DATE: 10/16/2024
TO: Honorable Mayor and City Council Members
FROM: Office of the City Manager
2024-96
REQUEST FOR CITY COUNCIL ACTION
SUBJECT:
RESULTS OF THE 2024 COMMUNITY SURVEY
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
This staff report asks the City Council to receive and comment on the results of the 2024 Community Survey. The survey report provides the perception of 1,236 randomly sampled residents on 24 performance indicators from the City’s Strategic Plan. Compared with the 2023 Annual Community Survey, residents’ perceptions of the City of Corona remained consistent in most categories, with significant improvement on 5 indicators and a decrease on one indicator.
RECOMMENDED ACTION:
That the City Council receive and file the 2024 Community Survey.
BACKGROUND & HISTORY:
The City of Corona Strategic Plan includes 24 performance indicators related to resident perceptions of the City and its services. These perceptions are gathered in an annual survey to measure progress in achieving the strategic plan's goals and objectives.
The City began its efforts in 2022, when the City contracted with the National Research Center at Polco to utilize their National Community Survey (NCS) for a robust scientific survey to gather and benchmark resident perception data. 714 residents participated in the 2022. In 2023, City staff developed and conducted a statistically valid, representative survey methodology, based on the NCS model, that could be implemented for the City’s annual Community Survey. 972 residents participated in the 2023 survey.
ANALYSIS:
The 2024 Community Survey was developed and distributed by the City of Corona. The survey contained only the specific perception questions associated with the City's Strategic Plan to increase participation rates and decrease the participants' time burden.
A random sample of 1400 residences in each of the five districts (7000 total) were invited to participate in the survey. The survey was conducted between June 25th and September 30th, 2024. The survey was distributed by email invitation and with a mailed paper survey. The email list was compiled using utility, animal license, and recreation center data. The survey was available in English and Spanish. All survey invitations included a unique link and QR code to prevent a respondent from participating more than once. Four follow-up email invitations were sent to encourage participation before a printed version of the survey was distributed. Participants who completed the paper survey were verified as not having completed the online survey, and then their responses were entered into the dataset by staff. A post-survey geographical analysis was conducted to ensure the respondents were dispersed throughout each district and the city.
Of the 7,000 households invited to participate, 1,236 completed the survey, providing an overall response rate of 17.6%. This response rate has a 95% confidence level that the survey findings represent the entire population, within a margin of error of plus or minus
2.7 percentage points around any given percent reported. The 2024 sample demographic profile and housing characteristics are like the 2022 NCS and 2023 Annual Community Survey (ACS) samples. A detailed description of the participant demographics is contained in section 2.4 of the report.
The survey results are discussed in sections 3, 4, 5, and 6 of the report. Compared with the 2023 ACS, residents' perceptions of the City of Corona slightly improved across almost all categories. The biggest improvements were in residents' perceptions regarding Corona as a place to raise children, the variety and frequency of community events, neighborhood safety, and Corona’s overall direction. Some areas that showed the least improvement were the availability of paths and walking trails, City parks, and overall sense of place. There was no difference in resident’s perception of the city’s efforts to reduce homelessness
The staff report's summary table shows the percentage of respondents scoring the items as “excellent” or “good” compared to the 2023 ACS results. The survey report analyzes each question further.
Sound Infrastructure
Safe Community
Sense of Place
High Performing Government
The survey was also made available online for anyone who wanted to participate. It was promoted on the City’s social media channels and website during the same timeframe as the representative sample. 640 responses were received through this open participation process. These responses are analyzed separately from the scientific sample in section 7 of the report. Overall, the open survey responses were significantly more negative than the random survey responses, except for their perception of recommending Corona as a place to live and the City’s efforts to reduce homelessness.
FINANCIAL IMPACT:
There is no financial impact associated with receiving the results of the 2024 Community Survey.
Change in "Excellent" and "Good" responses 2024 2023 2022 Availability of paths and walking trails 62% 64% 57%
City parks 74% 75% 64%
Recreation centers or facilities 65% 66% 59%
Bike lanes 59% 60% 50%
Change in "Excellent" and "Good" responses 2024 2023 2022 Public safety efforts 69% 67% 59%
Do you feel safe in your neighborhood during the day 84% 80% 86% City’s efforts to reduce homelessness 38% 38% 25%
Change in "Excellent" and "Good" responses 2024 2023 2022 Corona as a place to live 83% 81% 82%
Corona as a place to raise children 83% 79% 77%
Sense of community 59% 62% 54%
Recommend living in Corona to someone who asks 87% 88% 80% Overall image or reputation of Corona 69% 69% 56%
Overall appearance of Corona 64% 64% 50%
Cleanliness of Corona 59% 60% 50%
Openness and acceptance 75% 74% 58%
Places to recreate, socialize, meet, and connect 51% 49% 37% Variety and frequency of community events 53% 49% 39%
Change in "Excellent" and "Good" responses 2024 2023 2022 The value of services for the taxes paid to Corona 47% 48% 42% The overall direction that Corona is taking 59% 56% 51% Overall confidence in Corona government 51% 51% 38%
Treating all residents fairly 64% 65% 50%
Quality of the services provided by the City of Corona 68% 65% 61% ENVIRONMENTAL ANALYSIS:
This action is exempt pursuant to Section 15061(b)(3) of the Guidelines for the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), which states that a project is exempt from CEQA if the activity is covered by the common sense exemption that CEQA applies only to projects that have the potential for causing a significant effect on the environment. Where it can be seen with certainty that there is no possibility that the activity in question may have a significant effect on the environment, the activity is not subject to CEQA. This action is to receive a report on the results of the City’s annual Community Survey and there is no possibility that approving this project will have a significant effect on the environment. Therefore, no environmental analysis is required.
PREPARED BY: AMINAH MEARS, ASSISTANT TO THE CITY MANAGER REVIEWED BY: JUSTIN TUCKER, ASSISTANT CITY MANAGER
ATTACHMENTS:
1. Exhibit 1 – 2024 Annual Community Survey Report