2012 Baltimore Citizen Survey STEPHANIE RAWLINGS-BLAKE MAYOR.

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gov/citizensurvey Conducted by: The Schaefer Center

1 STEPHANIE RAWLINGS-BLAKE MAYOR 2012 Baltimore Citizen Survey Conducted by: The Schaefer Center for Public Policy University of Baltimore Schaefer Center for Public Policy

CITIZEN PRIORITIES Citizens were asked about their priorities for a set of city outcomes and rated the outcomes that were their first, second, and third priorities.

2 CITIZEN PRIORITIES Citizens were asked about their priorities for a set of city outcomes and rated the outcomes that were their first, second, and third priorities. Public Schools had the highest percentage of respondents who rated it as their first priority (49%), followed by Reducing Crime (25%) and Economic Development (8%). Citizens were also asked if they would be willing to pay more taxes to improve these outcomes. No more than 37% of citizens were willing to pay more taxes for any of the outcomes. Citizen Priorities Public Schools Reducing crime Economic development Youth development Making the city cleaner Improving city infrastructure Improving citizen health st Priority 2nd Priority 3rd Priority Services for which citizens are willing to pay more taxes. Public Schools Reducing crime Economic development Youth development Making the city cleaner Improving city infrastructure Improving citizen health Methodology The Schaefer Center for Public Policy at the University of Baltimore, in conjunction with the Baltimore City government, conducted a telephone survey of 1,786 Baltimore City residents who were at least 18 years of age. Data were collected via Computer Aided Telephone Interviewing (CATI) between March 5, 2012 and May 20, For the purpose of geographic comparison, respondents were classified according to zip code as residents in one of nine Citizen Survey districts. The responses were then weighted at the city level to more closely reflect the distribution of age, gender, race and geographic residence. The margin of error for the responses is 2.33% at the 95% confidence level for analysis at the city level. All graphs and information that have come from sources other than the Baltimore Citizen Surveys have the sources noted Baltimore Citizen Survey 1

3 PRIORITY OUTCOME: Better Schools When asked how they would rate the quality of public education in Baltimore, just over a quarter of respondents (29%) rated public K through 12 education as Excellent or Good. This has been relatively consistent over the last four years. While the percentage of children assessed as ready for kindergarten has increased, the percentage of 3rd graders scoring Advanced or Proficient on the reading portion of the MSA were at their lowest point in the last five years. Rating of K-12 Education Services ( ) How would you rate the quality of Baltimore public K-12 education services? Excellent Good Fair Poor No experience MSA Proficiency Levels Grade 3 Reading (percentage) Baltimore City Public Schools Advanced Proficient Basic Source: 2012 Maryland State Report Card Percentage of Children Assessed as Ready for Kindergarten 3 Source: 2012 Maryland State Report Card Baltimore Citizen Survey 2

4 PRIORITY OUTCOME: Safer Streets Fire protection was once again the most highly rated safety-related service in 2012, with 64% rating it as either Excellent or Good. Violent crime has continued to decrease in the city, and survey results are catching up with this trend. Fourteen percent of citizens surveyed said that the problem of violent crime is Getting Better, up from 9% in the 2011 survey. Citizens perception of safety improved in Thirty-four percent reported feeling safe downtown at night, up from 29% in Large majorities of respondents continue to feel safe in their neighborhoods during the day (9) and night (66%). Rating of Safety Related Services 2012 How would you rate the quality of the following safety-related services? Fire Protection EMS / Ambulance service Street Lighting Police Protection Excellent Good Fair Poor No experience Violent Crime Rate - Baltimore City UCR part 1 crime per 1,000 residents Property Crime Rate - Baltimore City Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation Uniform Crime Reports (UCR) Uniform Crime Reports (UCR) UCR part 1 crime per 1,000 residents Violent crime Do you think violent crime in Baltimore is getting better or worse? Property crime Do you think property crime in Baltimore is getting better or worse? Getting much worse Getting worse About the same Getting better Getting much worse Getting worse About the same Getting better 2012 Baltimore Citizen Survey 3

5 PRIORITY OUTCOME: Stronger Neighborhoods For the first time in 2012, citizens were asked separately about their satisfaction with street and sidewalk maintenance. While only 28% of respondents rated street maintenance as Excellent or Good, 42% gave these marks for sidewalk maintenance. After two years of declining ratings, housing code enforcement got a bump in 2012, with the percentage of respondents rating it Excellent or Good growing from 21% to 26%. At the same time, the survey showed a jump in the percentage of respondents reporting that the problem of poorly maintained homes is getting better from 5% in 2011 to 14% in Rating of Neighborhood-Related Services (2012) How would you rate the quality of the following neighborhood-related services? Snow Removal Street Maintenance Sidewalk Maintenance Housing Code Enforcement Animal Control Excellent Good Fair Poor No experience 5 3 Percentage of respondents who rated neighborhood services as excellent or good. Snow Removal Housing Code Enforcement Animal Control (First asked in 2012) Number of Lane Miles Resurfaced or Reconstructed Vacant and Abandoned Residential Housing , ,000 16,810 16,461 15,955 16,084 15, , , Source: Baltimore City Department of Transportation Source: Baltimore City Department of Housing and Community Development 2012 Baltimore Citizen Survey 4

6 PRIORITY OUTCOME: A Growing Economy The perception of the availability of good jobs and cultural activities remains mostly unchanged in 2012 as compared to the last four years. However, as the economy slowly recovers, the percentage of respondents who rated the availability of good jobs as Poor continued to fall, from 42% in 2010 to 38% last year and 34% this year. According to the Baltimore City Department of Finance, the number of businesses in Baltimore City has continued to decline over the last four years. At the same time, Baltimore s unemployment rate has slowly declined over the last two years and more residents have jobs. Availability of Good Jobs in Baltimore ( ) Availability of Cultural Activities in Baltimore ( ) The availability of good jobs as Excellent or Good in Baltimore? 3 25% % 3 The availability of cultural activities as Excellent or Good in Baltimore? Total Number of Businesses in Baltimore City 12,133 11,997 11,982 11, Source: Baltimore City Department of Finance, Personal Property Tax Data Unemployment Data ,000 14% number employed 320, , , , , ,000 12% 8% 6% 4% 2% unemployment rate unemployment rate number employed 200,000 Source: Maryland Department of Labor Baltimore Citizen Survey 5

7 PRIORITY OUTCOME: Innovative Government After falling from its high of 63% in 2009, the percentage of respondents who reported being either Satisfied or Very Satisfied with all Baltimore City services continued to hold in the mid-forties with 46%. Fire protection and EMS/ambulance services continued to be the most highly rated services that Baltimore City provides, with average ratings of 9.6 and 9.3, respectively (out of 10 possible points). The services with the largest gaps between their Importance and Satisfaction ratings are K-12 Education (9.2 Importance vs. 5.6 Satisfaction), Rat Control (9.0 vs. 5.2), and Street Maintenance (8.7 vs. 4.9). These are opportunities for improving city services. Overall Satisfaction with Baltimore City Services ( ) 10 8 Very satisfied or satisfied Very unsatisfied or unsatisfied Baltimore City Services Mean Importance and Rating (2011) Fire protection EMS/Ambulance service Police protection K-12 education Trash removal Rat removal Street lighting Water & sewer services Snow removal Street maintenance Libraries Sidewalk maintenance 311 (non-emergency) service Curbside recycling Housing code enforcement Animal control City run recreation centers Tree planting/maintenance Mean Importance Rating City run swimming pools Baltimore Citizen Survey 6

8 PRIORITY OUTCOME: A Cleaner & Healthier City Most respondents (57%) rated trash service as either Excellent or Good. The percentage of those who thought that curbside recycling was Excellent or Good fell to 48% from 53% in Twenty-seven percent of respondents reported the city s overall cleanliness as Excellent or Good, with 58% giving the same ratings to their own neighborhoods. These results are similar to last year s survey. Over a third of respondents (36%) reported walking to work, school or shopping Always or Most of the Time, followed by 27% who reported taking public transportation. Only 4% used a bicycle. Rating of Services Related to a Clean and Sustainable Baltimore Curbside recycling Trash service Water & sewer service Rat control Excellent Good Fair Poor No experience Availability of Recreational Opportunities 35% 3 25% 15% 5% Transportation Usage Public Transportation Walk Excellent Good Fair Poor Don t Know Bicycle Always Cleanliness as Excellent or Good Most of the time Sometimes Rarely Never 10 8 Cleanliness of neighborhoods Cleanliness of the city Baltimore Citizen Survey 7

Appendix K: Responses to Selected Survey Results by Gender

Appendix K: Responses to Selected Survey Results by Gender Page 2 Citywide Customer Survey Results Tables Table 1: Index Scores by Gender of Respondent...2 Table 2: Quality of Life by Gender of Respondent...2