City of Decatur Citizen Survey Results

1
City of Decatur Citizen Survey Results

• Contracted with the National Research Center,
  Inc. for second time
• Survey conducted by mail
• 1200 randomly selected residential addresses in
  the 30030 zip code
• 468 returned for a response rate of 40

2
City of Decatur Citizen Survey Results

• Top 10 Positive Responses (excellent or good)
  
• Decatur as a place to live (97)
• Safety in Decaturs downtown area and
  neighborhoods during the day (96)
• Overall image or reputation of Decatur (94)
• Decatur as a place to raise children (93)
• Cleanliness (90)

3
City of Decatur Citizen Survey Results

• Top 10 Positive Responses
• Sense of Community (90)
• Opportunities to participate in social events
  and
• activities (88)
• City Parks (88)
• Opportunities to volunteer (87)
• Openness/acceptance towards people of
• diverse backgrounds (87)

4
City of Decatur Citizen Survey Results

• Top 5 Needs Improvement Responses (rated poor)
• Traffic signal timing (31)
• Amount of public parking (22)
• Traffic flow on major streets (22)
• Availability of affordable quality housing
  (20)
• Employment Opportunities (16)

5
City of Decatur Citizen Survey Results

• 96 helped a friend or neighbor 16 reported at
  least 26 times a year.
• 96 read The Focus 11 reported at least 26
  times a year.
• 89 recycle 67 reported at least 26 times a
  year.
• 87 visited a city park 22 reported at least
  26 visits.

6
City of Decatur Citizen Survey Results

• 77 of those who had contact or an interaction
  with City of Decatur staff had an excellent or
  good impression.

7
City of Decatur Citizen Survey Results

• Highest Excellent Ratings
• Fire 50
• Recycling 45
• Police Services - 40
• Garbage Collection - 38
• Yard Waste Pick-up 36

8
City of Decatur Citizen Survey Results

• Highest Poor Ratings
• Traffic Signal Timing 31
• Sidewalk Maintenance - 13
• Preservation of natural spaces
• open spaces 13
• Codes Enforcement 12
• Services to Low Income 12

9
City of Decatur Citizen Survey Results

• How Government Service Providers are Perceived
• Combined Ratings of excellent or good
• City of Decatur 88
• DeKalb County 39
• United States - 37
• State of Georgia 33

10
City of Decatur Citizen Survey Results

• Interesting Demographics
• 50 lived in Decatur five years or less
• 31 someone under the age of 17
• 18 someone 65 years of age or older
• Median total housing costs are between 1,000 -
  1,499 per month
• 39 believe that the economy will have a
  negative or very negative impact in the next six
  months.

11
City of Decatur Citizen Survey Results

• Observations
• 94 indicated they would conserve water or
  energy if asked to in an emergency.
• 89 rated opportunities to participate in
  religious or spiritual events and activities as
  good or excellent 51 indicated they
  never participated in religious or spiritual
  events
• 31 responded that they talked or visited with
  their immediate neighbors just about everyday.

12
City of Decatur Citizen Survey Results

• 71 have never watched a City Commission meeting
  on cable television.
• 68 have never ridden a local bus.
• 67 have never participated in a club or civic
  group in Decatur
• 61 have never attended a public
  meeting.

13
City of Decatur Citizen Survey Results

• Policy Question 1
• To what degree would you support or oppose the
  City of Decatur using public funds to assure that
  quality, reasonably priced housing options exist
  in the city?
• Strongly Support 35
• Somewhat Support 36
• Somewhat Oppose - 15
• Strongly Oppose - 15

14
City of Decatur Citizen Survey Results

• Policy Question 2
• Do city facilities, programs and infrastructure
  exist that would make it easy for the typical
  Decatur resident to include at least 30 minutes
  of physical activity, like walking, in their
  schedules on a routine basis?
• Strongly Agree 38
• Agree 50
• Neutral - 8
• Disagree - 2
• Strongly disagree - 2

15
City of Decatur Citizen Survey Results

• Policy Question 3
• To what degree would you support or oppose the
  use of public funding to support arts activities,
  art facilities and public art within the City of
  Decatur?
• Strongly Support 48
• Somewhat Support 38
• Somewhat Oppose - 8
• Strongly Oppose - 6