A recent survey of Bellingham residents found continued high satisfaction with quality of life in Bellingham, alongside concerns about growth, development and traffic.
The City of Bellingham conducted a 16-minute survey of 600 randomly selected Bellingham residents in August, 2008. The survey replicated some items from surveys of registered Bellingham voters in 2004 and 2006, as well as adapting items from Portland, Oregon's annual survey. The purpose of the survey was to help identify people's satisfaction level and priorities for city services.
The results below and more were presented to the Bellingham City Council on Oct. 27, 2008.
People gave continued high ratings to the quality of life in Bellingham, with 90 percent saying it was excellent or good. In addition, 60 percent of respondents said they think Bellingham is "generally going in the right direction."
When asked to name the most important problem facing Bellingham, the most frequent responses had to do with growth. This included comments about sprawl, overdevelopment and planning. Traffic issues were also mentioned (10 percent) as were watershed issues (6 percent).
More than half of respondents gave the city excellent or good ratings on:
Planning for growth was the least well rated item, with 22 percent of respondents saying the city is doing a poor job. This is down from 30 percent of respondents giving the city a poor rating in 2006.
As in prior years, respondents placed fire protection, emergency medical services and crime prevention at the top of the priority list, out of 13 topics presented. In addition, involving the public and guiding development were top tier priorities.
Respondents were also asked to rate the same 13 items in terms of how well the city was doing in providing the service. The highest priority items -- providing fire protection, preventing crime and providing emergency medical services -- were rated as good or excellent by more than 70% of respondents.
In addition, maintaining parks and trails, providing library services, opportunities for education in culture and the arts and recreational programs were given high marks. Lowest marks were given to communicating with citizens and involving the public in decision making.
Respondents were asked a series of questions about their sense of safety in different parts of their neighborhood or town and at different times of day. Time of day was the strongest indicator of feeling safe, with 91 percent of respondents feeling extremely or very safe in their neighborhoods during the day and 72 percent feeling as safe downtown. People felt least safe downtown at night, with 25 percent saying they felt extremely or very safe. Nighttime also affected residents' perceptions of safety in neighborhood parks.
The survey also asked questions about budget and taxes, neighborhood characteristics, and more.
For information, contact the Mayor's Office.
Updated: Nov 4, 2008
