Survey: Cedar Rapids residents happy with services, not with downtown

Click to read the full survey results

City Hall is out with the results of a new citizen survey - less than three weeks before the Nov. 3 city election - on how city government is working.

Mayor Kay Halloran, who is not seeking re-election and who says she had nothing to do with the timing of the survey, thinks, nonetheless, that the survey indicates that city government “is doing pretty darn good.”

“There's always room for improvement. But I don't think we fell down in any particular area,” Halloran said on Thursday.

The scientific survey, which consisted of 603 households including 53 contacted at cell phone numbers, was conducted by Opinion Research Corp., Seattle, Wash., for $50,000, the city reports.

It will remain to be seen if the answers provided during the survey in July and August to two questions will be borne out in the Nov. 3 election. On that day, six of the nine City Council seats are on the ballot with five current City Council members competing in four of the six races.

To one key question, 48 percent said the city is headed in the right direction, 34 percent said it was headed in the wrong direction and 18 percent in neither direction.

To another key question - Do you feel you are getting your money's worth for the taxes you pay? - 51 percent said yes, 31 percent said no, and 18 percent said neither yes nor no.

The report notes that more than one third of respondents have concerns about public safety. They are concerned about violent crime (34 percent), gang-related problems (38 percent), drug-related crimes (35 percent) and the upkeep of properties (35 percent).

The report also says the respondents' expectations about Cedar Rapids downtown are not currently being met. Fifty-six percent of those asked said the vibrancy of downtown doesn't meet expectations. In addition, 40 percent said downtown would not be as safe at night as their own neighborhood.

Cedar Rapids residents gave highest marks for fire protection and emergency medical services: Only 1 percent of those contacted said those services did not meet expectations, while 99 percent said they meet or exceed expectations.

Ambulance services, recycling, water, airport, garbage pickup, yard waste pickup, parks and recreation, sewer and police all were scored between 97 percent and 90 percent for meeting or exceeding expectations.

The survey results in most instances did not provide exact numbers to detail what percent thought the services exceeded expectations and what percentage thought the services met expectations.

Ten percent of the respondents said police services did not meet expectations.

Road maintenance scored lowest among 21 categories of services with 37 percent of respondents saying that the city's road maintenance was below expectations. Other low scorers were sidewalk maintenance and libraries, which 25 percent and 24 percent of respondents respectively said fell below expectations.

Nineteen percent said snow removal did not meet expectations.

Overall, 43 percent of respondents said the quality of service provided by city employees exceeds expectations, 45 percent said the service meets expectations and 12 percent said it does not meet expectations.

Like any survey, there are plenty of numbers to choose from.

Go here to see the survey: http://www.cedar-rapids.org/citymanager/BiennialCitizenSatisfactionSurvey.asp.

For instance, 45 percent of households that were called refused to participate in the survey.

Fifty-four percent thought Cedar Rapids had better city services than comparably sized cities, but in the seven-state region of Iowa, Missouri, Minnesota, Nebraska, Kansas and the Dakotas, 68 percent of residents think their city services are better than other comparably sized cities.

Forty-four percent said the city isn't doing enough to attract new businesses and industries.