suitable office space65
• Availability of suitable industrial building
  space58
• Availability of attractive and well-located
  commercial/retail sites55
• Availability of suitable commercial/retail
  spaces60

32
Business Survey

• What is your opinion of the local capital
  situation?
• Availability of low interest or tax exempt
  financing, availability of low interest loans for
  small business, and availability of venture
  capital from local sources were areas in need of
  improvement

33
Business Survey

• What is your opinion of the local market
  situation (weakness)?
• Availability of local hotels and motels 97
• Local programs to attract retail and commercial
  business 90
• Range of retail stores 87
• Appearance of the downtown 81
• Range of quality restaurants 81
• Range of personal services 81
• Impact of tourism 81
• Range of attractions for expanded tourism 81

34
Business Survey

• In your opinion, what are the 2 biggest issues
  facing Westmoreland today?
• Jobs
• Need for retail
• Water/sewer
• Local leadership

35
Business Survey

• From a business investment viewpoint, how would
  you rate these attributes of the community?
• Strengths1. labor availability, 2. quality of
  the workforce, 3. trucking
  availability, 4. climate, 5. labor skills and
  education
• Weaknesses1. wage levels, 2. diversity of
  economy, 3. gas availability and cost, 4. water
  and sewer availability, 5. industrial and
  commercial sites, 6. available buildings for
  manufacturing, 7. available space for office
  users, 8. business support services, 9.
  availability of local business incentives, 10.
  local training capacity and quality, 11. lodging,
  12. restaurants, 13. cultural and recreational
  facilities/activities, 14. level of local retail,
  15 quality of ED professional assistance, 16.
  condition of the downtown

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Business Survey
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Business Survey
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Business Survey