Survey: Redwood City engages inclusive community

At a time when “trust in governance is wavering nationally, ratings for multiple items related to Redwood City governance have increased significantly,” the survey summary reads. Residents feel the city understands its residents’ needs and values transparency.

When compared to the prior survey, conducted in 2023, residents rated the overall direction of the city 10 percentage points higher in 2025. 

Councilmember Diane Howard, and others on the council, shared their delight in seeing how residents feel about the city’s efforts to engage the community. 

More residents are watching local public meetings — and increase from 12% to 23% — and they increasingly feel they receive important information about issues facing the community, results show. 

“The fact that our community has spoken, that our transparency and our engagement has improved so much. … I do remember times when people felt ‘we never hear from our city council, we don’t know what going on in our city,’” Howard said.  

The city particularly stands out for embracing diversity, Neumeyer said. The majority of respondents said the city demonstrates openness and acceptance toward people of diverse backgrounds and values, and respects all residents and attracts people from all backgrounds. 

“In these times, [that’s] music to my ears,” Mayor Elmer Martínez Saballos said. 

Beyond inclusivity, overall community engagement was ranked particularly high by residents, and trended upwards since 2023. Residents said they appreciated the special events and festivals hosted by the city, and felt there was an abundance of opportunities to be involved. 

These results exceed ratings gathered from similar communities, Neumeyer said. 

“So many people in our staff worked so many hours to go above and beyond. We see it, and it’s so gratifying to see that the community sees it,” Councilmember Kaia Eakin said. “This is really wonderful.” 

Ratings for the local economy are increasing, but overall affordability still remains a challenge. While availability of affordable housing and variety of housing options were ranked similarly to national benchmarks, the cost of living was ranked lower than desired, Neumeyer said. 

Most residents feel safe in their neighborhoods and downtown, but residents still ranked the “overall feeling of safety” at a rate lower than national benchmarks. Particularly, less than half of residents felt crime prevention was “excellent or good.”

While approximately 85% of residents feel satisfied with services from the fire department, positive ratings for fire prevention and education trended down from last survey. 

Some of the biggest areas that the city can improve upon, according to survey results, include sidewalk maintenance and street cleaning, both metrics that rated lower than national averages. 

Councilmembers noted that street cleaning in Redwood City is difficult due to the issue of limited parking, but acknowledged the responses that showed 53% satisfaction. Ratings of satisfaction for sidewalks, alternatively, was particularly low, at 39%. 

Traffic flow on major streets and ease of travel by public transportation consistently remained areas for necessary improvement, results showed. 

The survey results not only gauges what the city is already working on, but will help inform its priorities in the future, councilmembers said. 

The council applauded staff’s work in influencing the upward trend in ranking overall quality of life by seven percentage points and Redwood City as a place to live by six. 

“Let’s keep our foot on the pedal and let’s keep building on what our community already knows and feels is happening here at City Hall,” Martínez Saballos said.