By Mike Hazlip—
The results of a new city survey are in, with participants rating public safety and fiscal health as their top concerns — many also mentioning homelessness by name in accompanying written comments.
Out of a total of 449 participants, the city’s strategic goals of “Sustain and Preserve Public Safety” and “Maintain and Enhance Fiscal Stability” were selected as the most important of the city’s five three-year strategic goals, by 75.2% and 72.3%, respectively. “Maintain Public Infrastructure and Enhance Alternative Modes of Transportation” was the third most popular choice, with 49.8% of respondents selecting that as a priority.
Published survey results also include unfiltered responses, with “homeless” being a keyword in 21 of the comments on public safety. Responses included: “The homeless population and drug dealer in my neighborhood is an issue,” “Address the growing homeless problem,” and “Assist our homeless neighbors.” One individual responded with: “Ban the City Council, dissolve cityhood,” while another said “I feel like the city does a pretty good job but we need more restaurants and sunrise mall fixed.”
A keyword map of frequent terms included in the results report shows “homeless,” “problem,” “police,” “streets,” and “roads” were among the most frequent keywords used in responses. There were a total of 54 written responses, according to the data.
A number of written responses focused on improving roads without encouraging alternative methods of transportation. “Maintain public infrastructure but not interested in alternative forms of transportation,” one individual wrote.”
Participants were divided on their level of engagement with the city. 41.3% said they “Feel like I don’t know much about what our city government is doing,” while 39.8% said they “Feel like the City does a good job of serving the public as a whole.”
One respondent said “I love our City’s Law Enforcement; they are always there for us & get no (or not enough) praise,” while another claimed “The City’s Police Department needs oversight. They are out of control and dishonest.”
City Spokeswoman Nichole Baxter said the city uses community input to help guide policy decisions.
“The results of the latest survey will be used for several purposes: setting a baseline for us to track education efforts around City strategic planning/objectives, gauge current levels of community engagement, continue to monitor community priorities for planning, and more,” she said in an email to The Sentinel on Friday.
The data shows 695 people were invited to take the survey, with 449 participating. The surveys were launched through FlashVote beginning in August last year, with the city’s first survey drawing 370 participants. With a total population of more than 87,000 according to July 2019 census data, the total number of people responding to the survey is about .5% of the population.
Baxter said the city hopes to increase the number of participants in future surveys.
“We really value the FlashVote results, and the opportunity to hear directly from the community. We are pleased with the level of engagement on the survey and hope to keep building the audience.”
The survey began May 3 and ended on May 5, with FlashVote allowing for a 48-hour window for residents to take the survey. Residents can opt-in to receive future surveys at www.flashvote.com/citrus-heights-ca.
