Survey: San Carlos residents are happy

Responses were overwhelmingly positive and have been year over year since the city began conducting the survey in 2014. Dr. Tim McLarney, president of True North Research, the firm tapped to conduct the survey, said those results are “highly unusual.” 

“Despite the fact that the past few years have been exceptionally challenging in a lot of ways you wouldn’t in many ways know that’s happening by staring at your survey results. You’ve done a remarkable job of keeping this ship on a straight course and steady through what has been some stormy times,” McLarney said. “It is truly a remarkable set of patterns and it’s something that doesn’t happen by accident. You have to work hard to get those kinds of scores.” 

The scores McLarney references include an 83% overall approval rating in the city’s performance providing community services. That approval rating shot up to 97% when discussing library services, 95% for trash and recycling services, 94% for keeping buildings and facilities clean and attractive, 94% for youth and recreational programming and 94% for special community events like concerts in the park, the Goblin Walk, the Night of Holiday Lights and other events. 

And 91% of survey participants rated their quality of life in the city as either excellent or good. Another 8% said quality of life was fair and only 1% said it was poor or very poor. Positive sentiments were consistent among subgroups — those under 35 years old, 35 to 44, 45 to 54, 55 to 64 and 65 or older; renters and homeowners; male or female; those with children; and differing years living in the city — with at least 86% of each group saying quality of life was good or excellent. 

Community satisfaction in some areas have also increased slightly since the survey was last conducted in 2021. Nearly 80% of respondents were happy with how the city manages its finances and nearly 81% said they trust the city. Of respondents, 93.5% said they found city staff to be professional and 84% said they were satisfied with the city’s communication efforts. 

“It’s certainly helpful for me to see this and understand where we are and the fact that we’re doing good year over year,” Mayor Adam Rak said. “We’re doing something right, which is a good thing.” 

Despite the positive reviews, residents also had opinions on areas they’d like to see the city improve including addressing traffic, parking and congestion, enforcing laws and improving public safety and improving and maintaining public infrastructure.  

Public opinion shifted substantially in some areas. About 64% of respondents said they were satisfied with how the city maintains storm drains, sewers and creeks, a drop of 25% compared to 2021 and the most statistically significant change seen in the survey. And about 67% of respondents said they wanted to see the city provide more resources and to make facilities available during power shutoffs, an increase of more than 8% from 2021. Those statistical shifts underscore the effects recent winter storms have had on the community which dealt with major flooding, downed trees and power lines, and utility shutoffs.

Alternatively, concerns for reducing traffic congestion dropped more than 9% compared to the previous survey and the importance of providing public parking downtown also dropped by about 7%. And nearly 60% of survey respondents said preserving community character and promoting economic development were important but concern in those areas dipped about 5% from last year. 

Councilmember Sara McDowell noted residents are still struggling to find child care. Of the 721 people who participated, about 24% have children under the age of 13 and about 46% of those families searched for child care in the past two years. Of those who searched, about 72% found it difficult to find child care services, similar rates seen in past years. 

But responses show the intensity of difficulty has increased with about 50.5% saying it was very difficult and nearly 22% saying it was somewhat difficult. In 2021, 37.2% said it was very difficult while 41.6% said it was somewhat difficult. 

“It gives me some satisfaction that we as a council and a city are continuing to work on child care. It’s obviously still a big need in our community,” McDowell said. 

The council found some results perplexing, specifically those around housing and development. About 15% of residents said they wanted to see the city slow down development — the top-ranking issue respondents wanted addressed, according to the survey graph — and about 39% said the pace of development was too fast. 

But respondents were least satisfied with the amount of affordable housing the city was providing with nearly 50% of respondents saying they were either dissatisfied or very dissatisfied. And when asked about the amount of each category of housing built in the city, more respondents said there was too little of nearly each type compared to previous years. 

Councilmembers did acknowledge that the public seems to be less concerned with development pacing compared to previous years. About 55% of respondents in 2021 said pacing was too fast, meaning concern fell by nearly 20% in two years. Meanwhile, about 41% said the pace of development has been about right and 12% said it was too slow. 

When asked about how the data, and specifically the comments around city services during blackouts, would affect operations, City Manager Jeff Maltbie said staff plans to look at the results and use them to make changes where necessary. 

“We have to be willing to ask the public how they’re doing and what they need,” Maltbie said. “That’s why we’re all here, to make our communities better.”