Homelessness, traffic continue to bug Santa Monica residents
CITYWIDE Just like Ebert and Roeper, residents here gave City Hall an enthusiastic “two thumbs up” when it comes to libraries, police and fire, tree trimming and other essential services.
But in the areas of homelessness,traffic management and addressing neighborhood concerns, local government continues to fall short.
That’s according to an annual survey of over 400 residents conducted earlier this year.
“There’s no surprise here as traffic and homelessness were far and away the most important issues for people [with] the number of people who mentioned homelessness as their top concern doubling over prior years,” said Paul Goodwin with Goodwin Simon Victoria Research, a Culver City-based firm which conducted telephone interviews with 417 residents in both English and Spanish back in January.
“The good news is that overall satisfaction with city services has remained at or above 80 percent since 2000, which is a very, very powerful endorsement of the work you are doing as council members and city staff,” Goodwin said in a meeting with the council last week.
Residents love their retail, with 89 percent satisfied with the appearance of retail stores and restaurants near their homes. They are also big fans of local parks, with 86 percent reporting that they are very satisfied by their experiences at city facilities.
Cops must be doing their job as well, as a whopping 93 percent of people surveyed felt safe walking in their neighborhoods during the day. However, a significantly smaller number — 68 percent — felt safe walking at night, much of which had to do with a 14 percent increase in those concerned about crime, particularly gang activity.
Views are still mixed on City Hall’s spending. A reported 44 percent said City Hall is doing an “excellent” or “good” job, while a near equal 42 percent responded with a negative rating.
Looking closer at the results of the survey, a higher proportion of people living in the 90401 zip code gave the city a negative rating for addressing neighborhood concerns, at 62 percent, than in other zip codes in the city. Those living in Sunset Park were also more positive in their review of City Hall’s job performance in that area, at 61 percent, than those living in the Ocean Park area, at 38 percent. Renters are also more likely to give City Hall a good review — 48 percent — than homeowners, a group that reported just a 39 percent approval rating.
A person’s attitudes towards City Hall varied greatly depending on how much contact someone has had with local government, with more negative reviews the more interaction residents had.
Like any survey, there is a 5 percent margin for error as well as a measure of inconsistency from one year to the next because of how certain questions were presented in the most recent sampling, Goodwin said.
City Hall has embarked on a new customer service campaign with the tag line, “Doing the Right Thing Right!,” in an effort to improve relations with customers, being they residents applying for a permit to remodel their homes, entrepreneurs looking for a business license or visitors trying to find a bus line that serves Montana Avenue.
City staff will also be using the results of the survey, along with suggestions submitted by the public, to draft community priorities for upcoming budget discussions with the council. The survey asked very detailed questions including how easy it is to access the city’s Web site, overall satisfaction with the beach and local parks, services provided by first responders, and youth services.
“I think it’s clear that in the past couple of years, this City Council has more seriously opened its mind to new approaches to homelessness and even though that continues to be a major concern of our community I think there is a sense we are looking at new solutions and we are starting to find them,” said Councilman Kevin McKeown. “I still believe there is a lot more we can and need to do to address traffic or mobility in Santa Monica.”
Residents can get involved this evening — Monday — during a meeting with Planning Director Eileen Fogarty and staff at Virginia Avenue Park, where they will be discussing what qualities make neighborhoods interesting and desirable places to be as part of the update to the city’s general plan, which will guide the city’s future in terms of development and circulation for the next 20 years.
The meeting starts at 7 p.m.
Mayor Richard Bloom had some encouraging words for city employees who are on the front line interacting with the public in both good times and bad.
“The statistics show that members of the public are making inquiries of staff and are utilizing city facilities and services more and more every year and customer service levels relate partly to where we live, and partly to the fact that we have an extremely professional staff who are very dedicated to serving the public,” Bloom said. “If we didn’t have both of those things, these numbers would read a different way.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on March 26, 2007. Read the original PDF.