City of Grand Rapids issued the following announcement on Feb. 25.
Results of a recent community survey show Grand Rapids residents have a positive view of living in Michigan’s second-largest city. Key findings in the National Community Survey (NCS) reveal residents enjoy a high quality of life, strong economy and safe neighborhoods in Grand Rapids.
The survey – conducted by the National Research Center (NRC) last fall – asked residents for their opinions within three pillars of a community and across eight primary areas of livability. The pillars were community characteristics, governance and participation. The livability areas were:
- Safety
- Mobility
- Natural environment
- Built environment
- Economy
- Recreation and wellness
- Education and enrichment
- Community engagement
Survey results show:
- 77% of respondents rate the overall quality of life in Grand Rapids as excellent or good – a rating similar to the national benchmark comparison
- 87% rate Grand Rapids as a place to live as excellent or good – similar to benchmark cities. The city performed above national benchmarks as a place to visit (84% excellent/good) and as a place to work (78% excellent/good).
- Grand Rapids is above national benchmarks in a number of economic categories, including the vibrancy of downtown (73% excellent/good), shopping opportunities (78% excellent/good) and employment opportunities (71% excellent/good)
- Areas for improvement – where the City scores below national benchmarks – center on streets, parking and crime prevention
- Residents of color report lower levels of satisfaction across most aspects of the survey, with the exception of mobility. These residents also are more likely to rank creating pathways to financial growth as a priority for the City (90%).
NRC randomly selected 2,200 Grand Rapids households to receive the survey. NRC received 399 completed surveys – a 19 percent response rate for a ±5% margin of error.
Those who were not chosen randomly could participate in an online open participation survey. NRC received 352 responses from the open survey. To view the supplemental online survey results, CLICK HERE.
In addition to rating the importance of the NRC’s areas of community livability, survey participants were asked to rate the importance of the City’s six strategic priorities: governmental excellence, engaged and connected community, mobility, economic prosperity and accountability, health and environment and safe community.
The survey shows ensuring all people feel safe and are safe in Grand Rapids is a top strategic priority, with 70% of respondents saying it’s essential and 26% saying it’s very important. Here are additional survey results:
- 90% of respondents feel somewhat or very safe in their neighborhood
- 86% feel somewhat or very safe downtown – similar to benchmark comparisons
- 63% rate their overall feeling of safety in Grand Rapids as excellent or good
- 95% rate the quality of City services excellent to fair
- 92% rate the direction the City is going excellent to fair
- 99% rate the quality of the fire department and public library excellent to fair – highest ratings of any City services
- 97% rate the quality of garbage collection excellent to fair
- 97% rate the quality of parks excellent to fair
- 96% rate the quality of recreation programs excellent to fair
- 94% overall customer service by City employees
- 92% rate the quality of yard waste collection excellent to fair
- 91% rate the quality of public information services excellent to fair
Higher ratings (among all cities):
- New development
- Shopping opportunities
- Employment opportunities
- Place to visit
- Place to work
- Vibrant downtown area
- Cultural/arts/music activities
- Work in Grand Rapids
- Volunteered
- Walked or biked instead of driving
- Used public transportation instead of driving
- Overall feeling of safety
- Police
- Crime prevention
- Public parking
- Street repair
- Street cleaning
- Snow removal
- K-12 education
Benchmark communities include Ann Arbor, Battle Creek, East Lansing and Kalamazoo in Michigan and Chattanooga, Tenn.; Boise, Idaho; Des Moines, Iowa; Alexandria, Va; Norfolk, Va; Scottsdale, Ariz.; Tacoma, Wash. and Fort Collins, Colo.
Higher ratings (among similar cities):
- Ease of walking
- Ease of travel by public transportation
- Used public transportation instead of driving
- Walked or biked instead of driving
- Not experiencing housing cost stress
- New development
- Employment opportunities
- Place to visit
- Place to work
- Work inside boundaries of Grand Rapids
- Vibrant downtown area
- Cultural/arts/music activities
- Used Grand Rapids public libraries or their services
- Volunteered time to some group/activity in Grand Rapids
- Ease of public parking
- Street repair
- Street cleaning
- Snow removal
- Percentage of residents that stock supplies in preparation for an emergency
“We want to activate the results to refine, formulate and alter our approach where we need to. That’s part of the iterative approach to strategic planning,” Matthews said. “The benchmarking data sets the foundation and gives us a point of reference to examine our performance. Where we need further explanation, we will engage the community further to better understand our residents’ expectations and views.”
The NRC’s survey presentation to the City Commission may be viewed in English HERE
Original source can be found here.
Source: City of Grand Rapids
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