On August 10, 2021 the City Council approved Resolution No. 7145 authorizing the City Manager to make adjustments to PRIME power generations rates as they reasonably determined necessary with certain conditions, limitations, and requirements. Since the approval of Resolution No. 7145 the City Manager has not needed to adjust rates under his limited administrative authority.
Since PRIME’s launch on September 1, 2017, to serve all residential, municipal, and commercial accounts in Pico Rivera, the program has experienced a 95% participation rate and vast support from the local and surrounding communities.
Discussion:
California Choice Energy Authority (CalChoice), PRIME’s technical consultants, and City Staff are continually reviewing SCE’s rate proposals to determine if PRIME’s rates should be adjusted accordingly. If CalChoice and Staff determine a rate adjustment is necessary, it requires several months of planning to ensure City Council approves the revised rate schedules, even for minor adjustments. Typically, it takes approximately 2- 3 months for the rates to take effect due to the City Council approval process, adjusting billing determinants, and notifying customers. In the past, this timeline has caused PRIME rates to be out of alignment with SCE rates for several months and impacted operating revenues.
In order to address fluctuations in operating costs and ensure rate adjustments take effect in a timely manner, City Council approved Resolution No. 7145. Staff now recommends City Council consider making minor modifications to the conditions, limitations, and requirements that grant the City Manager the authority to make adjustments to PRIME rates. Prior to implementing a rate adjustment, the City Manager:
a) Must have reasonably determined the rate adjustment is necessary for PRIME to avoid an operating deficit or surplus; (ii) consistent with applicable law; and (iii) consistent with PRIME’s Implementation plan and other governing documents and policies;
b) Provide written notice of the rate adjustment shall be distributed to the affected customers; and
c) Must ensure that rate adjustments shall not result in a rate that is more than five percent (5%) higher or lower than Southern California Edison’s total rate.
Rescinding Resolution No. 7145 and approving the proposed resolution will allow PRIME to react more swiftly to SCE rate changes and provide rates that are competitive with SCE’s total bill rather than only their generation rates.
A priority of the City Council is the protection of the City’s fund accounts, maintaining reserves to ensure long-term program rate stability, and generating revenue sufficient to CITY COUNCIL AGENDA REPORT – MEETING OF FEBRUARY 8, 2022 APPROVE A RESOLUTION RESCINDING RESOLUTION NO. 7145 AND
AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO MAKE CERTAIN LIMITED ADJUSTMENTS
TO CUSTOMER POWER GENERATION RATES FOR PICO RIVERA INNOVATIVE
MUNICIPAL ENERGY (PRIME)
cover operating costs. PRIME’s adopted rate policy which has been certified by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) states that “The City will establish rates sufficient to recover all costs related to operation of the PRIME program, including any reserves that may be required as a condition of financing and other discretionary reserve funds that may be approved by Pico Rivera”. Additionally, the primary objectives of the rate-setting policy are to set rates that achieve the following: rate competitiveness, voluntary renewable energy supply options, rate stability, equity among customers, customer understanding and revenue sufficiency.
Conclusion:
It is recommended that the City Council rescind Resolution No. 7145 and approve the proposed resolution authorizing the City Manager limited administrative authority to adjust PRIME rates five percent (5%) higher or lower than Southern California Edison’s total bill rate. Operating in a competitive environment presents several challenges that require a responsive team that can adjust to the ever-changing fluctuations in the energy market. Staff is confident that the proposed rate-setting methodology is reflective of the research, forecasting, and risk mitigation efforts conducted by staff and consultants to respond and adjust to the ever-changing fluctuations in the marketplace.
Steve Carmona
SC:KM:ac
Enclosures: 1) Resolution
2) Resolution No. 7145
3) Adopted Rate Policy
RESOLUTION NO. ____
A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PICO
RIVERA, CALIFORNIA, RESCINDING RESOLUTION NO. 7145 AND
AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO MAKE CERTAIN LIMITED
ADJUSTMENTS TO CUSTOMER POWER GENERATION RATES FOR
PICO RIVERA INNOVATIVE MUNICIPAL ENERGY
WHEREAS, on January 24, 2017, the City Council (“City Council”) of the City of Pico Rivera (“City”) adopted Ordinance No. 1105 declaring its intent to establish Pico Rivera Innovative Municipal Energy (“PRIME”) pursuant to the community choice aggregation (“CCA”) provisions of California law; and
WHEREAS, the City Council approved an implementation plan (“Implementation Plan”) for PRIME, and the California Public Utilities Commission certified the Implementation Plan on April 26, 2017; and
WHEREAS, pursuant to Section 8 of the Implementation Plan and applicable law, the City Council established initial power generation rates for PRIME customers and has thereafter established such rates as part of the City’s regular budget adoption and review process; and
WHEREAS, on August 10, 2021, the City Council (“City Council”) of the City of Pico Rivera (“City”) adopted Resolution No. 7145 granting the City Manager of the City (“City Manager”) the power and authority to periodically make certain minor adjustments to PRIME rates in order to address fluctuation in operating costs and ensure sufficient revenue; and
WHEREAS, subject to the terms and conditions of this resolution, the City Council desires to grant to the City Manager of the City (“City Manager”) the power and authority to periodically make certain minor adjustments to PRIME rates as further defined below.
NOW THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the City Council of the City of Pico Rivera as follows:
SECTION 1. The foregoing recitals are true, correct and constitute a substantive part of this Resolution.
SECTION 2. Resolution No. 7145 is hereby rescinded.
SECTION 3. The City Manager shall have the power and authority to increase or reduce PRIME customer power generation rates as, and to the extent he or she reasonably determines necessary, for PRIME to avoid an operating deficit or surplus.
The City Manager’s power and authority pursuant to this resolution shall be subject to the following conditions, limitations, and requirements:
RESOLUTION NO. ___
(a) Prior to implementing a rate adjustment, the City Manager shall have reasonably determined the rate adjustment is (i) necessary for PRIME to avoid an operating deficit or surplus; (ii) consistent with applicable law; and (iii) consistent with PRIME’s Implementation Plan and other governing
documents and policies;
(b) Written notice of the rate adjustment shall be distributed to the affected customers; and
(c) A rate adjustment shall not result in a rate that is more than five percent (5%) higher or lower than Southern California Edison’s total rate.
SECTION 4. Future modifications to PRIME rates carried out by the City Manager, including all related notices and rate schedules, shall include a notation that the rates establish therein are subject to adjustment pursuant to the authority granted under this Resolution. Notwithstanding the first sentence in this Section 4, it is further resolved that no specific language is required for such notation and failure to include such notation shall not impact the effectiveness of such subsequent rate adjustments (including the power and authority granted herein) or effectiveness of any notice, and/or rate schedule.
SECTION 5. The City Clerk shall attest to the passage of this resolution and it shall thereupon be in full force and effect.
APPROVED and PASSED this 8th day of February, 2022.
Dr. Monica Sanchez, Mayor
ATTEST:
Anna M. Jerome, City Clerk
APPROVED AS TO FORM:
Arnold M. Alvarez-Glasman, City Attorney
AYES:
NOES:
ABSTAIN:
ABSENT:
To: Mayor and City Council
From: City Manager
Meeting Date: February 8, 2022
Subject: APPROVE A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING SUBMITTAL OF
AN APPLICATION FOR THE SENATE BILL (SB) 1383 LOCAL
ASSISTANCE GRANT PROGRAM THROUGH THE
DEPARTMENT OF RESOURCES RECYCLING AND
RECOVERY (CALRECYCLE)
Recommendation:
1. Approve a resolution authorizing the City of Pico Rivera’s submittal of a grant application to CalRecycle for funding under the SB 1383 Local Assistance Grant Program; and
2. Authorize the City Manager or his/her authorized designee to accept and execute all grant related documents and administer the grant (if the application is selected).
Fiscal Impact:
If the grant application is selected, the City of Pico Rivera is estimated to receive a onetime payment of $83,856 for costs associated with the implementation of SB 1383.
Funding estimates were based on per capita calculations using California’s Department of Finance’s January 2021 population statistics. No appropriations are being requested at the time.
Background:
In September 2016, SB 1383 was signed into law establishing methane emissions reduction targets in a statewide effort to reduce emissions of short-lived climate pollutants (SLCP) in various sectors of California’s economy. SB 1383 establishes targets to achieve a 50% reduction in the level of the statewide disposal of organic waste from 2014 levels by 2020 and a 75% reduction by 2025. It also establishes an additional target where no less than 20% of disposed of edible food is to be recovered for human consumption by 2025.
SB 1383 requires that the City provide organic waste collection to all residents and businesses, implement mechanisms for enforcement, and conduct education and outreach CITY COUNCIL AGENDA REPORT – MEETING OF FEBRUARY 8, 2022
APPROVE A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING SUBMITTAL OF AN APPLICATION FOR THE SENATE BILL (SB) 1383 LOCAL ASSISTANCE GRANT PROGRAM THROUGH
THE DEPARTMENT OF RESOURCES RECYCLING AND RECOVERY
(CALRECYCLE)
beginning January 1, 2022. Food-service businesses are also required to donate edible food to food recovery organizations to meet the state’s goal of 20% of the edible food being discarded be redirected to people in need.
On February 23, 2021, City Council approved Amendment No. 3 to incorporate the requirements of SB 1383 into Solid Waste Franchise Agreement No. 12-1290 with NASA Services, Inc. Subsequently, on November 9, 2021 City Council approved Ordinance No.1150 to establish enforcement mechanisms and procedures for commercial and residential waste generators, as required by CalRecycle.
Discussion:
In October 2021, Governor Newsom signed the California State Budget which included the Circular Economy Package, allocating $270 million to shift the state’s focus to a more resilient and renewable economy. The funds will support the implementation of goals to reduce short-lived climate pollutants, advance organic waste infrastructure, edible food recovery, and composting opportunities. Approximately 22% of the Circular Economy Package was allocated to assist local jurisdictions with the cost of implementing SB 1383.
As a result, CalRecycle is administering the SB 1383 Local Assistance Grant Program pursuant to Chapter 395, Statutes of 2016, and the SB 170 Budget Act of 2021. This noncompetitive, one-time grant program provides $57,000,000 of funding to local jurisdictions to assist with the implementation costs including but not limited to:
Capacity Planning,
Collection, Edible Food Recovery,
Education and Outreach,
Enforcement and Inspection,
Program Evaluation/Gap Analysis,
Procurement Requirements, and
Record-Keeping.
To be eligible for the first round of grant monies, applicants must have adopted an enforceable ordinance(s) or similarly enforceable mechanism by April 1, 2022 and the applicants governing body must have approved a resolution authorizing the submittal of the application and identifying the signature authority. The City has already met the first criteria with the adoption of Ordinance No. 1150 on November 9, 2021. Following the approval of the proposed resolution (Enclosure 1), the City will have met all the necessary criteria to review funds in the first round.
CITY COUNCIL AGENDA REPORT – MEETING OF FEBRUARY 8, 2022
APPROVE A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING SUBMITTAL OF AN APPLICATION FOR THE SENATE BILL (SB) 1383 LOCAL ASSISTANCE GRANT PROGRAM THROUGH
THE DEPARTMENT OF RESOURCES RECYCLING AND RECOVERY
(CALRECYCLE)
Conclusion:
Staff recommends that the City Council consider approving a resolution authorizing the submittal of a grant application for the SB 1383 Local Assistance Grant Program, and authorizing the City Manager (or his/her authorized designee) to execute all grant-related documents and administer the grant if the City’s application is selected for funding.
Steve Carmona
SC:KM:pg
Enclosure: 1) Resolution
RESOLUTION NO. _______
A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PICO RIVERA,
CALIFORNIA, AUTHORIZING SUBMISSION OF AN APPLICATION FOR SENATE BILL 1383 LOCAL ASSISTANCE GRANT PROGRAM FOR
WHICH THE CITY OF PICO RIVERA IS ELIGIBLE
WHEREAS, Public Resources Code sections 48000 et seq. authorize the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle) to administer various grant programs (grants) in furtherance of the State of California’s (state) efforts to reduce, recycle and reuse solid waste generated in the state thereby preserving landfill capacity and protecting public health and safety and the environment; and pursuant (explain briefly the background, need or purpose); and
WHEREAS, in furtherance of this authority CalRecycle is required to establish procedures governing the application, awarding, and management of the grants; and WHEREAS, CalRecycle grant application procedures require, among other things, an applicant’s governing body to declare by resolution certain authorizations related to the administration of CalRecycle grants.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the City Council of the City of Pico Rivera as follows:
SECTION 1. That the City of Pico Rivera authorizes the submittal of an applicationto CalRecycle for Senate Bill (SB) 1383 Local Assistance Grant Program.
SECTION 2. The City Manager, or his/her designee, is hereby authorized and empowered to execute in the name of the City of Pico Rivera all documents, including but not limited to, applications, agreements, annual reports including expenditure reports and amendments necessary to secure said payments to support the SB 1383 Local Assistance Grant Program.
SECTION 3. These authorizations shall be effective for five (5) years from the date of adoption of this resolution.
SECTION 4. The City Clerk shall attest to the passage of this resolution and it shall thereupon be in full force and effect.
[Signatures on following page]
RESOLUTION NO. ____
APPROVED AND PASSED this 8th day of February, 2022.
____________________________
Dr. Monica Sanchez, Mayor
ATTEST: APPROVED AS TO FORM:
____________________________ _______________________________ Anna M. Jerome, City Clerk Arnold M. Alvarez-Glasman, City Attorney AYES:
NOES:
ABSENT:
ABSTAIN:
To: Mayor and City Council
From: City Manager
Meeting Date: February 8, 2022
Subject: STRATEGIC PLAN DRAFT GOALS, STRATEGIES &
ACTIONS FOR THE CITY OF PICO RIVERA
Recommendation:
1. Receive and file draft goals, strategies, and actions for the five-year Strategic Plan for the City of Pico Rivera (City).
Fiscal Impact:
There is no fiscal impact from this item.
Background:
Over the last two (2) years, staff has been actively engaging stakeholders to develop the City’s first five-year Strategic Plan (Strategic Plan). The purpose of the Strategic Plan is to ensure alignment between the City’s resources and activities, City Council’s policy direction, and to advance the City’s mission and vision over the next five (5) years.
Strategic plans are a vital tool for local jurisdictions to ensure that the priorities set by the City Council are conveyed in the organization’s goals, that strategies are clearly defined to meet those goals, and the overall city government is accountable for meeting the community’s needs. The fundamental components of a strategic plan include mission, vision and values statements, and concise goals, strategies, and actions.
Defining the mission of the organization provides a starting point for the planning process, the vision defines the end goal, and the values guide how the organization will behave to reach that goal. The goals, strategies, and actions identified in a strategic plan establish the roadmap and timelines to guide the work of the City Council, executive leadership, and staff to effectively achieve the City’s vision. Strategic plans are not intended to be an exhaustive list of the day-to-day activities but a living document that defines the organization's goals and how to get there.
CITY COUNCIL AGENDA REPORT – MEETING OF FEBRUARY 8, 2022
STRATEGIC PLAN DRAFT GOALS, STRATEGIES & ACTIONS FOR THE CITY OF
PICO RIVERA
Discussion:
Recognizing that the development of a strategic plan is a disciplined process that requires input from all levels in the organization, the City Manager established the Executive Strike team and the Strategic Working Group (SWG). The SWG is comprised of interdepartmental and interdisciplinary staff members who provide a valuable perspective on enhancing City services, building staff capacity, and maneuvering the City through an ever-changing policy landscape. The SWG’s tasks are informed by the Executive Strike team’s feedback and input throughout the entire planning process.
To date, the SWG’s primary responsibility has been to develop a multi-phased approach to identify and compile draft goals, strategies, and actions. Under the direction of the City Manager, the SWG drafted the Community Outreach & Engagement Plan to establish a roadmap for incorporating feedback from the community, City staff, and City Council into the Strategic Plan.
City Council Strategy Sessions
There were a total of three (3) City Council study sessions to engage City councilmembers in the strategic planning process. First, on June 15, 2019, the City’s consultant McIntyre-St. Clair led a strategy session with City Council to set priorities for the next three (3) years. Shortly after, the COVID-19 pandemic struck which required staff to shift priorities and allocate resources to the emergency response. As we began to have a better grasp on the pandemic, a second strategy session was held on June 12, 2021, to identify new or emerging priorities and incorporate the priorities of newly elected councilmembers. Following the second session, the SWG worked closely with McIntyre- St. Clair to revise the draft strategic priorities and to develop mission, vision, and values statements. At the City Council meeting of November 8, 2021, McIntyreSt.Clair facilitated a study session to collect initial feedback from the City Council on the draft strategic priorities and mission, vision, and values statements.
City Council Survey
In addition to the three (3) City Council strategy sessions, the SWG launched a brief survey through SurveyMonkey on July 20, 2021, to collect initial input regarding the City’s mission, vision and values. The survey questions were open-ended and focused on identifying where we currently are as a City, what success looks like, how we would like to behave, and the top three (3) long-term priorities for City Council. The Council’s responses focused on creating a healthy, safe, and civically engaged community.
Executive Team Informational Interviews
The City’s consultant McIntyre-St.Clair conducted twelve informational interviews with members of the executive team to understand the perceived strengths, weaknesses, priority issues, and desired outcomes of the strategic plan. The interviews revealed that the greatest strengths are the City’s strong sense of community, committed staff, and good financial management. The greatest weaknesses include staff vacancies, a need CITY COUNCIL AGENDA REPORT – MEETING OF FEBRUARY 8, 2022
STRATEGIC PLAN DRAFT GOALS, STRATEGIES & ACTIONS FOR THE CITY OF
PICO RIVERA
for improved communication and cohesion, and the economic impact of the pandemic.
Looking forward, the top priority issues to be addressed by the strategic plan were to create clear goals and strategies, strengthen alignment between City Council, leadership, and staff, and strengthen staff training and development.
Community Survey
In January 2021, the SWG began researching and drafting questions for the first community survey since 2007 to collect statistically reliable data on residents’ satisfaction, priorities, and concerns. The draft questions were reviewed by the Executive Strike team then provided to City Council for final feedback on April 15, 2021.
The City then entered into a professional services agreement (PSA) with True North Research to administer the community survey and analyze residents’ responses. The survey was administered to a statistically random sample of 483 adult residents and conducted in both English and Spanish. Survey participants were recruited through email, text, and phone calls and the survey ran from September 15, 2021, and concluded September 30, 2021.
The survey results showed that the majority of residents are satisfied with municipal services and the overall quality of life in Pico Rivera. The survey also showed that residents were concerned with homelessness, desired more fine dining and entertainment options, and prioritized the repair and maintenance of City streets. The full report of results for the survey was presented to City Council on October 26, 2021, and posted to the City website for public consumption (Enclosure 2 and Enclosure 3).
In addition to the statistical survey, staff held five (5) in-person public feedback events to collect qualitative data from residents, including:
• The Community Bike Ride events on July 10, 2021, at the Pico Rivera Golf Course, July 17, 2021, and July 31, 2021, at Smith Park; • The Jalisco Mariachi Festival held on October 8, 2021, at Smith Park, and; • The COVID-19 vaccination clinic held on October 12, 2021, at the Senior Center.
The feedback received at those events was consistent with the results of the community survey conducted by True North.
Employee Engagement Survey
Additionally, the SWG researched and developed draft questions to administer an internal employee engagement survey. Similar to the community survey, the draft questions were reviewed by the Executive Strike team then provided to City Council for final feedback on April 15, 2021. The employee engagement survey was designed to measure how clear the City’s long-term direction and purpose are to employees, CITY COUNCIL AGENDA REPORT – MEETING OF FEBRUARY 8, 2022
STRATEGIC PLAN DRAFT GOALS, STRATEGIES & ACTIONS FOR THE CITY OF
PICO RIVERA
determine how well we have directed organizational growth, and understand satisfaction with the overall workplace culture.
The results of the survey showed that the majority of employees feel that they have the tools and resources needed to succeed in their job, are committed to the organization long-term, and have a strong sense of providing excellent customer service. The survey results also showed that there is a desire for increased communication and that the City’s goals and priorities are not clear to employees. The employee engagement survey results were presented to City Council and distributed to all employees on January 25, 2022 (Enclosure 4).
The qualitative and quantitative data collected from these outreach and engagement strategies were incorporated into the enclosed draft Strategic Plan goals, strategies, and actions.
The strategic plan is a living document meant to establish aspirational long-term goals for the City and a framework to achieve them. The strategic planning process has been collaborative, iterative, and malleable. Following the extensive community engagement process, the Executive Strike team and SWG held several meetings to further refine the mission and values, and craft realistic, achievable strategies to meet the established goals over the next five (5) years.
The five (5) strategic goal areas include:
1. Fiscal & Organizational Sustainability
2. Economic Development & Land Use
3. Infrastructure
4. Health, Wellness & Safety
5. Community Engagement
Implementation of the Plan
The implementation of the strategic plan will include a variety of processes and approaches that will embed the strategic goals and objectives into ongoing City operations.
For example:
• The Executive team will oversee the ongoing integration of the strategic plan into City operations by developing annual action plans.
• The SWG will collect performance metrics and operationalize action plans to meet the goals of the plan.
CITY COUNCIL AGENDA REPORT – MEETING OF FEBRUARY 8, 2022
STRATEGIC PLAN DRAFT GOALS, STRATEGIES & ACTIONS FOR THE CITY OF
PICO RIVERA
• Annual performance management and metrics will be reported to Council and the public.
• Annual updates will be completed in alignment with the budget cycle.
Staff anticipates bringing the final Strategic Plan before the City Council for consideration and approval on February 22, 2022. Following approval of the Strategic Plan, the Executive team will develop detailed departmental action plans to implement the strategies included in Enclosure 1. The action plans will be integrated into the budget process, implementation progress will be tracked throughout the fiscal year, and reported out on a regular basis.
Conclusion:
Staff recommends that the City Council receive and file the 2021 draft five-year Strategic Plan goals, strategies, and actions for the City of Pico Rivera.
Steve Carmona
SC:km
Enclosures: 1) Draft Strategic Plan goals, strategies, and actions 2) 2021 Community Survey Report of Results
3) Community Survey Results PowerPoint
4) Employee Engagement Survey Results PowerPoint
1 City of Pico Rivera
Draft Strategic Plan
February 2022
Our Mission
To positively impact our community by providing excellent city services, facilitating responsible stewardship of resources, and actively engaging our residents, businesses, and visitors.
Our Vision
Pico Rivera will be a leading progressive, thriving, connected community with a high standard for quality of life and collaborative governance.
Our Values – (CRAFT)
Craft is defined as a skill in planning, making, or executing. We will be using ‘CRAFT’ while executing the strategic priorities, goals, strategies, and actions of this plan. • Collaboration
• Respect
• Accountability
• Fairness and Inclusion
• Transparency
2 Chart of Strategic Goals, Strategies, and Actions
1. Fiscal and Organizational Sustainability
Create a city government built to adapt to change.
1.1 Build a more transparent and sustainable fiscal system to improve trust and efficiency.
1.2 Identify and implement opportunities for financial efficiency.
1.3 Improve organizational effectiveness to reduce costs and streamline efforts.
1.4 Foster organizational sustainability to ensure long-term stability.
1.5 Develop & retain the best possible team within the City.
2. Economic Development and Land Use
Encourage the development of vacant/underutilized space, creatively plan for growth, and engage the business community to transform the City as an economic and cultural hub.
2.1 Foster an environment that promotes diverse business growth, attraction, retention, and housing opportunities in the city.
2.2 Create special assessment districts to finance and facilitate economic development.
2.3 Facilitate public infrastructure improvements that enhance safety, accessibility, and mobility.
2.4 Establish the City of Pico Rivera as an environmentally friendly, sustainable community that attracts green industries.
3. Infrastructure
Plan, fund, build and maintain exceptionally reliable and cost effective infrastructure that contributes to an excellent quality of life.
3.1 Prepare and update master plans to ensure up-to-date planning, innovative practices, sustainable methods, and future technology.
3.2 Develop funding policies & strategies to invest in infrastructure planning, construction, and maintenance.
3.3 Complete construction of necessary infrastructure projects to implement master plans in a timely manner.
3.4 Facilitate a high-level of maintenance of City infrastructure to reduce increased costs from prolonged deferral.
3 4. Health, Wellness, and Safety
Create a safe and thriving city with low crime and high standards for health and wellness.
4.1 Mitigate Homelessness.
4.2 Promote public safety to foster a secure community.
4.3 Maintain a clean, safe, attractive environment to sustain a high quality of life for residents.
4.4 Promote healthy living to maintain a thriving population.
4.5 Enhance the Emergency Operations Center to effectively respond in times of crisis.
5. Community Engagement
Foster a connected, collaborative, and actively participating city and workforce.
5.1 More effectively communicate information to be transparent, open, and accountable.
5.2 Continue City communications & media content to inform, involve, and empower stakeholders.
5.3 Increase community participation & inclusion to cultivate a strong sense of community pride and public awareness.
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Table of Contents
City of Pico Rivera True North Research, Inc. © 2021 i . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
T ABLE OF C ONTENTS
Table of Contents. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . i List of Tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . iii List of Figures. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . iv Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Purpose of Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Overview of Methodology. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Organization of Report. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Disclaimer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 About True North . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Just the Facts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Quality of Life. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 City Services. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Addressing Homelessness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Economic Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Land Use, Housing & Amenities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Strategic Priorities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Communication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Conclusions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Quality of Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Overall Quality of Life. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Question 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Changes to Improve Pico Rivera . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Question 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 City Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Overall Satisfaction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Question 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Specific Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Question 5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Question 6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Differentiators of Opinion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Performance Needs & Priorities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Addressing Homelessness. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Question 7 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Economic Development. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Economic Development Initiatives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Question 8 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Interest in Additional Stores or Restaurants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Question 9 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Question 10 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Cannabis Businesses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Question 11 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 Opinion by Type of Cannabis Business . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 Question 12 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 Special Tax for Cannabis Businesses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 Question 13 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 Land Use, Housing & Amenities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 Building Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 Question 14 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 Community Spaces and Amenities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 Question 15 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 Strategic Priorities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 Table of Contents
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Question 16 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 Communication. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 Satisfaction With Communication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 Question 17 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 Exposure to City Communications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 Question 18 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 Communication Preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 Question 19 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 Background & Demographics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 Methodology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 Questionnaire Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 Programming, Pre-Test & Translation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 Sample, Recruiting & Data Collection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 Margin of Error due to Sampling. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 Data Processing & Weighting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 Rounding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 Questionnaire & Toplines. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 List of Tables
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L IST OF T ABLES
Table 1 Rating City of Pico Rivera by Years in Pico Rivera, Home Ownership Status & Child in Hsld (Showing % Excellent & Good). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Table 2 Rating City of Pico Rivera by Age (Showing % Excellent & Good) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Table 3 Rating City of Pico Rivera by Hsld Income (Showing % Excellent & Good) . . . . . . . . 11 Table 4 Rating City of Pico Rivera by Ethnicity & Survey Language (Showing % Excellent & Good) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Table 5 Satisfaction With City Services by Overall Satisfaction With City . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Table 6 Needs & Priorities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Table 7 Support for Allowing Specific Types of Cannabis Business by Overall Opinion of Cannabis Business in City & Overall Satisfaction (Showing % Yes) . . . . . . . . . . . 29 Table 8 Opinion of Building Types and Land Uses in City by Overall Satisfaction, Child in Hsld & Years in Pico Rivera (Showing % Too Little) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 Table 9 Opinion of Building Types and Land Uses in City by Age (Showing % Too Little) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 Table 10 Priority of Community Spaces, Amenities by Overall Satisfaction, Child in Hsld & Years in Pico Rivera (Showing % High) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 Table 11 Priority of Community Spaces, Amenities Age (Showing % High) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 Table 12 Strategic Priorities by Overall Satisfaction, Child in Hsld & Years in Pico (Showing % High Priority) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 Table 13 Strategic Priorities Age & Survey Language (Showing % High Priority) . . . . . . . . . . 36 Table 14 Effectiveness of Communication Methods by Overall Satisfaction, Child in Hsld & Years in Pico Rivera (Showing % Very Effective). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 Table 15 Effectiveness of Communication Methods by Age & Survey Language (Showing % Very Effective). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 Table 16 Demographics of Sample . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 List of Figures
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L IST OF F IGURES
Figure 1 Rating City of Pico Rivera . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Figure 2 Changes to Improve City. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Figure 3 Overall Satisfaction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Figure 4 Overall Satisfaction by Years in Pico Rivera, Home Ownership Status & Child in Hsld . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Figure 5 Overall Satisfaction by Age & Survey Language . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Figure 6 Overall Satisfaction by Hsld Income & Ethnicity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Figure 7 Importance of Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Figure 8 Satisfaction With Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Figure 9 Resident Service Needs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Figure 10 Managing Homeless in City. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Figure 11 Support for Economic Development Initiatives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Figure 12 Desire Stores, Restaurants in City . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Figure 13 Desire Stores, Restaurants in City by Years in Pico Rivera, Home Ownership Status, Child in Hsld & Overall Satisfaction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Figure 14 Desire Stores, Restaurants in City by Age & Survey Language . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Figure 15 Desire Stores, Restaurants in City by Hsld Income & Ethnicity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Figure 16 Additional Retail Stores, Restaurants, Desired in Pico Rivera . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Figure 17 Allow Cannabis Business. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 Figure 18 Allow Cannabis Business by Years in Pico Rivera, Home Ownership Status, Child in Hsld & Overall Satisfaction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 Figure 19 Allow Cannabis Business by Age & Survey Language . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 Figure 20 Allow Cannabis Business by Hsld Income & Ethnicity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 Figure 21 Support for Allowing Specific Types of Cannabis Business. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 Figure 22 Support of Special Tax For Cannabis-Related Business . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 Figure 23 Support of Special Tax For Cannabis-Related Business by Years in Pico Rivera, Home Ownership Status, Child in Hsld & Overall Satisfaction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 Figure 24 Support of Special Tax For Cannabis-Related Business by Age, Survey Language & Opinion of Cannabis Business in City . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 Figure 25 Support of Special Tax For Cannabis-Related Business by Hsld Income & Ethnicity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 Figure 26 Opinion of Building Types and Land Uses in City . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 Figure 27 Priority of Community Spaces, Amenities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 Figure 28 Strategic Priorities. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 Figure 29 Satisfaction With Communication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 Figure 30 Satisfaction With Communication by Years in Pico Rivera, Home Ownership Status, Child in Hsld & Overall Satisfaction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 Figure 31 Satisfaction With Communication by Age & Survey Language . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 Figure 32 Satisfaction With Communication by Hsld Income & Ethnicity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 Figure 33 Exposure to City’s Website, Newsletter, and/or Social Media Posts . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 Figure 34 Exposure to City’s Website, Newsletter, and/or Social Media Posts by Years in Pico Rivera, Home Ownership Status & Overall Satisfaction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 Figure 35 Exposure to City’s Website, Newsletter, and/or Social Media Posts by Age & Survey Language. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 Figure 36 Exposure to City’s Website, Newsletter, and/or Social Media Posts by Hsld Income & Ethnicity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 Figure 37 Effectiveness of Communication Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 Figure 38 Maximum Margin of Error . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 Introduction
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I NTRODUCTION
Incorporated in 1958, the City of Pico Rivera is located on the southern end of the San Gabriel Valley, approximately 13 miles southeast of downtown Los Angeles. Originally an agricultural area, the community has evolved into a dynamic mix of residential, industrial, and commercial businesses and is currently home to an estimated 62,027 residents.1 The City of Pico Rivera’s mission is to positively impact the community by optimizing and engaging the local workforce to improve the human experience and quality of life in the City.
As part of its commitment to provide high quality services and responsive local governance, the City of Pico Rivera engages its residents on a daily basis and receives regular feedback on issue, policy, and performance matters. Although these informal feedback mechanisms are a valuable source of information for the City in that they provide timely and accurate information about the opinions of specific residents, it is important to recognize that they do not necessarily provide an accurate picture of the community as a whole. For the most part, informal feedback mechanisms rely on the resident to initiate feedback, which creates a self-selection bias—the City receives feedback only from those residents who are motivated enough to initiate the feedback process. Because these residents tend to be either very pleased or very displeased with the service they have received, their collective opinions are not necessarily representative of the City’s resident population as a whole.
PURPOSE OF STUDY The motivation for the current study was to design and employ a methodology that would avoid the self-selection bias noted above and thereby provide the City with a statistically reliable understanding of its residents’ satisfaction, priorities, and concerns as they relate to services, facilities, and policies provided by the City. Ultimately, the survey results and analyses presented in this report provide City Council and staff with information that can be used to make sound, strategic decisions in a variety of areas including service improvements and enhancements, measuring and tracking internal performance, planning, budgeting, policymaking, and community engagement.
To assist in this effort, the City selected True North Research to design the research plan and conduct the study. Broadly defined, the study was designed to:
• Identify key issues of importance for residents, as well as their perceptions of the quality of life in Pico Rivera;
• Measure residents’ overall satisfaction with the City’s efforts to provide municipal services, and their satisfaction with a variety of specific services; • Gather opinions on topics including economic development, land use, homelessness, cannabis, and strategic priorities. • Determine satisfaction with and perceived effectiveness of the City’s communication with residents, along with preferred methods of communication and community engagement; and
• Collect additional background and demographic data that are relevant to understanding residents’ perceptions, needs, and interests.
1. Source: U.S. Census American Community Survey (ACS) estimate for July 2019.
Introduction
City of Pico Rivera True North Research, Inc. © 2021 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 OVERVIEW OF METHODOLOGY A full description of the methodology used for this study is included later in this report (see Methodology on page 43). In brief, the survey was administered to a random sample of 483 adults who reside within the City of Pico Rivera. The survey followed a mixed-method design that employed multiple recruiting methods (email, text, and phone) and multiple data collection methods (phone and online). Administered in English and Spanish between September 15 and September 30, 2021, the average interview lasted 20 minutes.
ORGANIZATION OF REPORT This report is designed to meet the needs of readers who prefer a summary of the findings as well as those who are interested in the details of the results.
For those who seek an overview of the findings, the sections titled Just the Facts and Conclusions are for you. They provide a summary of the most important factual findings of the survey in bullet-point format and a discussion of their implications. For the interested reader, this section is followed by a more detailed question-by-question discussion of the results from the survey by topic area (see Table of Contents), as well as a description of the methodology employed for collecting and analyzing the data. And, for the truly ambitious reader, the questionnaire used for the interviews is contained at the back of this report (see Questionnaire & Toplines on page 46), and a complete set of crosstabulations for the survey results is contained in Appendix A.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS True North thanks the City of Pico Rivera for the opportunity to conduct the study and for contributing valuable input during the design stage of this study. The collective experience, insight, and local knowledge provided by city representatives and staff improved the overall quality of the research presented here.
DISCLAIMER The statements and conclusions in this report are those of the authors (Dr. Timothy McLarney and Richard Sarles) at True North and not necessarily those of the City of Pico Rivera. Any errors and omissions are the responsibility of the authors.
ABOUT TRUE NORTH True North is a full-service survey research firm that is dedicated to providing public agencies with a clear understanding of the values, perceptions, priorities, and concerns of their residents and customers. Through designing and implementing scientific surveys, focus groups, and one-on-one interviews, as well as expert interpretation of the findings, True North helps its clients to move with confidence when making strategic decisions in a variety of areas—such as planning, policy evaluation, performance management, establishing fiscal priorities, passing revenue measures, and developing effective public information campaigns.
During their careers, Dr. McLarney (President) and Mr. Sarles (Principal Researcher) have designed and conducted over 1,000 survey research studies for public agencies—including more than 400 studies for California municipalities and special districts.
Just the Facts
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J UST THE F ACTS
The following section is an outline of the main factual findings from the survey. For the reader’s convenience, the findings are organized by the section titles used in the body of this report.
Thus, to learn more about a particular finding, simply turn to the appropriate report section.
QUALITY OF LIFE
• Respondents generally shared favorable opinions of the overall quality of life in Pico Rivera (61% rating it excellent or good), Pico Rivera as a place to live (58%), and as a place raise a family (52%).
• Opinions were more mixed regarding Pico Rivera as a place to shop and dine (43% excellent or good), retire (38%), and work (29%), although it should be noted that one-in-four respondents (25%) were also unsure how to rate the City as a place to work. • When asked what one change they would like the city government to make to improve the quality of life in Pico Rivera, approximately one-in-five respondents could not think of a desired change (9%) or stated flatly that no changes are needed (9%). Among the specific changes desired to make Pico Rivera a better place to live, addressing homelessness/homeless issues was the most commonly mentioned (16%), followed by improving public safety/ reducing crime and drugs (15%), reducing taxes (13%), beautifying the City/landscaping (12%), improving infrastructure/streets and roads (9%), and attracting more businesses (9%).
CITY SERVICES
• Approximately two-thirds of Pico Rivera residents (66%) indicated they were satisfied with the City’s overall efforts to provide municipal services. One-quarter (26%) were dissatisfied with the City’s overall performance, whereas 8% were unsure or unwilling to share their opinion.
• When asked to rate the importance of 15 specific services, providing safe and reliable drinking water (97% extremely or very important), maintaining and repairing city streets (96%), providing fire protection and emergency medical services (96%), providing reliable trash and recycling services (94%), keeping public buildings, facilities, and parks clean, attractive and updated (93%), addressing homelessness (91%), and providing police and crime prevention services (90%) were viewed as the most important services. • At the other end of the spectrum, enforcing parking regulations and code enforcement (62%), facilitating the development of affordable housing (73%), and providing a variety of recreation programs and summer events for all ages (77%) were viewed as less important overall.
• With respect to how satisfied they were with the City’s efforts to provide the same list of 15 services, respondents were most satisfied with the City’s efforts to provide reliable trash and recycling services (91% very or somewhat satisfied), followed by provide fire protection and emergency medical services (91%), provide street sweeping services (90%), provide a variety of recreation programs and summer events for all ages (80%), remove graffiti (79%), and keep public buildings, facilities, and parks clean, attractive, and updated (77%). • Respondents were somewhat less satisfied with the City’s efforts to address homelessness (40%), facilitate the development of affordable housing (55%), and maintain and repair city streets (61%).
Just the Facts
City of Pico Rivera True North Research, Inc. © 2021 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
ADDRESSING HOMELESSNESS
• When presented with six strategies the City of Pico Rivera could pursue to address homelessness, connecting homeless people to treatment for mental health and drug addiction (90%) and to shelters in LA County (88%) garnered the most support. • Approximately three-quarters of respondents also favored the City clearing-out homeless camps (76%), creating and enforcing a ban on aggressive panhandling (75%), and following other cities by enforcing a ‘no tolerance’ policy for any bad behavior (74%). • When compared to the other strategies tested, creating a homeless shelter in Pico Rivera that provides on-site services including mental health and addiction counseling found more mixed opinions with 50% supporting the strategy, 34% opposed, and 16% unsure or unwilling to share their opinion.
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
• Among six economic development strategies the City could pursue to stimulate the local economy and bring good paying jobs to Pico Rivera, residents expressed the strongest support for promoting local workforce training and skills development classes (93% strongly or somewhat support), followed by working with private property owners to revitalize older, out-dated shopping and commercial centers (90%), and providing financial incentives to help existing businesses expand and grow (90%).
• Seventy-seven percent (77%) of respondents indicated there are retail stores and restaurants their household currently visits outside of the City that they would like to have available in Pico Rivera.
• Family chain restaurants such as The Cheesecake Factory, TGI Fridays and Olive Garden were the most commonly mentioned type of business that residents would like to have located in Pico Rivera (29%), followed by specialty organic food stores such as Trader Joes, Sprouts and Whole Foods (23%), large discount retailers/warehouse stores like Costco and Sam’s Club (18%), grocery stores (11%), and a greater variety of restaurants (9%). • Overall, 37% of respondents indicated that the City of Pico Rivera should allow cannabis businesses to operate in the City, whereas 41% opposed the idea, and 22% were unsure or unwilling to state.
• When asked their opinions about different types of cannabis businesses, the majority of all respondents (56%) were in favor of allowing medicinal retail cannabis dispensaries to operate in the City. • Opinions were fairly evenly split regarding allowing businesses that research and test cannabis products (44% support) and that deliver cannabis products to private residences (42%) to be headquartered in Pico Rivera.
• Less than four-in-ten respondents favored allowing businesses that manufacture cannabis products including edibles (37%), recreational cannabis dispensaries (35%), and the indoor cultivation of cannabis on private property (30%) in Pico Rivera. • A clear majority of residents (58%) indicated they would support a special tax on cannabis businesses if they were allowed in Pico Rivera, whereas 24% opposed the concept of taxing cannabis businesses and 17% were unsure or unwilling to share their opinion.
Just the Facts
City of Pico Rivera True North Research, Inc. © 2021 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
LAND USE, HOUSING & AMENITIES
• More than half of residents indicated that there are currently not enough fine dining restaurants (66% too little), entertainment options such as move theaters, music, and arts (62%), affordable housing for middle-income families (52%), and affordable housing for seniors (51%) in Pico Rivera.
• Many also viewed a deficiency in the amount of affordable housing for low-income families (45% too little), smaller, boutique retail stores (45%), casual dining restaurants (41%), and big box retail stores (38%) in the City.
• Although the most common response for the remaining types of developments was that the current amount is about right, among those who felt the balance was not right there was still a tendency to view too little rather than too much of a particular type of development.
This was the case for mixed-use housing (30% too little vs. 8% too much), parks and green spaces (29% vs. 4%), manufacturing, assembly and industrial properties (21% vs. 10%), and commercial offices (18% vs. 7%).
• Only one building type—fast food restaurants—had more respondents say there were too many (28%) than too few (10%) in Pico Rivera.
• When presented with five potential community amenities, repairing the public swimming pool had the highest percentage of respondents rate the item as a high or medium priority (85%), followed by additional walking trails with trail-side fitness equipment (83%), and additional bike paths (77%). • Although still popular, a slightly smaller percentage of Pico Rivera residents rated creating urban, street-side parks with public seating (75%) and a dog park (68%) as a high or medium priority.
STRATEGIC PRIORITIES
• When asked to rate 14 potential strategic priorities, repairing and maintaining city streets was viewed as the highest priority for the City’s future (96% high or medium priority), followed by ensuring the City remains financially stable with sufficient financial reserves (94%), repairing and maintaining the City’s utility and facility infrastructure (91%), building stronger, positive relations between the Police Department and the community (88%), protecting the local environment using renewable energy sources (88%), dedicating resources to reduce homelessness (87%), and increasing the City’s engagement and communication with residents (87%).
COMMUNICATION
• Overall, 78% of respondents indicated they were satisfied with the City’s efforts to communicate with residents through newsletters, the Internet, social media, and other means. The remaining respondents were either dissatisfied with the City’s efforts in this respect (18%), unsure of their opinion (4%), or unwilling to share their opinion (<1%). • Approximately three-quarters of all respondents (74%) indicated that they had visited the City’s website, read the City’s newsletter, and/or viewed the City’s social media posts during the 12 months preceding the interview.
• Among eight different communication methods tested, respondents indicated that a smart phone app that would allow residents to communicate with the City, report issues, and receive updates would be the most effective method way for the City to communicate with them (88% very or somewhat effective), followed by email and electronic newsletters (86%), Just the Facts
City of Pico Rivera True North Research, Inc. © 2021 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 the City’s website (86%), postcards, letters, and newsletters mailed to your home (82%), and social media (81%).
• When compared to the other methods tested, respondents were somewhat less apt to rate Townhall meetings (69%), text messages (77%), and local news media coverage (78%) as very or somewhat effective ways for the City to communicate with them.
Conclusions
City of Pico Rivera True North Research, Inc. © 2021 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
C ONCLUSIONS
As noted in the Introduction, this study was designed to provide the City of Pico Rivera with a statistically reliable understanding of its residents’ opinions, satisfaction, and priorities as they relate to services, facilities, and policies provided by the City. As such, the findings of this study can provide the City with information needed to make sound, strategic decisions in a variety of areas including performance management, planning, establishing budget priorities, and community engagement.
Whereas subsequent sections of this report are devoted to conveying the detailed results of the survey, in this section we attempt to ‘see the forest through the trees’ and note how the survey results answer key questions that motivated the research. The following conclusions are based on True North’s interpretations of the results, as well as the firm’s experience conducting similar studies for government agencies throughout the State.
How well is the City performing in meeting the
needs of Pico Rivera residents?
Pico Rivera residents are generally satisfied with the City’s efforts to provide municipal services and facilities, as well as the quality of life in the City.
Approximately two-thirds of residents (66%) indicated they were satisfied with the City’s overall efforts to provide municipal services, whereas 26% were dissatisfied and the remaining 8% were unsure or did not provide a response. The solid level of satisfaction expressed with the City’s performance in general was also mirrored in residents’ assessments of the City’s performance in providing most specific services, with the highest satisfaction scores assigned to the City’s efforts to provide reliable trash and recycling services (91% very or somewhat satisfied), fire protection and emergency medical services (91%), street sweeping services (90%), and a variety of recreation programs and summer events for all ages (80%), remove graffiti (79%), and keep public buildings, facilities, and parks clean, attractive, and updated (77%). For 12 of the 15 services tested, the City is meeting the needs of at least two-thirds of residents.
The City’s performance in providing municipal services has also contributed to a favorable quality of life for residents. The majority of residents surveyed rated the quality of life in Pico Rivera as excellent or good (61%), whereas just 7% described it as poor or very poor.
Where should the City
focus its efforts in the
future?
In addition to measuring the City’s current performance, a primary goal of this study was to look forward and identify opportunities to adjust services, improve facilities, and/or refine communications strategies to best meet the community’s evolving needs and expectations. Although residents are generally satisfied with the City’s performance (as described above), there is always room for improvement. Below we note some of the areas that present the best opportunities in this regard.
Conclusions
City of Pico Rivera True North Research, Inc. © 2021 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Considering respondents’ verbatim answers regarding what the city government could do to make Pico Rivera a better place to live (see Changes to Improve Pico Rivera on page 11), the list of services and their respective priority status for future attention (see Performance Needs & Priorities on page 19), and the manner in which residents prioritize among potential strategic goals (see Strategic Priorities on page 35), the topics of addressing homelessness, facilitating the development of affordable housing, maintaining and repairing city streets and infrastructure, promoting economic development, ensuring the City remains financially stable, improving community policing and public safety, and protecting the environment stood out as key areas of opportunity and interest for residents.
Having identified the above topics as areas of focus for residents and potential opportunities to further enhance resident satisfaction, it is also important to stress that the appropriate strategy is often a combination of communication and actual service improvements. It may be, for example, that many residents are simply not aware of the City’s current plans to facilitate affordable housing in Pico Rivera or the limits of what a city can do to address homelessness. Choosing the appropriate balance of actual service improvements and efforts to raise public awareness/ understanding on these matters will be key to maintaining and improving residents’ overall satisfaction in the future.
It is also important to keep in mind that although these areas represent opportunities to improve resident satisfaction, the City should not oversteer. Indeed, the primary takeaway from this study is that the City does many things well, and the emphasis should be on continuing to perform at a high level in those areas. A super-majority of residents were pleased with the City’s efforts to provide services, programs, and facilities and have a favorable opinion of the City’s performance in most areas. The top priority for the City should thus be to do what it takes to maintain the quality of services that it currently provides.
Is economic development
a priority for residents?
Yes. Pico Rivera residents strongly support strategies to help the local economy and bring good paying jobs to the City, including promoting local workforce training and skills development classes, working with private property owners to revitalize older, out-dated shopping and commercial centers, providing financial incentives to help existing businesses expand and grow, creating special business districts to attract specific industries, providing financial incentives to attract new businesses, and selling or leasing city-owned land or facilities that are underutilized.
Pico Rivera residents also expressed a very big appetite for attracting new retail shopping and dining opportunities, with nearly eight-in-ten respondents stating that there are businesses and restaurants they cur- Conclusions
City of Pico Rivera True North Research, Inc. © 2021 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 rently patronize outside of the City that they would like to have available in Pico Rivera—with family chain restaurants, speciality organic food stores, large discount retail/warehouse stores, fine dining restaurants, entertainment options, and grocery stores topping the list. At a level beyond found in most California communities, Pico Rivera residents’ recognize the need for—and are strong supporters of—economic development.
How well is the City communicating with Pico
Rivera residents?
The past few years have witnessed a shift in communication preferences, particularly among older cohorts. Whereas in the past there was a strong preference for printed forms of communication among older residents, while younger residents gravitated toward digital sources, these differences have eroded over time. In the City’s current survey, digital forms of communication (smart phone app, email, electronic newsletters, and City’s website) were not only perceived to be the most effective methods of city-resident communication overall, they were also at the top of the list in every demographic subgroup. Even among seniors, a smart phone app, email, and electronic newsletters were viewed as more effective than postcards, letters, and newsletters mailed to their home (direct mail).
That is not to say that direct mail is unpopular—it is fourth on the list in terms of perceived effectiveness overall, and is in the top-three most effective methods in several subgroups. It is simply to point out that the digital divide in terms of city-resident communications is not nearly as pronounced as it has been in the past, and we expect that the trend will continue in other areas where (currently) there are still pronounced differences in use by age (e.g., social media).
Overall, the survey results suggest the City of Pico Rivera is doing a very good job communicating with its residents. Nearly eight-in-ten respondents (78%) said they were satisfied with the City’s efforts to communicate through newsletters, the Internet, social media, and other means.
Although Pico Rivera has been successful in maintaining a solid level of resident satisfaction despite the proliferation of information sources and accelerating pace of change, it is important to recognize that the challenges will continue to change (and may continue to grow). To stay ahead of the curve, Pico Rivera, like other cities, should periodically conduct a careful review of its communications strategies and budget to ensure that both are evolving accordingly.
Quality of Life
City of Pico Rivera True North Research, Inc. © 2021 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Q UALITY OF L IFE
The opening series of questions in the survey was designed to assess residents’ top of mind perceptions about the quality of life in the City of Pico Rivera, as well as their ideas on changes the city government could implement to make the community a better place to live, now and in the future.
OVERALL QUALITY OF LIFE At the outset of the survey, residents were asked to rate the City of Pico Rivera on a number of key dimensions including overall quality of life, as a place to raise a family, and as a place to work, using a five-point scale of excellent, good, fair, poor, or very poor. As shown in Figure 1 below, respondents generally shared favorable opinions of the overall quality of life in the City (61% excellent or good), Pico Rivera as a place to live (58%), and as a place raise a family (52%). Opinions were more mixed regarding Pico Rivera as a place to shop and dine (43%), retire (38%), and work (29%), although it should be noted that one-in-four respondents (25%) were also unsure how to rate the City as a place to work.
Question 2 How would you rate: _____? Would you say it is excellent, good, fair, poor or very poor?
FIGURE 1 RATING CITY OF PICO RIVERA
For the interested reader, tables 1-4 show how ratings of excellent or good for each dimension varied by years in Pico Rivera, home ownership status, presence of a child in the home, age, household income, ethnicity, and the language in which the survey was administered.
TABLE 1 RATING CITY OF PICO RIVERA BY YEARS IN PICO RIVERA, HOME OWNERSHIP STATUS & CHILD IN HSLD (SHOWING % EXCELLENT & GOOD)
12.3 11.3
11.9 12.1
9.6 6.2
48.6 46.8
39.8 30.8
28.5 23.0
32.1 33.8
32.5 33.1
30.8 27.6
4.9 5.0
7.4 13.0
13.3 10.9
2 31
1 4.3
10.2 10.3
7.6 4.1
24.7 7.6
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Overall quality of life in Pico Rivera
Pico Rivera as a place to live
Pico Rivera as a place to raise a family
Pico Rivera as a place to shop and dine
Pico Rivera as a place to retire
Pico Rivera as a place to work
Q2a Q2b Q2c Q2f Q2d Q2e
% Respondents
Excellent Good Fair Poor Very poor Not sure/Prefer not to answer Less than 5 5 to 9 10 to 14 15 or more Own Rent Yes No
Overall quality of life in Pico Rivera 63.9 60.6 52.8 61.5 61.0 64.5 60.5 61.9 Pico Rivera as a place to live 63.7 60.6 48.2 58.1 59.6 58.5 57.0 59.5 Pico Rivera as a place to raise a family 50.0 59.1 37.8 52.5 53.9 51.8 50.6 53.3 Pico Rivera as a place to shop and dine 55.7 40.9 30.7 42.5 41.2 47.6 37.6 47.1 Pico Rivera as a place to retire 42.0 41.0 25.1 38.7 38.7 41.2 38.7 38.8 Pico Rivera as a place to work 29.9 27.9 14.3 31.7 27.3 34.1 28.3 31.1 Years in Pico Rivera (Q1) Child in Hsld (QD3)
Home Ownership
Status (QD2)
Quality of Life
City of Pico Rivera True North Research, Inc. © 2021 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 TABLE 2 RATING CITY OF PICO RIVERA BY AGE (SHOWING % EXCELLENT & GOOD) TABLE 3 RATING CITY OF PICO RIVERA BY HSLD INCOME (SHOWING % EXCELLENT & GOOD) TABLE 4 RATING CITY OF PICO RIVERA BY ETHNICITY & SURVEY LANGUAGE (SHOWING % EXCELLENT & GOOD) CHANGES TO IMPROVE PICO RIVERA The next question in this series asked residents to indicate the one thing that city government could change to make Pico Rivera a better place to live. Question 3 was presented in an open-ended manner, allowing residents to mention any change that came to mind without being prompted by, or restricted to, a particular list of options. True North later reviewed the verbatim responses and grouped them into the categories shown in Figure 2 on the next page.
Approximately one-in-five respondents could not think of a desired change (9%) or stated flatly that no changes are needed (9%). Among the specific changes desired to make Pico Rivera a better place to live, addressing homelessness/homeless issues was the most commonly mentioned (16%), followed by improving public safety/reducing crime and drugs (15%), reducing taxes (13%), beautifying the City/landscaping (12%), improving infrastructure/streets and roads (9%), and attracting more businesses (9%).
18 to 24 25 to 34 35 to 44 45 to 54 55 to 64 65 or older Overall quality of life in Pico Rivera 68.2 51.9 50.7 59.0 77.4 62.3 Pico Rivera as a place to live 56.3 50.6 50.0 57.2 68.7 67.1 Pico Rivera as a place to raise a family 52.8 44.1 44.7 52.0 60.4 56.0 Pico Rivera as a place to shop and dine 52.6 34.3 31.6 32.2 51.4 58.0 Pico Rivera as a place to retire 33.7 25.9 28.7 39.0 46.1 51.8 Pico Rivera as a place to work 41.2 18.7 16.9 26.3 39.1 38.2 Age (QD1)
Less than
$25K
$25K to
$49K
$50K to
$74K
$75K to
$99K
$100K to
$149K
$150K or
more
Overall quality of life in Pico Rivera 60.3 61.3 68.0 56.0 69.2 45.9 Pico Rivera as a place to live 53.7 62.6 57.2 53.8 62.1 39.1 Pico Rivera as a place to raise a family 53.3 53.6 45.2 48.9 57.6 37.3 Pico Rivera as a place to shop and dine 46.8 48.2 79.7 35.7 34.8 21.3 Pico Rivera as a place to retire 41.5 45.8 36.5 27.3 37.6 30.8 Pico Rivera as a place to work 39.0 29.0 51.7 20.9 24.1 17.9 Hsld Income (QD7)
Latino/
Hispanic
Asian
American
Caucasian /
White
Mixed or
other English Spanish
Overall quality of life in Pico Rivera 61.5 32.6 71.9 66.9 57.1 79.6 Pico Rivera as a place to live 58.9 38.3 71.6 46.5 53.6 79.8 Pico Rivera as a place to raise a family 53.1 38.3 55.1 32.9 46.6 77.1 Pico Rivera as a place to shop and dine 43.9 47.9 45.8 15.3 36.9 72.1 Pico Rivera as a place to retire 38.6 35.8 37.0 32.9 31.9 68.4 Pico Rivera as a place to work 29.7 35.5 36.1 8.1 25.5 47.3 Ethnicity (QD6) Survey Language
Quality of Life
City of Pico Rivera True North Research, Inc. © 2021 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Question 3 If the city government could change one thing to make Pico Rivera a better place to live now and in the future, what change would you like to see? FIGURE 2 CHANGES TO IMPROVE CITY
15.8 14.5
12.6 11.5
9.4 9.2
8.8 8.6
7.0 6.3
5.8 2.9
2.2 2.2
2.1 2.1
2.0 1.8
1.7 1.7
1.5 1.3
1.0 0.8
0.8 0.8
0.7 1.2
6.6 3.1
0 10 20
Address homeless issues
Improve public safety, reduce crime, drugs
Reduce taxes
Beautify City, landscaping
Improve infrastructure, streets, roads
Not sure / Cannot think of anything
Attract more businesses in general
No changes needed
Improve schools, education
Provide more high-end restaurants, dining options
Improve police response, presence
Provide, improve parks, rec facilities
Provide affordable housing
Provide, improve bike paths, walking trails
Improve City planning
Improve public transportation
Address parking issues
Address water issues
Improve economy, jobs
Provide more street lighting
Address fireworks issues
Enforce City codes
Enforce traffic laws
Reduce traffic congestion
Limit number of fast-food restaurants
Provide more community events
Complete road construction projects
Address healthcare issues
Provide more sidewalks
Improve budgeting, spending
% Respondents
City Services
City of Pico Rivera True North Research, Inc. © 2021 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
C ITY S ERVICES
After measuring respondents’ perceptions of the quality of life in Pico Rivera, the survey next turned to assessing their opinions about the City’s performance in providing various municipal services.
OVERALL SATISFACTION The first question in this series asked respondents to indicate if, overall, they were satisfied or dissatisfied with the job the City of Pico Rivera is doing to provide city services. Because this question does not reference a specific program, facility, or service and requested that the respondent consider the City’s performance in general, the findings of this question may be regarded as an overall performance rating for the City.
As shown in Figure 3, approximately two-thirds of Pico Rivera residents (66%) indicated they were either very or somewhat satisfied with the City’s efforts to provide municipal services. Onequarter (26%) were very or somewhat dissatisfied, whereas 8% were unsure or unwilling to share their opinion.
Question 4 Next, I would like to ask a series of questions about services provided by the City of Pico Rivera. Generally speaking, are you satisfied or dissatisfied with the job the City is doing to provide city services?
FIGURE 3 OVERALL SATISFACTION
The next three figures display how residents’ opinions about the City’s overall performance in providing municipal services varied by years in Pico Rivera, home ownership status, presence of a child in the household, age, survey language, household income, and ethnicity. Overall, the dominant pattern in the figures in consistency, as most subgroups expressed reasonably similar levels of satisfaction. Positive exceptions to this pattern were found among younger residents (under 25) and those who preferred to take the survey in Spanish, with both subgroups expressing higher than average satisfaction ratings. Conversely, individuals living in high income households ($150,000 or more annually) and those identifying as ethnically mixed were notably less likely than their counterparts to describe themselves as being satisfied with the City’s performance in providing municipal services.
Somewhat
satisfied
47.2 Very satisfied
18.8 Somewhat
dissatisfied
15.5 Very
dissatisfied
10.1 Prefer not to
answer
1.2 Not sure
7.2 City Services
City of Pico Rivera True North Research, Inc. © 2021 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 FIGURE 4 OVERALL SATISFACTION BY YEARS IN PICO RIVERA, HOME OWNERSHIP STATUS & CHILD IN HSLD FIGURE 5 OVERALL SATISFACTION BY AGE & SURVEY LANGUAGE
17.1 26.1
17.9 20.1
46.6 45.8
45.0 49.0
Very
satisfied
22.5 22.7
15.1 18.0
Smwt
satisfied
42.8 53.8 47.2 44.3
0 10
20 30
40 50
60 70
80 90
100
Less than 5 5 to 9 10 to 14 15 or more Own Rent Yes No
Years in Pico Rivera (Q1) Home Ownership Status (QD2) Child in Hsld (QD3) % Respondents
20.7 25.4
14.7 38.9
44.9 43.5
47.9 43.8
14.5 13.7 14.6
Very
satisfied
28.1 49.4 45.5 47.3
Smwt
satisfied
52.6 0
10 20
30 40
50 60
70 80
90 100
18 to 24 25 to 34 35 to 44 45 to 54 55 to 64 65 or older English Spanish Age (QD1) Survey Language
% Respondents
City Services
City of Pico Rivera True North Research, Inc. © 2021 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 FIGURE 6 OVERALL SATISFACTION BY HSLD INCOME & ETHNICITY SPECIFIC SERVICES Whereas Question 4 addressed the City’s overall performance, the next two-question series asked respondents to rate the importance of specific services offered by the City, as well as their level of satisfaction with efforts to provide these services. For each service, respondents were first asked if they thought the service was extremely important, very important, somewhat important, or not at all important. Respondents were then asked about their satisfaction with these same services. The order of the items was randomized for each respondent to avoid a systematic position bias.
Figure 7 presents the services sorted in order of importance according to the percentage of respondents who rated a service as at least very important. In general, Pico Rivera residents rated public utilities, public safety, and public works as the most important service areas. More specifically, providing safe and reliable drinking water (97% extremely or very important), maintaining and repairing city streets (96%), providing fire protection and emergency medical services (96%), providing reliable trash and recycling services (94%), keeping public buildings, facilities, and parks clean, attractive and updated (93%), addressing homelessness (91%), and providing police and crime prevention services (90%) were viewed as the most important services.
At the other end of the spectrum, enforcing parking regulations and code enforcement (62%), facilitating the development of affordable housing (73%), and providing a variety of recreation programs and summer events for all ages (77%) were viewed as less important overall.
12.9 7.8
18.7 19.1
29.2 11.4
52.7 46.0
48.7 45.0
38.1 Very 22.3
satisfied
32.1 22.1 21.7
12.3 Smwt
satisfied
39.7 53.1
46.2 45.5
0 10
20 30
40 50
60 70
80 90
100
Less than
$25K
$25K to
$49K
$50K to
$74K
$75K to
$99K
$100K to
$149K
$150K or
more
Latino /
Hispanic
Asian
American
Caucasian /
White
Mixed or
other
Hsld Income (QD7) Ethnicity (QD6)
% Respondents
City Services
City of Pico Rivera True North Research, Inc. © 2021 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Question 5 For each of the services I read, please tell me whether the service is extremely important to you, very important, somewhat important, or not at all important.
FIGURE 7 IMPORTANCE OF SERVICES
Turning to the satisfaction component, Figure 8 sorts the same list of services according to the percentage of respondents who said they were either very or somewhat satisfied with the City’s efforts to provide the service. For comparison purposes between the services, only respondents who held an opinion (satisfied or dissatisfied) are included in the figure. Those who did not have an opinion were removed from this analysis.
At the top of the list, respondents were most satisfied with the City’s efforts to provide reliable trash and recycling services (91% very or somewhat satisfied), followed by provide fire protection and emergency medical services (91%), provide street sweeping services (90%), provide a variety of recreation programs and summer events for all ages (80%), remove graffiti (79%), and keep public buildings, facilities, and parks clean, attractive, and updated (77%). At the other end of the spectrum, respondents were somewhat less satisfied with the City’s efforts to address homelessness (40%), facilitate the development of affordable housing (55%), and maintain and repair city streets (61%).
75.7 59.5
64.5 54.3
55.8 62.5
62.9 47.5
54.9 46.8
54.2 43.6
40.1 42.3
26.4 21.6
36.7 31.3
39.3 37.2
28.7 27.1
41.5 33.4
41.5 33.0
42.2 36.9
30.5 35.4
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Providing safe and reliable drinking water
Maintaining and repairing city streets
Providing fire protection and emergency medical services Providing reliable trash and recycling services
Keeping public buildings, facilities, and parks clean, attractive, and updated Addressing homelessness
Providing police and crime prevention services
Maintaining public landscapes, trees, and street medians Protecting the environment
Promoting economic development for a healthy business community Removing graffiti
Providing street sweeping services
Providing a variety of recreation programs and summer events for all ages Facilitating the development of affordable housing
Enforcing parking regulations and code enforcement.
Q5i Q5e Q5b Q5c Q5f Q5k Q5a Q5g Q5m Q5j Q5o Q5d Q5h Q5l Q5n % Respondents
Extremely important Very important
City Services
City of Pico Rivera True North Research, Inc. © 2021 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Question 6 For the same list of services, I just read, please tell me how satisfied you are with the job the City is doing to provide the service. Are you satisfied or dissatisfied with the City's efforts to: _____, or do you not have an opinion?
FIGURE 8 SATISFACTION WITH SERVICES
DIFFERENTIATORS OF OPINION For the interested reader, Table 5 on the next page displays how the level of satisfaction with each specific service tested in Question 6 varied according to residents’ overall performance ratings for the City (see Overall Satisfaction on page 13). The table divides residents who were satisfied with the City’s overall performance into one group and those dissatisfied into a second group. Also displayed is the difference between the two groups in terms of the percentage who indicated they were satisfied with the City’s efforts to provide each service tested in Question 6 (far right column). For convenience, the services are sorted by that difference, with the greatest differentiators of opinion near the top of the table.
When compared with their counterparts, those satisfied with the City’s overall performance in providing city services were also more likely to express satisfaction with the City’s efforts to provide each of the specific services tested in Question 6. With that said, the greatest specific differentiators of opinion between satisfied and dissatisfied residents were found with respect to the City’s efforts to maintain and repair city streets, maintain public landscapes, trees, and street medians, remove graffiti, protect the environment, and keep public buildings, facilities, and parks clean, attractive, and updated.
49.5 46.0
50.6 32.6
31.1 30.2
27.7 32.0
28.9 31.0
31.6 25.5
25.9 19.1
16.8 41.3
44.5 39.7
47.8 47.8
47.1 48.6
41.8 44.4
40.9 39.4
43.6 35.1
36.0 23.0 28.4
23.1 18.8
15.1 16.7
5.9 6.9
5.7 13.0
13.5 14.6
14.7 16.0
20.0 26.0 18.9
19.0 10.2
9.0 8.1
31.8 7.8
10.2 13.1
10.0 3.3
2.5 3.9
6.6 7.6
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Provide reliable trash and recycling services [98%]
Provide fire protection and emergency medical services [91%] Provide street sweeping services [97%]
Provide a variety of recreation programs and summer events for all ages [89%] Remove graffiti [93%]
Keep public buildings, facilities, and parks clean, attractive, and updated [97%] Protect the environment [87%]
Maintain public landscapes, trees, and street medians [98%] Enforce parking regulations and code enforcement [91%]
Provide safe and reliable drinking water [95%]
Provide police and crime prevention services [94%]
Promote economic development for a healthy business community [88%] Maintain and repair city streets [98%]
Facilitate the development of affordable housing [77%]
Address homelessness [90%]
% Respondents Who Provided Opinion
Very satisfied Smwt satisfied Smwt dissatisfied Very dissatisfied City Services
City of Pico Rivera True North Research, Inc. © 2021 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 TABLE 5 SATISFACTION WITH CITY SERVICES BY OVERALL SATISFACTION WITH CITY Very or somewhat
satisfied
Very or somewhat
dissatisfied
Maintain and repair city streets 72.4 31.0 41.4
Maintain public landscapes, trees, and street medians 83.8 46.9 36.9 Remove graffiti 88.8 53.5 35.3
Protect the environment 86.9 52.8 34.0
Keep public buildings, facilities, and parks clean, attractive, and updated 87.2 53.2 34.0 Provide a variety of recreation programs and summer events for all ages 90.3 57.5 32.8 Provide police and crime prevention services 78.7 48.1 30.5 Enforce parking regulations and code enforcement 82.4 52.9 29.5 Address homelessness 48.7 19.5 29.2
Facilitate the development of affordable housing 63.4 34.2 29.2 Promote economic development for a healthy business community 78.0 50.1 28.0 Provide safe and reliable drinking water 78.9 52.4 26.6 Provide reliable trash and recycling services 95.6 77.4 18.2 Provide fire protection and emergency medical services 95.6 77.5 18.1 Provide street sweeping services 94.7 78.0 16.7
City's Overall Performance (Q4) Difference Between
Groups For Each
Service
% Respondents Satisfied With Each
Service
Performance Needs & Priorities
City of Pico Rivera True North Research, Inc. © 2021 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 P ERFORMANCE N EEDS & P RIORITIES With a measure of the importance of a service to residents as well as a measure of satisfaction with the City’s efforts to provide the service, True North is able to examine the relationship between these two dimensions and identify areas where the City has the greatest opportunities to improve resident satisfaction—and identify for which services the City is meeting, and even exceeding, the majority of residents’ needs.
Rather than rely on averages to conduct this analysis, True North has developed an individualized approach to identifying priorities. This approach is built on the recognition that opinions will vary from resident to resident and that understanding this variation is required for assessing how well the City is meeting residents’ needs.
2 Table 6 on the next page presents a grid based
on the importance and satisfaction scales. The horizontal axis corresponds to the four importance options, and the vertical scale corresponds to the four satisfaction options. The 16 cells within the grid are grouped into one of six categories based on how well the City is meeting, or not meeting, a resident’s needs for a particular service. The six groups are as follows:
Exceeding Needs The City is exceeding a respondent’s needs if a respondent is satisfied and the level of expressed satisfaction is higher than the importance that the respondent assigned to the service.
Meeting Needs,
Moderately
The City is moderately meeting a respondent’s needs if the respondent is satisfied and the level of satisfaction is commensurate with the level of importance assigned to the service.
Meeting Needs,
Marginally
The City is marginally meeting a respondent’s needs if the respondent is satisfied with the City’s efforts to provide the service, but their level of satisfaction is lower than the level of importance assigned to the service.
Not Meeting Needs,
Marginally
The City is marginally not meeting a respondent’s needs if the respondent is somewhat dissatisfied, but the service is also viewed as just somewhat or not at all important.
Not Meeting Needs,
Moderately
The City is moderately not meeting a respondent’s needs if A) a respondent is very dissatisfied with the City’s efforts to provide the service, but the service is viewed somewhat or not at all important, or B) a respondent is somewhat dissatisfied and the service is very important.
Not Meeting Needs,
Severely
The City is severely not meeting a respondent’s needs if A) a respondent is dissatisfied and the service is viewed as extremely important, or B) a respondent is very dissatisfied and the service is viewed as very important.
2. Any tool that relies on the opinions of the average respondent will provide a limited and occasionally distorted picture of how well an agency is performing. The simple fact is that a city is not comprised of average residents—it is comprised of unique individuals who vary substantially in their opinions of the City’s performance in different service areas. Thus, although the arithmetic average of these individuals’ opinions is a useful statistic, it does not capture the variation in opinions that occurs among residents, and it is this variation that is critical for truly assessing how well the City is meeting the needs of its residents.
Performance Needs & Priorities
City of Pico Rivera True North Research, Inc. © 2021 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 TABLE 6 NEEDS & PRIORITIES Using this framework, True North categorized respondents individually for each of the 15 services tested in the study. Thus, for example, a respondent who indicated that addressing homelessness was somewhat important and they were very satisfied with the City’s efforts in this service area would be categorized in the exceeding needs group for this service. The same respondent may be grouped in the marginally not meeting needs group for another service (e.g., maintaining and repairing city streets) if they were somewhat dissatisfied with the City’s efforts to provide the service, but the service was viewed as only somewhat important.
Figure 9 on the next page presents the 15 services tested, along with the percentage of respondents who were grouped into each of the six possible categories. For ease of interpretation, the color-coding in Figure 9 is consistent with that presented in Table 6. Thus, for example, in the service area of addressing homelessness, the City is exceeding the needs of 1% of respondents, moderately meeting the needs of 19% of respondents, marginally meeting the needs of 20% of respondents, marginally not meeting the needs of 1% of respondents, moderately not meeting the needs of 9% of respondents, and severely not meeting the needs of 50% of respondents.
As shown in the figure, the City is meeting the needs of at least two-thirds of residents for 12 of the 15 services tested. Operating from the management philosophy that, all other things being equal, the City should focus on improving those services that have the highest percentage of residents for which the City is currently not meeting their needs, the services have been sorted by order of priority. Thus, addressing homelessness is the top priority, followed by facilitating the development of affordable housing, and maintaining and repairing city streets.
Not at all
important
Somewhat
important Very important
Extremely
important
Very satisfied Exceeding needs Exceeding needs Meeting needs, moderately
Meeting needs,
moderately
Somewhat satisfied Exceeding needs Meeting needs,
moderately
Meeting needs,
marginally
Meeting needs,
marginally
Somewhat dissatisfied Not meeting
needs, marginally
Not meeting
needs, marginally
Not meeting
needs,
moderately
Not meeting
needs, severely
Very dissatisfied
Not meeting
needs,
moderately
Not meeting
needs,
moderately
Not meeting
needs, severely
Not meeting
needs, severely
Importance
Satisfaction
Performance Needs & Priorities
City of Pico Rivera True North Research, Inc. © 2021 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 FIGURE 9 RESIDENT SERVICE NEEDS 113211 9 011121 54 46
56 38
34 33
33 34
38 33
34 30
27 19
36 43
32 37
42 43
42 37
27 39
37 38
33 25
201
4 8
2 69
8 9
9 12
15 19
18 12
26 21
19 30
32 50
53 27
3 0
0 4
0 1
3 7
2 2
2 10
3 3
5 6
5 2
4 3
67 17
4 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Providing reliable trash and recycling services
Providing fire protection and emergency medical services Providing street sweeping services
Providing variety of rec programs, summer events for all ages Removing graffiti
Keeping public buildings, facilities, parks clean, attractive, updated Protecting the environment
Maintaining public landscapes, trees, and street medians Enforcing parking regulations and code enforcement.
Providing safe and reliable drinking water
Providing police and crime prevention services
Promoting economic development for healthy biz community Maintaining and repairing city streets
Facilitating the development of affordable housing
Addressing homelessness
% Respondents Who Provided Opinion
Exceeding needs
Meeting needs
moderately
Meeting needs
marginally
Not meeting needs
marginally
Not meeting needs
moderately
Not meeting needs
severely
Addressing Homelessness
City of Pico Rivera True North Research, Inc. © 2021 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 A DDRESSING H OMELESSNESS Most cities in Los Angeles County witnessed an increase in homelessness over the past few years, including a 12.7% increase between 2019 and 2020 countywide. 3 Although the City of
Pico Rivera’s homeless population declined during this period when comparing single night counts in 2019 and 2020 (from 205 to 170 individuals), addressing homelessness remains one of residents’ top priorities (see Figure 2) and the service area where residents perceive the most room for improvement (see Figure 8). Anticipating that homelessness would be an important topic for residents, the 2021 survey addressed this issue head-on by asking respondents how they think the City should deal with homelessness.
For each of the strategies shown in Figure 10, respondents were simply asked if the City should pursue this action in the interest of addressing homelessness. The results make it clear that Pico Rivera residents favor a wide range of both supportive and enforcement strategies to deal with homeless issues. Of the strategies tested, connecting homeless people to treatment for mental health and drug addiction (90%) and to shelters in LA County (88%) garnered the most support.
Approximately three-quarters of respondents also favored the City clearing-out homeless camps (76%), creating and enforcing a ban on aggressive panhandling (75%), and following other cities by enforcing a ‘no tolerance’ policy for any bad behavior (74%). When compared to the other strategies tested, creating a homeless shelter in Pico Rivera that provides on-site services including mental health and addiction counseling found more mixed opinions with 50% supporting the strategy, 34% opposed, and 16% unsure or unwilling to share their opinion.
Question 7 How do you think the City should deal with the homeless issue? Should it: _____? FIGURE 10 MANAGING HOMELESS IN CITY
3. Source: Los Angeles County Homeless Services Authority 2020 Homeless Count.
90.4 88.3
76.4 74.7
73.8 50.4
3.8 4.0
12.7 12.9
15.0 34.3
47 10
11 11
14 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Connect homeless people to treatment for mental health and drug addiction
Connect homeless people to shelters in LA County
Clear-out homeless camps
Create and enforce a ban on aggressive panhandling
Follow other cities by enforcing a ‘No Tolerance’ policy for any bad behavior
Create a homeless shelter here in Pico Rivera that provides services on-site including mental health and addiction counseling Q7a Q7e Q7c Q7b Q7d Q7f
% Respondents
Yes No Not sure Prefer not to answer
Economic Development
City of Pico Rivera True North Research, Inc. © 2021 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
E CONOMIC D EVELOPMENT
One of the challenges for any city is to create sustainable economic development initiatives that will support the tax base required for current and future needs. Naturally, the success of these initiatives and the businesses they attract will depend, in part, on the preferences and shopping behaviors of Pico Rivera residents. Accordingly, the survey included questions designed to identify residents’ support for various economic development strategies, their desire for new shopping and dining opportunities, as well as their opinions related to cannabis businesses.
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT INITIATIVES The first question in this series asked respondents the extent to which they would support or oppose the City of Pico Rivera taking the actions shown on the left of Figure 11 in the interest of stimulating the local economy and bringing good paying jobs to the City. As shown in the figure, all of the strategies tested in Question 8 found widespread approval, ranging from 85% to 93% support. Of the strategies tested, residents expressed the strongest support for promoting local workforce training and skills development classes (93% strongly or somewhat support), followed by working with private property owners to revitalize older, out-dated shopping and commercial centers (90%), and providing financial incentives to help existing businesses expand and grow (90%).
Question 8 There are variety of things that the City can do to help stimulate the local economy and bring good paying jobs to Pico Rivera. Would you support or oppose the City: _____? FIGURE 11 SUPPORT FOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT INITIATIVES
INTEREST IN ADDITIONAL STORES OR RESTAURANTS All residents were next asked to indicate whether, among the retail stores and restaurants their household currently visits outside of the City, there are any they would like to have available in Pico Rivera. As shown on Figure 12 on the next page, more than three-quarters of respondents (77%) answered this question in the affirmative. When compared to their respective counterparts, those who had lived in the City 10 to 14 years, homeowners, those with children in the home, those dissatisfied with the City’s overall performance in providing services, individuals between 25 and 54 years of age,
66.3 59.0
55.7 56.0
55.0 54.0
27.0 31.4
34.1 32.0
31.7 30.8
3 5
5 8
7 2
2 1
2 3
3 2
4 4
5 3
5 3
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Promoting local workforce training and skills development classes Working with private property owners to revitalize older, out-dated shopping and commercial centers
Providing financial incentives to help existing businesses expand and grow Creating special business districts to attract specific types of industries like technology and green manufacturing
Providing financial incentives to attract new businesses to the city Selling or leasing city-owned land or facilities that aren’t being used or are underutilized
Q8a Q8f Q8c Q8e Q8b Q8d
% Respondents
Strongly support Smwt support Smwt oppose Strongly oppose DK/NA Economic Development
City of Pico Rivera True North Research, Inc. © 2021 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 those who completed the survey in English, higher-income households, and Latino/Hispanic and Asian residents were the most likely to express an interest in having additional shopping and dining opportunities in Pico Rivera (see Figures 13-15).
Question 9 Thinking of the retail stores and restaurants that your household visits outside of the city, are there any that you would like to have available in Pico Rivera? FIGURE 12 DESIRE STORES, RESTAURANTS IN CITY
FIGURE 13 DESIRE STORES, RESTAURANTS IN CITY BY YEARS IN PICO RIVERA, HOME OWNERSHIP STATUS, CHILD IN
HSLD & OVERALL SATISFACTION
Prefer not to
answer
1.0 Not sure
10.9 Desire
additional
stores,
restaurants
76.8 Do not desire
additional
stores,
restaurants
11.4 79.7
71.9 79.9
74.5 73.1
81.9 77.0
87.3 74.6
68.4 0
10 20
30 40
50 60
70 80
90 100
Less than 5 5 to 9 10 to 14 15 or more Own Rent Yes No Satisfied Dissatisfied Years in Pico Rivera (Q1) Home Ownership Status
(QD2)
Child in Hsld (QD3) Overall Satisfaction (Q4)
% Respondents That Desire Additional
Stores, Restaurants in City
Economic Development
City of Pico Rivera True North Research, Inc. © 2021 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 FIGURE 14 DESIRE STORES, RESTAURANTS IN CITY BY AGE & SURVEY LANGUAGE FIGURE 15 DESIRE STORES, RESTAURANTS IN CITY BY HSLD INCOME & ETHNICITY Those interested in new businesses in the City were next asked to name the retail store or restaurant they were most interested in having located in Pico Rivera. Question 10 was asked in an open-ended manner, allowing respondents to name any business that came to mind without bring prompted by or restricted to a particular list of options. True North later reviewed the verbatim responses and grouped them into the categories shown in Figure 16 on the next page.
Family chain restaurants such as The Cheesecake Factory, TGI Fridays and Olive Garden were the most commonly mentioned type of business that residents would like to have located in Pico Rivera (29%), followed by specialty organic food stores such as Trader Joes, Sprouts and Whole Foods (23%), large discount retailers/warehouse stores like Costco and Sam’s Club (18%), grocery stores (11%), and a greater variety of restaurants (9%).
71.0 71.6
79.3 64.9 66.8
81.4 84.1 82.8
0 10
20 30
40 50
60 70
80 90
100
18 to 24 25 to 34 35 to 44 45 to 54 55 to 64 65 or older English Spanish Age (QD1) Survey Language
% Respondents That Desire Additional
Stores, Restaurants in City
84.9 93.0
77.5 79.8
67.5 69.9
84.6 71.7 70.8 70.6
0 10
20 30
40 50
60 70
80 90
100
Less than
$25K
$25K to
$49K
$50K to
$74K
$75K to
$99K
$100K to
$149K
$150K or
more
Latino /
Hispanic
Asian
American
Caucasian /
White
Mixed or
other
Hsld Income (QD7) Ethnicity (QD6)
% Respondents That Desire Additional
Stores, Restaurants in City
Economic Development
City of Pico Rivera True North Research, Inc. © 2021 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Question 10 What is the name of the retail store or restaurant you would most like to have located in Pico Rivera?
FIGURE 16 ADDITIONAL RETAIL STORES, RESTAURANTS, DESIRED IN PICO RIVERA CANNABIS BUSINESSES Under California law, it is legal for adults to use cannabis for medical and recreational purposes. The law also allows local cities like Pico Rivera to decide whether to allow cannabis businesses to operate within their boundaries, as well as the types of restrictions and regulations to place on cannabis businesses.
After providing respondents with the aforementioned legal and background information, Question 11 assessed whether residents feel cannabis businesses should be allowed to operate in Pico Rivera. Overall, 37% of respondents indicated that the City of Pico Rivera should allow cannabis businesses to operate in the City, whereas 41% opposed the idea, and 22% were unsure or unwilling to state (Figure 17). The mixed opinions found among residents in general were magnified at the subgroup level, with some subgroups being strongly supportive and others being strongly opposed to allowing cannabis businesses to operate in the City. When compared to their respective counterparts, newer residents (less than 5 years), renters, those under 35 years of age, residents living in low-income households (less than $25,000 annually), and individuals identifying as mixed ethnicity were the strongest supporters of allowing cannabis businesses in Pico Rivera. Conversely, those who had lived in the City between 10 and 14 years, home owners, households with children, residents between 45 and 64 years of age, those who completed the survey in Spanish, and Asians were disproportionately opposed to allowing cannabis businesses in Pico Rivera (see Figures 18-20).
29.1 22.6
18.4 11.2
9.3 9.0
6.5 6.0
5.9 4.3
4.2 2.8
2.6 2.5
2.0 1.6
1.6 1.4
1.0 0.9
0.5 4.1
5.6 0 5 10 15 20 25 30
Family chain restaurants
Specialty organic food stores
Larger discount retail, warehouse stores
Grocery stores in general
Greater variety of restaurants
Not sure / Cannot think of anything specific
Home improvement stores
Department stores
Breweries, pubs, sports bars
Fast food restaurants
Coffee shops, bakeries
Furniture, home décor stores
Books, arts, crafts stores
Sporting goods, outdoor rec stores
Sweets, pastries stores
Electronic, computer stores
Mall, outlets
High-end department stores
High-end restaurants in general
Vegan restaurants
Other clothing stores
Game, toy stores
Locally owned Mom & Pop stores
% Respondents Who Desire Additional Retail Stores, Restaurants in Pico Rivera Economic Development
City of Pico Rivera True North Research, Inc. © 2021 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 Question 11 Under California law, it is legal for adults to use cannabis for medical and recreational purposes. The law also allows local cities like Pico Rivera to decide whether to allow cannabis businesses to operate within their boundaries, as well as the types of restrictions and regulations to place on cannabis businesses. In general, do you think the City of Pico Rivera should allow cannabis businesses to operate in the city - or are you not sure? FIGURE 17 ALLOW CANNABIS BUSINESS
FIGURE 18 ALLOW CANNABIS BUSINESS BY YEARS IN PICO RIVERA, HOME OWNERSHIP STATUS, CHILD IN HSLD &
OVERALL SATISFACTION
Should not
allow
41.4 Yes, should
allow
36.7 Not sure /
Depends
21.4 Prefer not to
answer
0.5 30
50 29
43 37 38 36
40 48
41 49
27 53
34 43 40
50 41
25 35
0 10
20 30
40 50
60 70
80 Less than 5 5 to 9 10 to 14 15 or more Own Rent Yes No Satisfied Dissatisfied Years in Pico Rivera (Q1) Home Ownership Status
(QD2)
Child in Hsld (QD3) Overall Satisfaction (Q4)
% Respondents
Should allow cannabis business Should not allow cannibis business Economic Development
City of Pico Rivera True North Research, Inc. © 2021 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 FIGURE 19 ALLOW CANNABIS BUSINESS BY AGE & SURVEY LANGUAGE FIGURE 20 ALLOW CANNABIS BUSINESS BY HSLD INCOME & ETHNICITY OPINION BY TYPE OF CANNABIS BUSINESS The next question assessed whether opinions of cannabis businesses vary based on the type of operation (cultivation, manufacturing, research and testing, distribution, and delivery). Figure 21 shows that the majority of all respondents were in favor of allowing medicinal retail cannabis dispensaries to operate in the City (56%). Opinions were fairly evenly split regarding allowing businesses that research and test cannabis products (44%) and that deliver cannabis products to private residences (42%) to be headquartered in Pico Rivera. For the remaining types of businesses, those that favored allowing the business to operate in the City were outnumbered by those who opposed. Specifically, less than four-in-ten respondents favored allowing businesses that manufacture cannabis products including edibles (37%), recreational cannabis dispensaries (35%), and the indoor cultivation of cannabis on private property (30%) in Pico Rivera.
For the interested reader, Table 7 shows how the percentage who supported allowing specific types of cannabis businesses in Pico Rivera varied according to their overall opinion of cannabis businesses operating in the City and their overall satisfaction with the City’s performance in providing municipal services. 22 36 39
27 25 22
49 57
49 37 39
53 21
36 57
50 0
10 20
30 40
50 60
70 80
18 to 24 25 to 34 35 to 44 45 to 54 55 to 64 65 or older English Spanish Age (QD1) Survey Language
% Respondents
Should allow cannabis business Should not allow cannibis business 36 46
36 21
39 63
36 31
44 40
46 40 43 43
20 20
54 38
29 38
0 10
20 30
40 50
60 70
80 Less than
$25K
$25K to
$49K
$50K to
$74K
$75K to
$99K
$100K to
$149K
$150K or
more
Latino /
Hispanic
Asian
American
Caucasian /
White
Mixed or
other
Hsld Income (QD7) Ethnicity (QD6)
% Respondents
Should allow cannabis business Should not allow cannibis business Economic Development
City of Pico Rivera True North Research, Inc. © 2021 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 Question 12 There are different types of cannabis businesses. In your opinion, should the City allow a limited number of: _____ within the city?
FIGURE 21 SUPPORT FOR ALLOWING SPECIFIC TYPES OF CANNABIS BUSINESS TABLE 7 SUPPORT FOR ALLOWING SPECIFIC TYPES OF CANNABIS BUSINESS BY OVERALL OPINION OF CANNABIS BUSINESS IN CITY & OVERALL SATISFACTION (SHOWING % YES)
SPECIAL TAX FOR CANNABIS BUSINESSES The final question in this series asked residents if, assuming cannabis businesses were allowed in Pico Rivera, they would support or oppose the City establishing a special tax for cannabis-related businesses to help pay for city services and the cost of regulating cannabis businesses. Overall, a clear majority of residents (58%) indicated they would support a special tax on cannabis businesses if they were allowed in Pico Rivera, whereas 24% opposed the concept of taxing cannabis businesses and 17% were unsure or unwilling to share their opinion (Figure 22). Although support for taxing cannabis business ranged between 46% and 77% across subgroups, it is striking that the percentage who supported taxing cannabis businesses exceeded the percentage who opposed in every identified subgroup (see Figures 23-25).
55.6 43.9
41.7 37.2
35.1 30.0
34.5 41.1
43.9 47.3
50.6 53.5
8.8 13.2
12.6 13.9
13.4 14.9
1 2
2 2
1 2
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Medicinal retail cannabis dispensaries
Research and testing of cannabis products
Business that deliver cannabis to private residences to be headquartered
The manufacture of cannabis products including edibles
Recreational retail cannabis dispensaries
The indoor commercial cultivation of cannabis on private property Q12a Q12b Q12c Q12d Q12e Q12f
% Respondents
Yes, allow No, don't allow Not sure Prefer not to answer Should
allow
Should not
allow
Not sure /
Depends Satisfied Dissatisfied
Medicinal retail cannabis dispensaries 96.8 18.3 58.6 56.0 51.1 Research and testing of cannabis products 81.7 12.6 40.6 43.8 44.2 Business that deliver cannabis to private residences to be headquartered 82.1 9.9 35.0 41.4 40.5 The manufacture of cannabis products including edibles 79.8 8.4 21.1 35.9 37.9 Recreational retail cannabis dispensaries 83.4 1.5 17.8 34.9 35.3 The indoor commercial cultivation of cannabis on private property 64.4 5.9 18.2 31.2 26.7 Opinion of Cannabis Biz in City (Q11) Overall Satisfaction (Q4) Economic Development
City of Pico Rivera True North Research, Inc. © 2021 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 Question 13 If cannabis businesses were allowed in Pico Rivera, would you support or oppose the City establishing a special tax for cannabis-related businesses to help pay for city services and the cost of regulating cannabis businesses?
FIGURE 22 SUPPORT OF SPECIAL TAX FOR CANNABIS-RELATED BUSINESS FIGURE 23 SUPPORT OF SPECIAL TAX FOR CANNABIS-RELATED BUSINESS BY YEARS IN PICO RIVERA, HOME OWNERSHIP
STATUS, CHILD IN HSLD & OVERALL SATISFACTION
FIGURE 24 SUPPORT OF SPECIAL TAX FOR CANNABIS-RELATED BUSINESS BY AGE, SURVEY LANGUAGE & OPINION OF
CANNABIS BUSINESS IN CITY
Oppose
cannabisrelated biz tax
24.0 Support
cannabisrelated biz tax
58.3 Not sure
13.8 Prefer not to
answer
3.8 58 61 57 61 60
52 24 26
34 22 24 26 25 23 23
32 61
51 53
61 0
10 20
30 40
50 60
70 80
90 100
Less than 5 5 to 9 10 to 14 15 or more Own Rent Yes No Satisfied Dissatisfied Years in Pico Rivera (Q1) Home Ownership Status
(QD2)
Child in Hsld (QD3) Overall Satisfaction (Q4)
% Respondents
Support Oppose
53 52
61 47
68 52
57 25
18 20
28 22
30 21
37 18
32 19
66 65 62
55 0
10 20
30 40
50 60
70 80
90 100
18 to 24 25 to 34 35 to 44 45 to 54 55 to 64 65 or older English Spanish Should allow
Should not
allow
Not sure /
Depends
Age (QD1) Survey Language Opinion of Cannabis Biz in City (Q11) % Respondents
Support Oppose
Economic Development
City of Pico Rivera True North Research, Inc. © 2021 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 FIGURE 25 SUPPORT OF SPECIAL TAX FOR CANNABIS-RELATED BUSINESS BY HSLD INCOME & ETHNICITY 63 58 58 55
66 77
36 24
18 18
27 25 25
19 30
9 63 62 59
46 0
16 32
49 65
81 97
Less than
$25K
$25K to
$49K
$50K to
$74K
$75K to
$99K
$100K to
$149K
$150K or
more
Latino /
Hispanic
Asian
American
Caucasian /
White
Mixed or
other
Hsld Income (QD7) Ethnicity (QD6)
% Respondents
Support Oppose
Land Use, Housing & Amenities
City of Pico Rivera True North Research, Inc. © 2021 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 L AND U SE , H OUSING & A MENITIES Issues of land use, housing, and community amenities are often “hot topics” for residents in southern California. Whether it be an interest in more affordable housing, concerns about growth and development, a desire to attract better jobs, dining, and shopping opportunities to the community, or a perceived need for community spaces and amenities, residents typically have strong opinions when it comes to the types of development and redevelopment that are appropriate for their community. Recognizing the importance of these topics, the 2021 survey offered Pico Rivera residents the opportunity to share their perspectives.
BUILDING TYPES The first question in this series sought to profile how residents view different types of buildings and land uses in the Pico Rivera. After explaining that there are a number of properties in the City of Pico Rivera that have yet to be developed, as well as existing properties that can be redeveloped or rezoned to serve a different purpose, respondents were presented with the building types shown on the left of Figure 26 and asked—for each type— whether there is currently too much, about the right amount, or too little in Pico Rivera.
Question 14 There are properties in Pico Rivera that have yet to be developed, as well as properties that may be redeveloped or rezoned in the future for a different purpose. To help the City plan for the future, it's helpful to know how residents view the current mix buildings and spaces in the city. As I read the following list of items, please tell me whether you feel there is currently too much, about the right amount, or too little of this item in Pico Rivera. FIGURE 26 OPINION OF BUILDING TYPES AND LAND USES IN CITY
66.3 62.0
52.4 51.1
45.3 45.3
40.7 37.8
30.4 28.7
20.8 17.7
10.4 32.1
36.3 43.9
44.5 45.1
48.1 54.1
56.3 61.1
67.0 69.2
75.5 61.3
3.7 4.5
9.6 6.7
5.122
28.3 6.8
9.9 4.3
8.4 5.9
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Fine dining restaurants
Entertainment options such as movie theaters, music, and arts Affordable housing for middle-income families
Affordable housing for seniors
Affordable housing for low-income families
Smaller, boutique retail stores
Casual dining restaurants
Big box retail stores
Mixed-use housing, housing built on top of, next to, commercial, retail Parks and green spaces
Manufacturing, assembly, and industrial properties
Commercial offices
Fast food restaurants
Q14j Q14e Q14a Q14d Q14b Q14h Q14k Q14g Q14c Q14f Q14m Q14i Q14l % Respondents
Too little About right Too much
Land Use, Housing & Amenities
City of Pico Rivera True North Research, Inc. © 2021 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 As expected, residents expressed quite different opinions depending on the type of building and land use being considered. More than half of residents indicated that there is currently not enough fine dining restaurants (66% too little), entertainment options such as move theaters, music, and arts (62%), affordable housing for middle-income families (52%), and affordable housing for seniors (51%). Many also viewed a deficiency in the amount of affordable housing for lowincome families (45%), smaller, boutique retail stores (45%), casual dining restaurants (41%), and big box retail stores (38%).
Although the most common response for the remaining types of developments was that the current amount is about right, among those who felt the balance was not right there was still a tendency to view too little rather than too much of a particular type of development. This was the case for mixed-use housing (30% too little vs. 8% too much), parks and green spaces (29% vs. 4%), manufacturing, assembly and industrial properties (21% vs. 10%), and commercial offices (18% vs. 7%). Only one building type—fast food restaurants—had more respondents say there were too many (28%) than too few (10%) in Pico Rivera.
For the interested reader, Tables 8 and 9 show how the percentage of residents who perceived too little of each type of development in Pico Rivera varied by overall satisfaction with the City’s performance, presence of a child in the home, length of residence, and age. To ease comparisons, the building and land use types with the highest percentage of respondents indicating there are too few in Pico Rivera are highlighted in green for each subgroup. TABLE 8 OPINION OF BUILDING TYPES AND LAND USES IN CITY BY OVERALL SATISFACTION, CHILD IN HSLD & YEARS IN PICO RIVERA (SHOWING % TOO LITTLE) TABLE 9 OPINION OF BUILDING TYPES AND LAND USES IN CITY BY AGE (SHOWING % TOO LITTLE) Satisfied Dissatisfied Yes No Less than 5 5 to 9 10 to 14 15 or more Fine dining restaurants 64.0 71.3 72.8 62.0 63.6 62.1 70.7 66.8 Entertainment options such as movie theaters, music, arts 58.8 67.7 66.7 59.1 70.6 66.4 67.2 58.3 Affordable housing for middle-income families 53.9 50.6 53.4 51.7 46.5 58.8 41.3 54.4 Affordable housing for seniors 52.2 48.7 46.3 54.1 39.6 41.2 46.3 55.9 Affordable housing for low-income families 47.1 44.0 40.5 48.6 39.5 42.6 34.4 48.8 Smaller, boutique retail stores 43.3 52.0 45.5 44.4 52.1 50.6 37.6 44.0 Casual dining restaurants 40.0 43.3 46.0 38.6 38.0 42.8 49.5 39.3 Big box retail stores 34.4 44.4 46.5 31.8 31.2 37.4 35.5 39.5 Mixed-use housing - which is housing built on top of,
or next to, commercial and retail stores 34.1 22.5 28.0 32.7 28.0 23.0 34.4 32.1 Parks and green spaces 26.4 33.9 22.9 33.1 34.0 30.5 42.7 25.1 Manufacturing, assembly, and industrial properties 21.8 20.4 21.1 20.4 13.0 15.4 17.9 24.2 Commercial offices 16.1 23.7 19.5 16.1 22.9 15.4 6.2 19.2 Fast food restaurants 7.5 16.9 12.7 8.9 10.1 9.3 17.1 9.7 Overall Satisfaction (Q4) Child in Hsld (QD3) Years in Pico Rivera (Q1) 18 to 24 25 to 34 35 to 44 45 to 54 55 to 64 65 or older Fine dining restaurants 60.9 64.7 77.9 71.2 67.7 54.8
Entertainment options such as movie theaters, music, arts 63.5 57.5 77.4 67.8 50.4 54.5 Affordable housing for middle-income families 70.7 52.8 55.9 51.0 49.9 43.5 Affordable housing for seniors 48.0 42.5 39.8 44.0 63.7 65.1 Affordable housing for low-income families 85.6 45.8 34.2 38.0 35.8 43.2 Smaller, boutique retail stores 59.1 46.5 49.9 46.1 43.0 32.7 Casual dining restaurants 26.6 38.5 58.2 52.2 34.7 32.4 Big box retail stores 31.2 20.4 45.8 47.0 52.2 33.2
Mixed-use housing - which is housing built on top of, or next to, commercial and retail stores 34.9 33.5 29.1 32.6 39.7 19.1 Parks and green spaces 26.0 28.7 34.2 31.2 27.8 25.9
Manufacturing, assembly, and industrial properties 20.0 15.4 15.4 21.9 19.3 32.2 Commercial offices 29.3 18.5 12.9 22.1 17.7 10.8
Fast food restaurants 3.0 12.1 16.2 9.8 15.2 6.3
Age (QD1)
Land Use, Housing & Amenities
City of Pico Rivera True North Research, Inc. © 2021 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 COMMUNITY SPACES AND AMENITIES Turning next to community spaces and amenities, Question 15 asked respondents whether each of the items shown on the left of Figure 27 should be a high, medium, or low priority for the City’s future—or if no money should be spent on the item. To encourage a sense of competition, respondents were instructed that not all of the items could be high priorities.
Among the amenities tested, repairing the public swimming pool had the highest percentage of respondents rate the item as a high or medium priority (85%), followed by additional walking trails with trail-side fitness equipment (83%), and additional bike paths (77%). Although still popular, a slightly smaller percentage of Pico Rivera residents rated creating urban, street-side parks with public seating (75%) and a dog park (68%) as a high or medium priority. Tables 10 and 11 show how the percentage of respondents who rated an item as a high priority varied across subgroups of Pico Rivera residents.
Question 15 Thinking about community spaces and amenities, should _____ be a high priority, medium priority, or low priority for the City's future? FIGURE 27 PRIORITY OF COMMUNITY SPACES, AMENITIES TABLE 10 PRIORITY OF COMMUNITY SPACES, AMENITIES BY OVERALL SATISFACTION, CHILD IN HSLD & YEARS IN PICO RIVERA (SHOWING % HIGH) TABLE 11 PRIORITY OF COMMUNITY SPACES, AMENITIES AGE (SHOWING % HIGH)
54.2 51.3
36.9 36.1
35.4 30.3
32.0 39.9
39.0 32.8
11.4 11.2
16.2 16.5
21.4 4.4
4.8 5.3
7.7 31233
1.6 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Repairing the public swimming
pool
Additional walking trails with
trail-side fitness equipment
Additional bike paths
Creating urban, street-side
parks with public seating
A dog park
Q15c Q15b Q15d Q15e Q15a
% Respondents
High priority Medium priority Low priority Should not spend money Not sure/Prefer not to answer Satisfied Dissatisfied Yes No Less than 5 5 to 9 10 to 14 15 or more Repairing the public swimming pool 52.3 56.6 59.4 50.5 46.2 48.4 53.7 56.7 Additional walking trails with trail-side fitness equipment 50.1 55.9 55.6 47.7 50.2 64.3 47.9 48.9 Additional bike paths 36.5 43.7 38.8 35.2 39.4 42.8 34.8 35.3 Creating urban, street-side parks with public seating 38.7 34.5 41.8 32.8 35.5 42.3 33.6 35.1 A dog park 37.2 35.4 31.5 38.7 37.0 38.6 33.3 34.7
Overall Satisfaction (Q4) Child in Hsld (QD3) Years in Pico Rivera (Q1) 18 to 24 25 to 34 35 to 44 45 to 54 55 to 64 65 or older English Spanish Repairing the public swimming pool 45.0 42.7 61.8 61.7 47.1 61.1 54.2 54.3 Additional walking trails with trail-side fitness equipment 50.0 62.0 51.9 58.8 46.6 38.9 50.4 55.7 Additional bike paths 40.2 51.2 41.0 39.2 32.5 18.8 34.6 48.1 Creating urban, street-side parks with public seating 50.4 38.9 38.8 42.0 24.0 27.4 33.5 48.4 A dog park 47.3 41.8 37.5 36.2 34.6 21.4 35.2 36.7
Age (QD1) Survey Language
Strategic Priorities
City of Pico Rivera True North Research, Inc. © 2021 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
S TRATEGIC P RIORITIES
The City of Pico Rivera is in the process of updating its Strategic Plan, which will guide the City's future decisions on a variety of topics that affect the quality of life in the City including economic development, public safety, parks and recreation, and land use. To help inform the Strategic Plan, the 2021 survey included a question series examining proposed priorities for the future of Pico Rivera.
The format of Question 16 was straightforward: respondents were asked whether each item shown in Figure 28 should be a high, medium, or low priority for Pico Rivera’s future. To encourage a sense of competition, respondents were instructed that not all of the items could be high priorities. The items are sorted from high to low in the figure based on the percentage of respondents who indicated that an item was at least a medium priority.
Question 16 The City of Pico Rivera is in the process of updating its Strategic Plan. The Strategic Plan will guide the City's future decisions on a variety of topics that affect the quality of life in Pico Rivera. As I read each of the following items, please indicate whether you think the item should be a high priority, a medium priority, or a low priority for Pico Rivera's future. If you feel the item should not be part of Pico Rivera's future, just say so. Please keep in mind that not all of the items can be high priorities.
FIGURE 28 STRATEGIC PRIORITIES
73.0 70.1
58.9 65.5
65.7 60.1
53.5 41.2
53.2 50.1
43.8 40.6
33.8 42.1
23.1 23.9
32.1 22.7
21.9 26.9
33.2 41.4
28.9 30.8
35.2 37.5
38.5 26.7
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Repairing and maintaining City streets
Ensuring the City remains financially stable and with sufficient financial reserves Repairing and maintaining the City’s utility and facility infrastructure Building stronger, positive relations between the Police Department and the community
Protecting local environment using renewable energy sources, conserving resources, reducing waste, pollution, emissions
Dedicating resources to reducing homelessness
Increasing the City’s engagement and communication with residents Making more city services and programs available online Finance a fiber optic network to improve Internet speeds and communications Limit City Council members to two consecutive terms in office Expanding the network of paths and lanes for walking and biking Creating new parks, green spaces, and recreational areas Pursue bond financing to pay for infrastructure upgrades that otherwise can’t be completed
Build high density, affordable housing
Q16e Q16c Q16a Q16m Q16d Q16f Q16g Q16h Q16j Q16l Q16b Q16n Q16k Q16i % Respondents
High priority Medium priority
Strategic Priorities
City of Pico Rivera True North Research, Inc. © 2021 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 Although all of the items tested were viewed as a high or medium priority for the City’ future by at least two-thirds of respondents, repairing and maintaining city streets was viewed as the highest priority (96% high or medium priority), followed by ensuring the City remains financially stable with sufficient financial reserves (94%), repairing and maintaining the City’s utility and facility infrastructure (91%), building stronger, positive relations between the Police Department and the community (88%), protecting the local environment using renewable energy sources (88%), dedicating resources to reduce homelessness (87%), and increasing the City’s engagement and communication with residents (87%). Tables 12 and 13 how show the percentage that rated each item as a high priority varied across subgroups of Pico Rivera residents, with the top five items in each subgroup highlighted green to ease comparisons.
TABLE 12 STRATEGIC PRIORITIES BY OVERALL SATISFACTION, CHILD IN HSLD & YEARS IN PICO (SHOWING % HIGH
PRIORITY)
TABLE 13 STRATEGIC PRIORITIES AGE & SURVEY LANGUAGE (SHOWING % HIGH PRIORITY) Satisfied Dissatisfied Yes No Less than 5 5 to 9 10 to 14 15 or more Repairing and maintaining City streets 71.8 75.1 74.5 72.2 74.6 68.0 76.3 73.0 Ensuring the City remains financially stable and with sufficient financial reserves 72.5 67.8 71.6 70.3 79.1 61.7 64.8 70.8 Protecting local environment using renewable energy sources, conserving resources, reducing waste, pollution, emissions 70.2 60.3 62.6 68.1 70.7 65.5 63.4 64.8 Building stronger, positive relations between the Police Department and the community 65.6 67.0 68.1 62.5 72.5 61.6 63.8 65.1 Dedicating resources to reducing homelessness 64.8 54.5 64.0 56.8 63.8 58.4 57.4 60.3 Repairing and maintaining the City’s utility and facility infrastructure 61.2 60.6 54.9 62.0 65.0 54.9 57.7 58.5 Increasing the City’s engagement and communication with residents 51.6 60.9 54.2 51.8 59.1 49.8 52.3 53.1 Finance a fiber optic network to improve Internet speeds and communications 52.5 57.8 54.6 53.1 59.6 43.0 52.5 54.3 Limit City Council members to two consecutive terms in office 43.4 66.0 53.9 48.0 55.1 43.2 39.5 52.4 Expanding the network of paths and lanes for walking and biking 45.1 41.9 49.8 40.1 54.8 48.3 37.5 41.6 Build high density, affordable housing 44.2 39.4 36.8 45.6 44.4 36.8 36.5 44.0 Making more city services and programs available online 43.7 40.5 44.4 39.9 55.4 48.9 39.5 37.0 Creating new parks, green spaces, and recreational areas 42.0 40.5 43.7 38.4 50.7 43.7 40.5 37.9 Pursue bond financing to pay for infrastructure upgrades that otherwise can’t be completed 35.9 33.4 33.8 34.7 37.3 31.3 35.4 33.3 Overall Satisfaction (Q4) Child in Hsld (QD3) Years in Pico Rivera (Q1) 18 to 24 25 to 34 35 to 44 45 to 54 55 to 64 65 or older English Spanish Repairing and maintaining City streets 60.2 65.9 73.2 77.9 65.9 89.2 71.1 82.4 Ensuring the City remains financially stable and with sufficient financial reserves 61.2 64.1 73.8 69.3 70.6 78.4 69.0 75.1 Protecting local environment using renewable energy sources, conserving resources, reducing waste, pollution, emissions 89.8 61.0 61.0 63.5 62.1 64.8 61.4 86.6 Building stronger, positive relations between the Police Department and the community 58.4 51.7 63.6 72.7 70.2 74.6 62.6 79.9 Dedicating resources to reducing homelessness 76.0 57.3 61.0 63.7 60.1 50.0 59.4 63.5 Repairing and maintaining the City’s utility and facility infrastructure 53.9 55.6 60.6 62.9 55.4 62.8 56.0 73.1 Increasing the City’s engagement and communication with residents 44.0 50.9 46.8 58.2 56.7 58.3 48.0 80.5 Finance a fiber optic network to improve Internet speeds and communications 63.1 59.3 52.2 54.5 46.6 47.2 49.8 69.7 Limit City Council members to two consecutive terms in office 33.5 44.9 57.7 55.7 62.5 45.2 49.1 55.1 Expanding the network of paths and lanes for walking and biking 34.2 49.6 37.7 47.6 41.9 48.0 39.8 63.2 Build high density, affordable housing 73.6 42.0 30.4 30.2 42.1 45.5 37.5 64.6 Making more city services and programs available online 53.3 41.3 40.0 45.8 40.1 32.4 38.3 55.2 Creating new parks, green spaces, and recreational areas 46.7 47.4 40.9 43.0 34.5 32.2 36.4 61.0 Pursue bond financing to pay for infrastructure upgrades that otherwise can’t be completed 31.5 27.7 27.0 43.2 32.9 41.0 29.1 56.7 Age (QD1) Survey Language
Communication
City of Pico Rivera True North Research, Inc. © 2021 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
C OMMUNICATION
The importance of a city’s communication with its residents cannot be overstated. Much of a city’s success is shaped by the quality of information that is exchanged in both directions, from the city to the community and from the community to the city. This study is just one example of Pico Rivera’s efforts to enhance the information flow to the City to better understand the community’s concerns, perceptions, and needs. Some of Pico Rivera’s many efforts to communicate with its residents include its newsletters, timely press releases, social media posts, and its website.
The following section presents the results of several communication-related questions.
SATISFACTION WITH COMMUNICATION Question 17 asked Pico Rivera residents to report their satisfaction with city-resident communication. Overall, 78% of respondents indicated they were satisfied with the City’s efforts to communicate with residents through newsletters, the Internet, social media, and other means. The remaining respondents were either dissatisfied with the City’s efforts in this respect (18%), unsure of their opinion (4%), or unwilling to share their opinion (<1%).
Question 17 Overall, are you satisfied or dissatisfied with the City's efforts to communicate with residents through newsletters, the Internet, social media, and other means? FIGURE 29 SATISFACTION WITH COMMUNICATION
The next three figures display how satisfaction with the City’s efforts to communicate with residents varied across a number of demographic subgroups. Satisfaction with the City’s communication efforts varied somewhat across demographic subgroups, ranging between 61% and 87% at the extremes. It is also noteworthy that seniors and those generally satisfied with the City’s overall performance in providing municipal services were among the most satisfied subgroups with respect to the City’s communication efforts.
Not sure
3.3 Prefer not to
answer
0.4 Very
dissatisfied
6.6 Somewhat
dissatisfied
11.6 Very satisfied
28.4 Somewhat
satisfied
49.7 Communication
City of Pico Rivera True North Research, Inc. © 2021 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 FIGURE 30 SATISFACTION WITH COMMUNICATION BY YEARS IN PICO RIVERA, HOME OWNERSHIP STATUS, CHILD IN
HSLD & OVERALL SATISFACTION
FIGURE 31 SATISFACTION WITH COMMUNICATION BY AGE & SURVEY LANGUAGE FIGURE 32 SATISFACTION WITH COMMUNICATION BY HSLD INCOME & ETHNICITY
28.4 31.5 26.4 31.4 35.1
14.2 52.2 45.3 53.9 46.3
50.5 48.2
31.6 29.2 28.7 Very
satisfied
23.8 47.9 47.0 Smwt 51.2
satisfied
45.8 0
10 20
30 40
50 60
70 80
90 100
Less than 5 5 to 9 10 to 14 15 or more Own Rent Yes No Satisfied Dissatisfied Years in Pico Rivera (Q1) Home Ownership Status
(QD2)
Child in Hsld (QD3) Overall Satisfaction (Q4)
% Respondents
28.2 38.9
25.5 43.0
51.1 48.0
52.9 34.0
Very
satisfied
27.0 25.8 25.6 26.2
Smwt
satisfied
39.5 52.6 52.2 50.3
0 10
20 30
40 50
60 70
80 90
100
18 to 24 25 to 34 35 to 44 45 to 54 55 to 64 65 or older English Spanish Age (QD1) Survey Language
% Respondents
26.7 15.0
27.8 27.7
52.1 22.7
53.0 57.0
51.1 43.8
31.0 38.5
25.1 31.8
22.9 Very
satisfied
50.7 50.4
47.2 55.3
Smwt
satisfied
33.2 0
10 20
30 40
50 60
70 80
90 100
Less than
$25K
$25K to
$49K
$50K to
$74K
$75K to
$99K
$100K to
$149K
$150K or
more
Latino /
Hispanic
Asian
American
Caucasian /
White
Mixed or
other
Hsld Income (QD7) Ethnicity (QD6)
% Respondents
Communication
City of Pico Rivera True North Research, Inc. © 2021 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 EXPOSURE TO CITY COMMUNICATIONS All respondents were next asked if, in the 12 months prior to the survey, they had visited the City of Pico Rivera’s website, read the City’s newsletter, and/or viewed the City’s social media posts. As shown in Figure 33, approximately three-quarters of all respondents (74%) indicated that they had visited the City’s website, read the City’s newsletter, and/or viewed the City’s social media posts during the period of interest.
Question 18 In the past 12 months, have you visited the City of Pico Rivera's website, read the City's newsletter, or viewed the City's social media posts? FIGURE 33 EXPOSURE TO CITY’S WEBSITE, NEWSLETTER, AND/OR SOCIAL MEDIA POSTS More than half of respondents in every subgroup recalled being exposed to communications from the City of Pico Rivera during the 12 months preceding the interview, although recalled exposure was most prevalent among home owners, those with a child in the home, respondents between 35 and 54 years of age, those who completed the survey in English, high income households, and individuals of mixed ethnic identities (see Figures 34-36).
FIGURE 34 EXPOSURE TO CITY’S WEBSITE, NEWSLETTER, AND/OR SOCIAL MEDIA POSTS BY YEARS IN PICO RIVERA,
HOME OWNERSHIP STATUS & OVERALL SATISFACTION
Did not visit
City's website
23.2 Yes, visited
City's website
74.2 Not sure/Prefer
not to answer
2.6 81.6
59.8 82.8
69.4 72.9
77.0 74.6 72.9
78.3 69.5
0 10
20 30
40 50
60 70
80 90
100
Less than 5 5 to 9 10 to 14 15 or more Own Rent Yes No Satisfied Dissatisfied Years in Pico Rivera (Q1) Home Ownership Status
(QD2)
Child in Hsld (QD3) Overall Satisfaction (Q4)
% Respondents That Visited City's Website
Communication
City of Pico Rivera True North Research, Inc. © 2021 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 FIGURE 35 EXPOSURE TO CITY’S WEBSITE, NEWSLETTER, AND/OR SOCIAL MEDIA POSTS BY AGE & SURVEY LANGUAGE FIGURE 36 EXPOSURE TO CITY’S WEBSITE, NEWSLETTER, AND/OR SOCIAL MEDIA POSTS BY HSLD INCOME & ETHNICITY COMMUNICATION PREFERENCES The final substantive question of the survey presented residents with the methods shown to the left of Figure 37 and asked if each would be an effective way for the City to communicate with them. Overall, respondents indicated that a smart phone app that would allow residents to communicate with the City, report issues, and receive updates would be the most effective method (88% very or somewhat effective), followed by email and electronic newsletters (86%), the City’s website (86%), postcards, letters, and newsletters mailed to your home (82%), and social media (81%). Although still perceived to be at least somewhat effective by at least two-thirds of respondents, when compared to the other methods tested respondents were somewhat less apt to rate Townhall meetings (69%), text messages (77%), and local news media coverage (78%) as very or somewhat effective ways for the City to communicate with them.
74.8 70.1
78.3 54.1
58.9 74.1
81.8 81.5
0 10
20 30
40 50
60 70
80 90
100
18 to 24 25 to 34 35 to 44 45 to 54 55 to 64 65 or older English Spanish Age (QD1) Survey Language
% Respondents That Visited City's Website
75.3 92.8
73.6 73.7
69.6 96.7
79.7 76.0
69.8 58.2
0 10
20 30
40 50
60 70
80 90
100
Less than
$25K
$25K to
$49K
$50K to
$74K
$75K to
$99K
$100K to
$149K
$150K or
more
Latino /
Hispanic
Asian
American
Caucasian /
White
Mixed or
other
Hsld Income (QD7) Ethnicity (QD6)
% Respondents That Visited City's Website
Communication
City of Pico Rivera True North Research, Inc. © 2021 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 Question 19 As I read the following ways that the City of Pico Rivera can communicate with residents, I'd like to know if you think they would be very effective, somewhat effective, or not an effective way for the City to communicate with you.
FIGURE 37 EFFECTIVENESS OF COMMUNICATION METHODS
Tables 14 and 15 show how the percentage of residents that rated each communication method as very effective varied by demographic traits. It is noteworthy that even among seniors, digital forms of communication (smart phone app, email, electronic newsletters) were viewed as the most effective ways for the City to communicate.
TABLE 14 EFFECTIVENESS OF COMMUNICATION METHODS BY OVERALL SATISFACTION, CHILD IN HSLD & YEARS IN PICO RIVERA (SHOWING % VERY EFFECTIVE)
TABLE 15 EFFECTIVENESS OF COMMUNICATION METHODS BY AGE & SURVEY LANGUAGE (SHOWING % VERY EFFECTIVE)
61.8 48.2
41.9 44.2
45.2 32.0
44.7 26.2
25.8 38.1
43.7 38.2
36.1 46.0
32.0 43.0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
A smart phone app that would allow you to communicate with the City, report issues, and receive updates
E-mail & E-Newsletters
City’s website
Postcards, letters, and newsletters mailed to your home Social media like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Nextdoor Local news media
Text messages
Townhall meetings
Q19h Q19a Q19d Q19b Q19f Q19e Q19c Q19g
% Respondents
Very effective Somewhat effective
e
Satisfied Dissatisfied Yes No Less than 5 5 to 9 10 to 14 15 or more A smart phone app that would allow you to communicate with the City, report issues, and receive updates 63.1 61.9 69.1 58.1 63.6 65.8 70.3 59.2 E-mail & E-Newsletters 51.0 42.1 54.3 45.6 43.8 59.8 61.0 44.7 Social media like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Nextdoor 47.5 41.9 58.5 38.0 42.1 55.2 44.1 44.2 Text messages 45.8 43.9 49.6 42.7 49.4 52.0 50.4 41.5
Postcards, letters, and newsletters mailed to your home 46.8 39.7 48.0 42.2 49.7 40.4 37.3 44.7 City’s website 46.0 33.7 47.4 39.9 42.6 48.4 40.1 40.6
Local news media 32.1 33.3 34.9 31.3 33.7 42.1 33.8 29.0 Townhall meetings 28.8 23.0 33.4 21.2 29.7 26.5 24.4 25.3 Overall Satisfaction (Q4) Child in Hsld (QD3) Years in Pico Rivera (Q1) 18 to 24 25 to 34 35 to 44 45 to 54 55 to 64 65 or older English Spanish A smart phone app that would allow you to communicate with the City, report issues, and receive updates 64.6 68.3 75.6 61.9 52.0 52.3 61.7 62.4 E-mail & E-Newsletters 34.6 38.6 57.4 54.7 52.0 52.3 46.0 58.9 Social media like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Nextdoor 62.8 50.3 54.9 49.1 36.3 27.9 43.8 52.4 Text messages 42.1 42.5 54.6 49.7 44.6 36.7 41.0 62.8
Postcards, letters, and newsletters mailed to your home 50.7 42.2 38.6 40.0 46.8 49.7 42.1 54.5 City’s website 52.8 34.6 36.1 45.7 46.8 41.7 38.4 59.1
Local news media 29.7 25.9 29.8 36.5 36.5 32.7 29.3 45.1 Townhall meetings 15.8 26.3 32.2 26.6 29.1 21.9 22.7 43.4 Age (QD1) Survey Language
Background & Demographics
City of Pico Rivera True North Research, Inc. © 2021 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 B ACKGROUND & D EMOGRAPHICS TABLE 16 DEMOGRAPHICS OF SAMPLE Table 16 presents the key demographic information collected during the survey. Although the primary motivation for collecting the background and demographic information was to provide a better insight into how the results of the substantive questions of the survey vary by demographic characteristics, it was also a means to ensure that the resulting sample matched the profile of Pico Rivera’s adult resident population on key characteristics.
Total Respondents 483
Years in Pico Rivera (Q1)
Less than 5 12.3
5 to 9 13.7
10 to 14 10.5
15 or more 63.1
Prefer not to answer 0.4
Age (QD1)
18 to 24 11.8
25 to 34 18.5
35 to 44 16.9
45 to 54 17.4
55 to 64 14.6
65 or older 18.6
Prefer not to answer 2.2
Home Ownership Status (QD2)
Own 63.4
Rent 29.5
Prefer not to answer 7.0
Child in Hsld (QD3)
Yes 39.1
No 56.2
Prefer not to answer 4.7
Employment Status (QD4)
Full-time 51.0
Part-time 8.4
Self-employed 5.8
Student 5.0
Home-maker 3.0
Retired 17.2
Prefer not to answer 9.6
Gender (QD5)
Male 47.9
Female 50.0
Prefer not to answer 2.1
Ethnicity (QD6)
Latino / Hispanic 88.9
Asian American 3.3
Caucasian / White 3.8
Mixed or other 3.6
Prefer not to answer 0.4
Hsld Income (QD7)
Less than $25K 12.5
$25K to $49K 16.5
$50K to $74K 23.2
$75K to $99K 15.2
$100K to $149K 14.3
$150K or more 8.0
Prefer not to answer 10.4
Survey Language
English 83.0
Spanish 17.0
Methodology
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M ETHODOLOGY
The following sections outline the methodology used in the study, as well as the motivation for using certain techniques.
QUESTIONNAIRE DEVELOPMENT Dr. McLarney of True North Research worked closely with the City of Pico Rivera to develop a questionnaire that covered the topics of interest and avoided many possible sources of systematic measurement error, including position-order effects, wording effects, response-category effects, scaling effects, and priming. Several questions included multiple individual items. Because asking items in a set order can lead to a systematic position bias in responses, the items were asked in a random order for each respondent.
Some questions asked in this study were presented only to a subset of respondents. For example, only respondents who indicated they visit businesses outside of the City that they would like to have available in Pico Rivera (Question 9) were asked to name the specific businesses they would like to have available locally (Question 10). The questionnaire included with this report (see Questionnaire & Toplines on page 46) identifies the skip patterns used during the interview to ensure that each respondent received the appropriate questions.
PROGRAMMING, PRE-TEST & TRANSLATION Prior to fielding the survey, the questionnaire was CATI (Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing) programmed to assist interviewers when conducting the telephone interviews. The CATI program automatically navigates the skip patterns, randomizes the appropriate question items, and alerts interviewers to certain types of keypunching mistakes should they happen during the interview. The survey was also programmed into a passcode-protected online survey application to allow online participation for sampled residents. The integrity of the questionnaire was pre-tested internally by True North and by dialing into random homes in the City prior to formally beginning the survey. The final questionnaire was also professionally translated into Spanish an to allow for data collection in English and Spanish according to the preference of the respondent.
SAMPLE, RECRUITING & DATA COLLECTION A comprehensive database of Pico Rivera households was utilized for this study, ensuring that all households in Pico Rivera had the opportunity to be selected to participate in the survey. Once selected at random, contact information was appended to each record including email addresses and telephone numbers for adult residents. Individuals were subsequently recruited to participate in the survey through multiple recruiting methods. Using a combination of email and text invitations, sampled residents were initially invited to participate in the survey online at a secure, passcode-protected website designed and hosted by True North. Each individual was assigned a unique passcode to ensure that only Pico Rivera residents who received an invitation could access the online survey site, and that the survey could be completed only one time per passcode. An email reminder notice was also sent to encourage participation among those who had yet to take the survey. Following a period of online data collection, True North placed telephone calls to land lines and cell phone numbers of sampled residents that had yet to participate in the online survey or for whom only telephone contact information was available.
Methodology
City of Pico Rivera True North Research, Inc. © 2021 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 Telephone interviews averaged 20 minutes in length and were conducted during weekday evenings (5:30PM to 9PM) and on weekends (10AM to 5PM). It is standard practice not to call during the day on weekdays because most working adults are unavailable and thus calling during those hours would bias the sample. A total of 483 completed surveys were gathered online and by telephone between September 15 and September 30, 2021.
MARGIN OF ERROR DUE TO SAMPLING The results of the survey can be used to estimate the opinions of all adult residents in the City. Because not every adult resident of the City participated in the survey, however, the results have what is known as a statistical margin of error due to sampling. The margin of error refers to the difference between what was found in the survey of 483 adult residents for a particular question and what would have been found if all of the estimated 47,947 adult residents4 had been interviewed.
Figure 38 provides a plot of the maximum margin of error in this study. The maximum margin of error for a dichotomous percentage result occurs when the answers are evenly split such that 50% provide one response and 50% provide the alternative response. For this survey, the maximum margin of error is ± 4.4% for questions answered by all 483 respondents.
FIGURE 38 MAXIMUM MARGIN OF ERROR
Within this report, figures and tables show how responses to certain questions varied by demographic characteristics such as length of residence and age of the respondent. Figure 38 is thus useful for understanding how the maximum margin of error for a percentage estimate will grow as the number of individuals asked a question (or in a particular subgroup) shrinks. Because the margin of error grows exponentially as the sample size decreases, the reader should use caution when generalizing and interpreting the results for small subgroups.
4. Source: U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey (ACS) estimate for July 2019. 483 Respondents
± 4.4%
0%
2%
4%
6%
8%
10%
12%
14%
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000 1100 1200 1300 1400 1500 1600 Sample Size (Number of Respondents)
Margin of Error
Methodology
City of Pico Rivera True North Research, Inc. © 2021 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 DATA PROCESSING & WEIGHTING Data processing consisted of checking the data for errors or inconsistencies, coding and recoding responses, categorizing verbatim responses, and preparing frequency analyses and cross-tabulations. The final data were weighted to balance the sample by age and ethnicity according to Census estimates.
ROUNDING Numbers that end in 0.5 or higher are rounded up to the nearest whole number, whereas numbers that end in 0.4 or lower are rounded down to the nearest whole number.
These same rounding rules are also applied, when needed, to arrive at numbers that include a decimal place in constructing figures and charts. Occasionally, these rounding rules lead to small discrepancies in the first decimal place when comparing tables and figures for a given question.
Questionnaire & Toplines
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City of Pico Rivera
Community Opinion Survey
Final Toplines (n=483)
October 2021
Section 1: Introduction to Study
Hi, may I please speak to _____? Hi, my name is _____ and Im calling on behalf of the City of Pico Rivera (PEE-ko Ree-VAIR-uh) from TNR. Were conducting a survey about important issues in Pico Rivera and we would like to get your opinions.
If needed: This is a survey about important issues in your community. Im NOT trying to sell anything and I wont ask for a donation.
If needed: The survey should take about 12 minutes to complete.
If needed: If now is not a convenient time, can you let me know a better time so I can call back?
If needed: Your responses to the survey will be confidential.
Section 2: Quality of Life
To begin, Id like to ask you a few questions about what it is like to live in Pico Rivera.
Q1 How long have you lived in the City of Pico Rivera?
1 Less than 1 year 3%
2 1 to 4 years 9%
3 5 to 9 years 14%
4 10 to 14 years 10%
5 15 years or longer 63%
99 Prefer not to answer 0%
Q2 How would you rate: _____? Would you say it is excellent, good, fair, poor or very poor? Always ask A first, then randomize B-F
Excellent
Good
Fair
Poor
Very Poor
Not sure
Prefer not to
answer
A The overall quality of life in Pico Rivera 12% 49% 32% 5% 2% 0% 0% B Pico Rivera as a place to live 11% 47% 34% 5% 3% 0% 0% C Pico Rivera as a place to raise a family 12% 40% 33% 7% 4% 3% 1% D Pico Rivera as a place to retire 10% 29% 31% 13% 10% 7% 1% E Pico Rivera as a place to work 6% 23% 28% 11% 8% 21% 4% F Pico Rivera as a place to shop and dine 12% 31% 33% 13% 10% 1% 0% Questionnaire & Toplines
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Q3
If the city government could change one thing to make Pico Rivera a better place to live now and in the future, what change would you like to see? Verbatim responses recorded and later grouped into categories shown below.
Address homeless issues 16%
Improve public safety, reduce crime, drugs 15%
Reduce taxes 13%
Beautify City, landscaping 12%
Improve infrastructure, streets, roads 9%
Attract more businesses in general 9%
No changes needed 9%
Not sure / Cannot think of anything 9%
Provide more high-end restaurants, dining
options 7%
Improve schools, education 7%
Provide, improve parks, rec facilities 6%
Improve police response, presence 6%
Provide, improve bike paths, walking trails 3%
Provide affordable housing 3%
Improve economy, jobs 2%
Improve public transportation 2%
Improve City planning 2%
Address fireworks issues 2%
Address water issues 2%
Address parking issues 2%
Provide more street lighting 2%
Enforce City codes 2%
Enforce traffic laws 1%
Reduce traffic congestion 1%
Improve budgeting, spending 1%
Limit number of fast-food restaurants 1%
Provide more sidewalks 1%
Complete road construction projects 1%
Provide more community events 1%
Address healthcare issues 1%
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Section 3: City Services
Next, I would like to ask a series of questions about services provided by the City of Pico Rivera.
Q4
Generally speaking, are you satisfied or dissatisfied with the job the City is doing to provide city services? Get answer, then ask: Would that be very (satisfied/dissatisfied) or somewhat (satisfied/dissatisfied)?
1 Very satisfied 19%
2 Somewhat satisfied 47%
3 Somewhat dissatisfied 15%
4 Very dissatisfied 10%
98 Not sure 7%
99 Prefer not to answer 1%
Q5 For each of the services I read, please tell me whether the service is extremely important to you, very important, somewhat important, or not at all important.
Randomize.
Extremely Important
Very
Important
Somewhat
Important
Not at all
Important
Not sure
Prefer not to
answer
A Providing police and crime prevention
services 63% 27% 6% 2% 1% 1%
B Providing fire protection and emergency
medical services 64% 31% 4% 0% 0% 0%
C Providing reliable trash and recycling
services 54% 39% 6% 0% 0% 0%
D Providing street sweeping services 44% 42% 11% 3% 0% 0% E Maintaining and repairing city streets 60% 37% 3% 1% 0% 0% F Keeping public buildings, facilities, and
parks clean, attractive, and updated 56% 37% 7% 0% 0% 0% G Maintaining public landscapes, trees, and
street medians 48% 41% 10% 1% 0% 0%
H Providing a variety of recreation programs
and summer events for all ages 40% 37% 19% 3% 1% 0%
I Providing safe and reliable drinking water 76% 22% 2% 0% 0% 0% J Promoting economic development for a
healthy business community 47% 41% 10% 1% 0% 0%
K Addressing homelessness 63% 29% 7% 1% 0% 1%
L Facilitating the development of affordable
housing 42% 30% 17% 7% 1% 2%
M Protecting the environment 55% 33% 10% 1% 0% 0%
N Enforcing parking regulations and code
enforcement 26% 35% 28% 9% 1% 0%
O Removing graffiti 54% 33% 10% 2% 1% 0%
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Q6
For the same list of services, I just read, please tell me how satisfied you are with the job the City is doing to provide the service.
Are you satisfied or dissatisfied with the Citys efforts to: _____, or do you not have an opinion? Get answer. If satisfied or dissatisfied, then ask: Would that be very (satisfied/dissatisfied) or somewhat (satisfied/dissatisfied)? Randomize.
Very
Satisfied
Somewhat
Satisfied
Somewhat
Dissatisfied
Very
Dissatisfied
Not sure
Prefer not to
answer
A Provide police and crime prevention
services 30% 37% 18% 10% 5% 1%
B Provide fire protection and emergency
medical services 42% 40% 6% 2% 8% 1%
C Provide reliable trash and recycling services 49% 41% 6% 3% 1% 0% D Provide street sweeping services 49% 39% 6% 4% 2% 1%
E Maintain and repairing city streets 25% 34% 20% 19% 1% 0% F Keep public buildings, facilities, and parks
clean, attractive, and updated 29% 45% 14% 8% 3% 1%
G Maintain public landscapes, trees, and
street medians 31% 41% 16% 10% 1% 1%
H Provide a variety of recreation programs
and summer events for all ages 29% 42% 12% 6% 9% 2%
I Provide safe and reliable drinking water 30% 39% 14% 13% 4% 1% J Promote economic development for a
healthy business community 22% 38% 20% 7% 11% 1%
K Address homelessness 15% 21% 25% 29% 9% 2%
L Facilitate the development of affordable
housing 15% 28% 20% 15% 18% 5%
M Protect the environment 24% 43% 13% 8% 11% 1%
N Enforce parking regulations and code
enforcement 26% 40% 15% 9% 7% 2%
O Remove graffiti 29% 44% 13% 7% 6% 1%
Q7 How do you think the City should deal with the homeless issue? Should it: _____? Randomize
Yes
No
Not sure
Prefer not
to answer
A Connect homeless people to treatment for
mental health and drug addiction 90% 4% 4% 2%
B Create and enforce a ban on aggressive
panhandling 75% 13% 11% 1%
C Clear-out homeless camps 76% 13% 10% 1%
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D
Follow other cities by enforcing a No
Tolerance policy for any bad behavior
including loitering, drug or alcohol use,
littering, or sleeping in parks or public
areas
74% 15% 11% 1%
E Connect homeless people to shelters in LA
County 88% 4% 7% 1%
F
Create a homeless shelter here in Pico
Rivera that provides services on-site
including mental health and addiction
counseling
50% 34% 14% 1%
Section 4: Economic Development
Q8
There are variety of things that the City can do to help stimulate the local economy and bring good paying jobs to Pico Rivera.
Would you support or oppose the City: _____? Get answer. If support or oppose, then ask: Would that be strongly (support/oppose) or somewhat (support/oppose)? Randomize
Strongly
Support
Somewhat
Support
Somewhat
Oppose
Strongly
Oppose
Not sure
Prefer not to
answer
A Promoting local workforce training and
skills development classes 66% 27% 3% 2% 2% 1%
B Providing financial incentives to attract new
businesses to the city 55% 32% 8% 3% 2% 0%
C Providing financial incentives to help
existing businesses expand and grow 56% 34% 5% 1% 3% 1% D
Selling or leasing city-owned land or
facilities that arent being used or are
underutilized
54% 31% 7% 3% 5% 1%
E
Creating special business districts to attract
specific types of industries like technology
and green manufacturing
56% 32% 5% 2% 4% 1%
F
Working with private property owners to
revitalize older, outdated shopping and
commercial centers
59% 31% 3% 2% 3% 1%
Q9 Thinking of the retail stores and restaurants that your household visits outside of the city, are there any that you would like to have available in Pico Rivera? 1 Yes 77% Ask Q10
2 No 11% Skip to Q11
98 Not sure 11% Skip to Q11
99 Prefer not to answer 1% Skip to Q11
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Q10
What is the name of the retail store or restaurant you would most like to have located in Pico Rivera? Verbatim responses recorded and later grouped into categories shown below.
Family chain restaurants 29%
Specialty organic food stores 23%
Larger discount retail, warehouse stores 18%
Grocery stores in general 11%
Greater variety of restaurants 9%
Not sure / Cannot think of anything specific 9%
Department stores 6%
Home improvement stores 6%
Fast food restaurants 6%
Breweries, pubs, sports bars 6%
Furniture, home décor stores 4%
Coffee shops, bakeries 4%
Books, arts, crafts stores 4%
Electronic, computer stores 3%
Sporting goods, outdoor rec stores 3%
Sweets, pastries stores 3%
High-end department stores 2%
Mall, outlets 2%
High-end restaurants in general 2%
Vegan restaurants 1%
Other clothing stores 1%
Locally owned Mom & Pop stores 1%
Game, toy stores 1%
Q11
Under California law, it is legal for adults to use cannabis for medical and recreational purposes. The law also allows local cities like Pico Rivera to decide whether to allow cannabis businesses to operate within their boundaries, as well as the types of restrictions and regulations to place on cannabis businesses.
In general, do you think the City of Pico Rivera should allow cannabis businesses to operate in the city or are you not sure?
1 Yes, should allow 37%
2 No, should not allow 41%
98 Not sure/Depends 21%
99 Prefer not to answer 1%
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Q12 There are different types of cannabis businesses. In your opinion, should the City allow a limited number of: _____ within the city?
Randomize
Yes, allow
No, don t
allow
Not sure
Prefer not
to answer
A Recreational retail cannabis dispensaries 35% 51% 13% 1% B Medicinal retail cannabis dispensaries 56% 35% 9% 1%
C The indoor commercial cultivation of
cannabis on private property 30% 53% 15% 2%
D The manufacture of cannabis products
including edibles 37% 47% 14% 2%
E Business that delivers cannabis to private
residences to be headquartered 42% 44% 13% 2%
F Research and testing of cannabis products 44% 41% 13% 2% Q13
If cannabis businesses were allowed in Pico Rivera, would you support or oppose the City establishing a special tax for cannabis-related businesses to help pay for city services and the cost of regulating cannabis businesses? 1 Support 58%
2 Oppose 24%
98 Not sure 14%
99 Prefer not to answer 4%
Section 5: Land Use & Housing
There are properties in Pico Rivera that have yet to be developed, as well as properties that may be redeveloped or rezoned in the future for a different purpose. To help the City plan for the future, its helpful to know how residents view the current mix buildings and spaces in the city.
Q14 As I read the following list of items, please tell me whether you feel there is currently too much, about the right amount, or too little of this item in Pico Rivera.
Randomize
Too Much
About
Right
Too Little
Not sure
Prefer not
to answer
A Affordable housing for middle-income
families 4% 28% 52% 14% 1%
B Affordable housing for low-income families 10% 25% 45% 18% 2% C
Mixed-use housing which is housing built
on top of, or next to, commercial and retail
stores
8% 33% 30% 25% 3%
D Affordable housing for seniors 4% 21% 51% 21% 2%
E Entertainment options such as movie
theaters, music, and arts 2% 32% 62% 4% 1%
F Parks and green spaces 4% 63% 29% 3% 1%
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G Big box retail stores 6% 46% 38% 10% 1%
H Smaller, boutique retail stores 7% 40% 45% 7% 1%
I Commercial offices 7% 56% 18% 18% 2%
J Fine dining restaurants 2% 28% 66% 3% 1%
K Casual dining restaurants 5% 48% 41% 5% 1%
L Fast food restaurants 28% 58% 10% 3% 1%
M Manufacturing, assembly, and industrial
properties 10% 46% 21% 22% 2%
Q15 Thinking about community spaces and amenities, should _____ be a high priority, medium priority, or low priority for the Citys future? Randomize
High Priority
Medium
Priority
Low Priority
Should not
spend money
Not sure
Prefer not to
answer
A A dog park 35% 33% 21% 8% 2% 1%
B Additional walking trails with trail-side
fitness equipment 51% 32% 11% 4% 1% 0%
C Repairing the public swimming pool 54% 30% 11% 2% 2% 1% D Additional bike paths 37% 40% 16% 5% 2% 1%
E Creating urban, street-side parks with public
seating 36% 39% 17% 5% 2% 1%
Section 6: Strategic Priorities
The City of Pico Rivera is in the process of updating its Strategic Plan. The Strategic Plan will guide the Citys future decisions on a variety of topics that affect the quality of life in Pico Rivera.
Q16
As I read each of the following items, please indicate whether you think the item should be a high priority, a medium priority, or a low priority for Pico Riveras future. If you feel the item should not be part of Pico Riveras future, just say so. Please keep in mind that not all of the items can be high priorities.
Here is the (first/next) one: _____. Should this be a high, medium or low priority for Pico Rivera or should it not be part of Pico Riveras future? Randomize
High Priority
Medium
Priority
Low Priority
Should not
spend money
Not sure
Prefer not to
answer
A Repairing and maintaining the Citys utility
and facility infrastructure 59% 32% 5% 0% 2% 1%
B Expanding the network of paths and lanes
for walking and biking 44% 35% 15% 4% 1% 1%
C Ensuring the City remains financially stable
and with sufficient financial reserves 70% 24% 3% 0% 1% 2% Questionnaire & Toplines
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D
Protecting the local environment by using
renewable energy sources, conserving
resources, and reducing waste, pollution
and emissions
66% 22% 8% 2% 2% 1%
E Repairing and maintaining City streets 73% 23% 2% 0% 0% 1% F Dedicating resources to reducing
homelessness 60% 27% 8% 2% 1% 1%
G Increasing the Citys engagement and
communication with residents 54% 33% 9% 2% 1% 1%
H Making more city services and programs
available online 41% 41% 12% 2% 1% 2%
I Build high density, affordable housing 42% 27% 15% 11% 3% 2% J Finance a fiber optic network to improve
Internet speeds and communications 53% 29% 12% 4% 2% 1% K
Pursue bond financing to pay for
infrastructure upgrades that otherwise cant
be completed
34% 38% 14% 5% 7% 1%
L Limit City Council members to two
consecutive terms in office 50% 31% 10% 2% 6% 2%
M
Building stronger, positive relations
between the Police Department and the
community
66% 23% 7% 3% 1% 1%
N Creating new parks, green spaces, and
recreational areas 41% 37% 16% 4% 1% 1%
Section 7: Communication
Q17
Overall, are you satisfied or dissatisfied with the Citys efforts to communicate with residents through newsletters, the Internet, social media, and other means? Get answer, then ask: Would that be very (satisfied/dissatisfied) or somewhat (satisfied/dissatisfied)? 1 Very satisfied 28%
2 Somewhat satisfied 50%
3 Somewhat dissatisfied 12%
4 Very dissatisfied 7%
98 Not sure 3%
99 Prefer not to answer 0%
Q18 In the past 12 months, have you visited the City of Pico Riveras website, read the Citys newsletter, or viewed the Citys social media posts?
1 Yes 74%
2 No 23%
98 Not sure 2%
99 Prefer not to answer 1%
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Q19
As I read the following ways that the City of Pico Rivera can communicate with residents, Id like to know if you think they would be very effective, somewhat effective, or not an effective way for the City to communicate with you.
Randomize
Very
Effective
Somewhat
Effective
Not
Effective
Not sure
Prefer not
to answer
A E-mail & E-Newsletters 48% 38% 8% 4% 2%
B Postcards, letters, and newsletters mailed to
your home 44% 38% 13% 3% 1%
C Text messages 45% 32% 14% 7% 2%
D Citys website 42% 44% 10% 2% 1%
E Local news media 32% 46% 14% 6% 2%
F Social media like Facebook, Instagram,
Twitter, and Nextdoor 45% 36% 10% 7% 2%
G Townhall meetings 26% 43% 21% 7% 3%
H
A smart phone app that would allow you to
communicate with the City, report issues,
and receive updates
62% 26% 5% 5% 2%
Q20 What is your preferred language for City communications and mailings? 1 English 84%
2 Spanish 13%
3 Other 1%
99 Prefer not to answer 1%
Section 8: Background & Demographics
Thank you so much for your participation. I have just a few background questions for statistical purposes.
D1 In what year were you born? Year recoded into age groups shown below. 18 to 24 12%
25 to 34 18%
35 to 44 17%
45 to 54 17%
55 to 64 15%
65 or older 19%
Prefer not to answer 2%
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D2 Do you own or rent your residence in Pico Rivera?
1 Own 63%
2 Rent 30%
99 Prefer not to answer 7%
D3 Do you currently have any children under the age of 18 living in your home? 1 Yes 39%
2 No 56%
99 Prefer not to answer 5%
D4
Which of the following best describes your employment status? Would you say you are employed full-time, part-time, self-employed, a student, a homemaker, retired, or are you currently laid-off or furloughed from work?
1 Employed full-time 51%
2 Employed part-time 8%
3 Self-employed 6%
4 Student 5%
5 Homemaker 3%
6 Retired 17%
7 Laid off or furloughed 3%
99 Prefer not to answer 7%
D5 What is your gender?
1 Male 48%
2 Female 50%
3 Other <1%
99 Prefer not to answer 2%
D6 What ethnic group do you consider yourself a part of or feel closest to? Read list if respondent hesitates
1 Latino/Hispanic 89%
2 Asian American -- Korean, Japanese,
Chinese, Vietnamese, Filipino or other
Asian
3%
3 Caucasian/White 4%
4 African-American/Black 1%
5 American Indian or Alaskan Native 1%
6 Pacific Islander <1%
Questionnaire & Toplines
City of Pico Rivera True North Research, Inc. © 2021 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 City of Pico Rivera Community Survey October 2021
True North Research, Inc. © 2021 Page 12
7 Middle Eastern <1%
8 Mixed Heritage 1%
98 Other <1%
99 Prefer not to answer 1%
D7
I have just one more question for you for statistical reasons. I am going to read some income categories. Please stop me when I reach the category that best describes your total household income.
1 Less than $25,000 12%
2 $25,000 to less than $50,000 17%
3 $50,000 to less than $75,000 23%
4 $75,000 to less than $100,000 15%
5 $100,000 to less than $150,000 14%
6 $150,000 or more 8%
98 Not sure / Prefer not to answer 10%
Thanks so much for participating in this important survey! This survey was conducted for the City of Pico Rivera.
Post Interview Items
S1 Survey Language
1 English 83%
2 Spanish 17%
2/4/2022
COMMUNITY OPINION SURVEY
CONDUCTED FOR THE
CITY OF PICO RIVERA
PRESENTED BY
TIMOTHY MCLARNEY PH.D.
2 oIdentify important issues and community needs for the City’s 5-year Strategic Plan
o Measure resident satisfaction overall, as well as in
specific service areas
oGather opinions on topics such as economic
development, land use, homelessness, cannabis and
strategic priorities
oDetermine effectiveness of City marketing &
communication methods
PURPOSE OF STUDY
3 oField Dates: September 15-30, 2021
o Mixed Methodology
o Email, Text & Telephone Recruiting
o Online & Telephone Interviews (average of 20 minutes) oLanguages: English & Spanish
oRandom Sample: 483 adult residents with
demographics aligned to Census ACS estimates
o Margin of error: ± 4.4% at 95% confidence level
METHODOLOGY OF STUDY
4 RATING THE CITY OF PICO RIVERA…
60.9 58.0
51.8 42.9
38.1 29.2
32.1 33.8
32.5 33.1
30.8 27.6
6.8 7.6
11.7 23.3
23.6 18.5
1 4
1 8
25 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Overall quality of life
As a place to live
As a place to raise a family
As a place to shop and dine
As a place to retire
As a place to w ork
% Respondents
Excellent / Good Fair Poor / Very Poor DK/ NA
5 OVERALL SATISFACTION WITH CITY
SERVICES
Somewhat
satisfied
47.2 Very
satisfied
18.8 Somewhat
dissatisfied
15.5 Very
dissatisfied
10.1 DK/ NA
8.4 66% of Residents
Are Satisfied
6 IMPORTANCE OF CITY SERVICES
75.7 59.5
64.5 54.3
55.8 62.5
62.9 47.5
54.9 46.8
54.2 43.6
40.1 42.3
26.4 21.6
36.7 31.3
39.3 37.2
28.7 27.1
41.5 33.4
41.5 33.0
42.2 36.9
30.5 35.4
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Providing safe and reliable drinking w ater
M aintaining and repairing city streets
Providing fire protection and emergency medical services Providing reliable trash and recycling services
Keeping public buildings, facilities, parks clean, attractive, updated Addressing homelessness
Providing police and crime prevention services
M aintaining public landscapes, trees, and street medians Protecting the environment
Promoting economic development for healthy biz community Removing graffiti
Providing street sw eeping services
Providing variety of rec programs, summer events for all ages Facilitating the development of affordable housing
Enforcing parking regulations and code enforcement.
% Respondents
Extremely important Very important
97%
96%
96%
94%
93%
91%
90%
89%
88%
88%
87%
86%
77%
73%
62%
7 SATISFACTION WITH CITY SERVICES
50 46
51 33
31 30
28 32
29 31
32 26
26 19
17 41
45 40
48 48
47 49
42 44
41 39
44 35
36 23 28
23 19
15 17
6 7
6 13
13 15
15 16
20 26 19
19 10
9 8
32 8
10 13
10 3
3 4
7 8
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Provide reliable trash and recycling services
Provide fire protection and emergency medical services
Provide street sw eeping services
Provide variety of rec programs, summer events for all ages Remove graffiti
Keep public buildings, facilities, parks clean, attractive, updated Protect the environment
M aintain public landscapes, trees, and street medians
Enforce parking regulations and code enforcement
Provide safe and reliable drinking w ater
Provide police and crime prevention services
Promote economic development for a healthy business community M aintain and repair city streets
Facilitate the development of affordable housing
Address homelessness
% Respondents Who Provided Opinion
Very satisfied Smwt satisfied Smwt dissatisfied Very dissatisfied 8 ONE CHANGE TO IMPROVE CITY?
15.8 14.5
12.6 11.5
9.4 9.2
8.8 8.6
7.0 6.3
5.8 2.9
2.2 2.2
2.1 2.1
2.0 6.6
3.1 0 5 10 15 20
Address homeless issues
Improve public safety, reduce crime, drugs
Reduce tax es
Beautify City, landscaping
Improve infrastructure, streets, roads
Not sure / Cannot think of anything
Attract more businesses in general
No changes needed
Improve schools, education
Provide more high-end restaurants, dining options
Improve police response, presence
Provide, improve parks, rec facilities
Provide affordable housing
Provide, improve bike paths, walking trails
Improve City planning
Improve public transportation
Address parking issues
Address water issues
Improve economy, jobs
% Respondents
Top 5 Improvements
Desired by Residents
18% of Residents Could Not
Think of a Change or Said No
Changes Were Needed
9 MANAGING HOMELESSNESS
H O W D O R E S I D E N T S T H I N K T H E C I T Y S H O U L D D E A L W I T H T H E H O M E L E S S I S S U E ?
90.4 88.3
76.4 74.7
73.8 50.4
3.8 4.0
12.7 12.9
15.0 34.3
5.8 7.6
10.9 12.4
11.2 15.3
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Connect homeless people to treatment for mental health
and drug addiction
Connect homeless people to shelters in LA County
Clear-out homeless camps
Create and enforce a ban on aggressive panhandling
Follow other cities by enforcing a ‘No Tolerance’ policy for any bad behavior
Create homeless shelter in Pico Rivera providing services on-site including mental health, addiction counseling
% Respondents
Yes No DK/ NA
10 SUPPORT FOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
INITIATIVES
66.3 59.0
55.7 56.0
55.0 54.0
27.0 31.4
34.1 32.0
31.7 30.8
3 5
5 8
7 2
2 1
2 3
3 2
4 4
5 3
5 3
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Promoting local w orkforce training and skills development classes
Working w ith private property ow ners to revitalize older, out-dated shopping and commercial centers
Providing financial incentives to help existing businesses expand and grow
Creating special business districts to attract specific types of industries like technology and green manufacturing
Providing financial incentives to attract new businesses to the city
Selling or leasing city-ow ned land or facilities that aren’t being used or are underutilized
% Respondents
Strongly support Smwt support Smwt oppose Strongly oppose DK/ NA 11 SUPPORT FOR ALLOWING CANNABIS
BUSINESSES TO OPERATE IN THE CITY
IN GENERAL
Should not allow
41.4 Yes, should allow
36.7 Not sure /
Depends
21.4 Prefer not to
answer
0.5 12
SUPPORT FOR TYPES OF CANNABIS
BUSINESSES
55.6 43.9
41.7 37.2
35.1 30.0
34.5 41.1
43.9 47.3
50.6 53.5
9.9 15.0
14.4 15.5
14.3 16.5
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
M edicinal retail cannabis dispensaries
Research and testing of cannabis products
Business that deliver cannabis to private residences to be headquartered
The manufacture of cannabis products including edibles
Recreational retail cannabis dispensaries
The indoor commercial cultivation of cannabis on
private property
% Respondents
Yes, allow No, don't allow DK/ NA
13 SUPPORT FOR CANNABIS BUSINESSES
TAXATION
Oppose cannabisrelated biz tax
24.0 Support cannabisrelated biz tax
58.3 Not sure
13.8 Prefer not to
answer
3.8 14
OPINIONS ABOUT AMOUNT OF BUILDING
TYPES, PROPERTIES & AMENITIES IN CITY
66.3 62.0
52.4 51.1
45.3 45.3
40.7 37.8
30.4 28.7
20.8 17.7
10.4 32.1
36.3 43.9
44.5 45.1
48.1 54.1
56.3 61.1
67.0 69.2
75.5 61.3
3.7 4.5
9.6 6.7
5.1 2
2 28.3
6.8 9.9
4.3 8.4
5.9 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Fine dining restaurants
Entertainment options such as movie theaters, music, arts Affordable housing for middle-income families
Affordable housing for seniors
Affordable housing for low -income families
Smaller, boutique retail stores
Casual dining restaurants
Big box retail stores
M ixed-use housing, built on top of, next to, commercial, retail Parks and green spaces
M anufacturing, assembly, and industrial properties
Commercial offices
Fast food restaurants
% Respondents
Too little About right Too much
15 PRIORITIZING COMMUNITY SPACES &
AMENITIES
54.2 51.3
36.9 36.1
35.4 30.3
32.0 39.9
39.0 32.8
16.2 16.5
21.4 2
4 5
5 8
11.2 11.4
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Repairing the public
sw imming pool
Additional w alking trails
w ith trail-side fitness equip
Additional bike paths
Creating urban, street-side
parks w ith public seating
A dog park
% Respondents
High priority Medium priority Low priority Should not spend money DK/ NA 16 INITIATIVES RELATED TO THE COUNCIL’S
STRATEGIC PRIORITIES
73.0 70.1
58.9 65.5
65.7 60.1
53.5 41.2
53.2 50.1
43.8 40.6
33.8 42.1
23.1 23.9
32.1 22.7
21.9 26.9
33.2 41.4
28.9 30.8
35.2 37.5
38.5 26.7
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Repairing and maintaining City streets
Ensuring the City remains financially stable and w ith sufficient financial reserves
Repairing and maintaining the City’s utility and facility infrastructure
Building stronger, positive relations betw een the Police Department and the community
Protecting environment using renew able energy, conserving resources, reducing w aste, pollution, emissions
Dedicating resources to reducing homelessness
Increasing the City’s engagement and communication w ith residents
M aking more city services and programs available online Finance a fiber optic netw ork to improve Internet speeds and communications
Limit City Council members to tw o consecutive terms in office Expanding the netw ork of paths and lanes for w alking and biking Creating new parks, green spaces, and recreational areas Pursue bond financing to pay for infrastructure upgrades that otherw ise can’t be completed
Build high density, affordable housing
% Respondents
High priority M edium priority
96%
94%
91%
88%
87%
87%
87%
83%
82%
81%
79%
78%
72%
69%
17 SATISFACTION WITH COMMUNICATION
AMONG RESIDENTS OVERALL & BY SURVEY LANGUAGE
77% of
Residents Who
Took the Survey
in Spanish Were
Satisfied With
the City’s
Communication
Efforts, With
43% Saying They
Were Very
Satisfied
25.5 43.0
52.9 34.0
11.5 11.8
7.4 2.6
2.7 8.7
28.4 49.7
11.6 6.6
3.7 0
10 20
30 40
50 60
70 80
90 100
English Spanish
Residents Overall Survey Language
% Respondents
DK/ NA
Very
dissatisfied
Somewhat
dissatisfied
Somewhat
satisfied
Very
satisfied
18 USE OF THE CITY’S WEBSITE,
NEWSLETTER AND/OR SOCIAL MEDIA
AMONG RESIDENTS OVERALL & BY SURVEY LANGUAGE
78.3 54.1
18.5 45.9
74.2 23.2
0 10
20 30
40 50
60 70
80 90
100
English Spanish
Residents Overall Survey Language
% Respondents
Not sure /
Prefer not to
answer
Did not visit
City's website
Yes, visited
City's website
19 KEY CONCLUSIONS I
ACCOMPLISHMENTS
oDespite pandemic and challenges it has created,
residents remain generally satisfied with Pico Rivera
oQuality of Life
oCity’s Overall Performance
oSpecific Services – with highest satisfaction for trash & recycling, fire protection, EMS, street sweeping, and recreation
programming
oSatisfaction with Communication was solid among both
English- and Spanish-speaking residents
oGood alignment on strategic priorities
20 KEY CONCLUSIONS II
OPPORTUNITY AREAS
oAddressing homelessness
oFacilitating the development of affordable housing
oStreet and infrastructure maintenance/repair
oEconomic development
oFiscal sustainability
oCommunity policing and public safety
oProtecting the environment
Employee
Engagement
Survey Results
January 25, 2022
1 Background
• Employee Engagement Survey was conducted
as part of the 5-year strategic planning process.
• September 13, 2021 – October 1, 2021
• Received 117 responses (51% participation rate)
• Topic Areas:
1. Work Environment
2. Team Performance
3. Career Development
4. Leadership
5. City Mission & Vision
6. Pride & Commitment
2 Key Takeaways
• Lacking Trust in executive
leadership
• Need for increased
Communication
• More support for Diversity &
Inclusion
• Employee perspective is not
Valued
• Unclear what the City’s Goals
& Priorities are
3 CHALLENGES
• Long-term Commitment to the
organization
• Strong sense of providing
excellent Customer Service
• Understanding of Department
Priorities
• Have the Tools & Resources
needed to succeed in their job
• Coworkers create a positive
work environment
SUCCESSES
Work Environment
34%
39%
52%
55%
28%
28%
24%
29%
18%
20%
15%
8%
10%
9%
5%
4%
10%
4%
4%
4%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
I have the tools & resources to successfully do my job
My coworkers are willing to go beyond what is expected
My coworkers are dedicated to satisfying residents/customers My coworkers are friendly & cooperative
Strongly Agree Somewhat Agree Neutral Somewhat Disagree Strongly Disagree 4 I Feel My Team Performs Well In…
20%
27%
22%
23%
22%
33%
36%
27%
28%
34%
36%
40%
34%
37%
24%
27%
23%
19%
22%
17%
19%
19%
12%
14%
14%
12%
11%
5%
9%
6%
7%
8%
4%
5%
3%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Communication
Organization
Accountability
Leadership
Time-Management
Collaboration
Productivity
Excellent Good Neautral Poor Very Poor
5 Career Development
14%
16%
36%
27%
30%
21%
18%
22%
21%
19%
13%
8%
22%
19%
14%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
There are opportunities to grow within
The City invests in my career development
My supervisor has given me opportunities to grow
Strongly Agree Somewhat Agree Neutral Somewhat Disagree Strongly Disagree 6 Leadership
8%
12%
19%
38%
22%
19%
24%
21%
21%
19%
22%
19%
30%
18%
19%
14%
20%
33%
17%
9%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
I understand why leadership makes the decision they do
I believe the City Manager will act on the results of the survey Leadership is interested in employee well-being
I have a high level of respect for my deparment head
Strongly Agree Somewhat Agree Neutral Somewhat Disagree Strongly Disagree 7 Leadership Values
11%
17%
29%
14%
17%
31%
20%
29%
18%
25%
21%
15%
30%
17%
7%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Everyone's Perspective
Diversity & Inclusion
Employee Safety
Strongly Agree Somewhate Agree Neutral Somewhat Disagree Strongly Disagree 8 City Mission and Vision
25% 25%
48%
62%
29% 29%
22%
22%
26% 26% 22%
11%
10% 10%
4% 11% 11% 5%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
City Council City Manager Department Head Immediate Team I understand how the work I do relates to
the goals & priorities of…
Strongly Agree Somewhat Agree
Neutral Somewhat Disagree
Strongly Disagree
12%
23%
26%
24%
15%
Strongly Agree Somewhat Agree
Neutral Somewhat Disagree
Strongly Disagree
The City’s goals
and priorities are
clear to me.
9 Pride and Commitment
10 35%
43%
66%
27%
31%
16%
13%
20%
16%
7%
3%
1%
9%
2%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
I would recommend the City as a place to work
I feel proud to tell people I work for the City
I plan to stay with the City for at least another year
Strongly Agree Somewhate Agree Neutral Somewhat Disagree Strongly Disagree Financial Health
0 1 2 3 4 5 6
Embed Social & Racial Equity into decision-making
Adopt environmental sustainability to reduce costs
Conduct Community Engagement to reduce unintended
consequences
Restructure City Org. to align costs w/ revenue
Adopt new technology to improve staff capacity
Create new revenue generating programs
What actions can the City take to ensure long-term financial health? 11 Organizational Health
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Establish employee recognition program
Re-org departments to better align with City Services
Host brown bag meetings to increase collaboration
Plan for retirement of employees & train incoming employees Support the professional growth of current employees
Improve communication from top down
What actions can the City take to ensure long-term organizational health? 12 Next Steps
• SWG/Executive team to develop
recommendations to address changes
• SWG/Executive team to develop departmental
action plans & goals
• Implement departmental action plans
• Administer 1-year pulse survey
13 To: Mayor and City Council
From: City Manager
Meeting Date: February 8, 2022
Subject: INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (IT) ASSESSMENT
RESULTS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Recommendation:
1. Receive and file the Information Technology (IT) Assessment Results and Recommendations; and
2. Approve additional appropriations from the fiscal year (FY) 2020-21 Year-end Surplus in the amount of $345,500 to implement the list of recommended projects and needs listed on Enclosure 2.
Fiscal Impact:
The FY 2021-22 General Fund Budget includes $30,000 for IT services (G/L Account No. 100.20.6040-54500) to fund the IT Assessment. An additional appropriation from the FY 2020-21 Year-end Surplus in the amount of $345,500 to implement the list of recommended projects and needs listed on Enclosure 2.
Background:
In March 2021, City Council approved an IT Assessment in order to gain an objective view of how technology services are currently being used and managed, to measure the capabilities, resources, vulnerabilities, internal IT priorities and identify gaps. The assessment would offer recommendations to improve productivity and efficiencies. Prior to this, the last time the City requested an IT Assessment to be conducted was in 2016.
While an assessment took place, it focused more on inventory, network mapping, software programs and security measures of the City. This was more of a review of the departmental processes in place, with no emphasis on long-term strategies for the City’s information technology division.
Discussion:
Staff contracted with Infinity Technologies to conduct an IT Assessment on the City’s current IT infrastructure and propose recommendations on improvements which could be CITY COUNCIL AGENDA REPORT – MEETING OF FEBRUARY 8, 2022
IT ASSESSMENT RESULTS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
undertaken to improve the network reliability, security, and utilize current IT technology.
The IT Assessment consists of a review and analysis of the City’s current state and future IT needs. Based on the results of the IT Assessment, Infinity Technologies will develop an IT Business Plan by the summer of 2022 to address priorities, timing and costs of recommendations set forth in the IT Assessment. Following is a summarization of the results of the IT Assessment, anticipating a comprehensive effort to complete each task, with dedicated human capital, resources and funding requirements. Infinity Technologies will continue to work with staff to create an IT Business Plan with a robust model. Cost estimates of the most imperative priorities are identified in the IT Assessment, anticipating the fiscal impact upon completion of a five (5) year plan.
The overview of the work performed and deliverables for the IT Assessment include:
• Current State Analysis: to perform a current state analysis of IT policies, procedures, technical infrastructure, costs, organizational structure and personnel; • Recommended IT Staff Plan: perform a gap analysis of IT risk assessment, technical infrastructure, IT organization and personnel; and • Future Recommendations and Strategic Roadmap: document recommendations for future action and strategic implementation roadmap.
IT Assessment Results
Current State Analysis
• The City currently does not have centralized IT strategies developed by the Information Systems Division (ISD) in collaboration with other City Departments. o Recommendation: Create central IT Strategies in collaboration with other City departments and Administration.
• The City currently does not have documented common IT procedures. Staffing constraints have delayed the development and documentation of such procedures. o Recommendation: Create a central repository of common IT Procedures for documentation and audit reasons.
• The City’s current technical infrastructure should be updated to ensure we are prepared for disaster resilience and cloud connectivity. o Recommendation: Establish multiple internet connections and migrate email and file systems to Microsoft Office 365. City has recently started this process, with an estimated completion in the first quarter of 2022. • The City’s internet connection lacked redundancy options at the time the assessment was performed.
o Recommendation: The City should ensure it has an alternate (additional) internet service provider to provide redundancy and eliminate the risk that connection to City servers and networks is lost.
CITY COUNCIL AGENDA REPORT – MEETING OF FEBRUARY 8, 2022
IT ASSESSMENT RESULTS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
o Resolved in November 2021. The City has currently implemented this. As of the date of this report, the City has two independent internet providers to ensure redundancy.
• The City currently does not have a comprehensive set of current documented standard IT policies that detail anticipated responses. The City is not using best practice procedures to identify potential IT issues such as equipment failure and disaster recovery. While the City has a Cyber Security Insurance Policy, it lacks a current and up-to-date ransomware prevention and recovery policy. Other policies that need to be updated are equipment/asset requisition and other common electronic processes. Also, while the City does have an employee new hire process in place through its online onboarding system, the termination processes is still manual, which could result in a lag in the time it takes to deactivate an employee and ensure all assets are collected. However, the manual process is a coordinated effort between the Human Resources and Administrative Departments, with the assistance from the employee’s home department. The current process is designed to ensure all City-owned assets are collected from the employee, and that all login usernames/passwords are deactivated before the employee’s last payroll check is issued.
o Recommendation: The City should create, standardize and implement Citywide IT policies, with an emphasis on the development of detailed Ransomware Recovery and Disaster Recovery policies.
• The City does not currently have a comprehensive technology purchasing process.
Each City Department currently purchases its own technology and many software platform licenses without prior consent of the Administrative Services Department, which includes the IT Division and Finance Divisions (Budget, Accounting, Purchasing, etc.).
o Recommendation: A centralized technology process will help the City realize a more efficient IT infrastructure, and ensure it is realizing an optimal overall cost of ownership and return on investment. It is a municipal government Best Practice for IT/Finance to be involved in all technology hardware/software decisions. The City should implement a technology purchasing policy that requires each Department to receive prior approval from IT/Finance before making technology-related purchases.
Recommended IT Staff Plan
• The City should contract with appropriately qualified consulting company staff as needed to work with City staff to complete current IT projects. • Initial future staffing recommendations include the following additional City IT personnel:
o IT Manager – Guides development of centralized IT strategies; provides leadership; responsible for implementation of Best Practices and understanding policies and procedures.
CITY COUNCIL AGENDA REPORT – MEETING OF FEBRUARY 8, 2022
IT ASSESSMENT RESULTS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
o Systems/Network Engineer – Responsible for City Network, Systems and Security.
o Help Desk Technician – Provides day-to-day support and works on various projects
• These staffing roles should be reevaluated once the majority of currently planned projects are completed.
Future Recommendations and Strategic Roadmap
The IT Assessment provides recommendations for future action, with issues identified by priority (high/medium/low), with approximate initial cost estimates.
The following IT projects have either been completed or are currently in the implementation stage:
• Network Upgrades/Improvements:
o Internet Redundancy – Bringing in another internet connection so that in the event that the primary internet connection goes offline, the secondary is available, ensuring consistent connectivity of the networks and servers. o Re-cabling City Hall Server Room – Cat 6 cabling needs to be rewired in the server room.
• Server Upgrades Needed:
o Office 365 Implementation – The City’s current e-mail messaging infrastructure is outdated and inadequate by today’s standards. By moving to Office 365 and the Microsoft’s Government cloud platform, the City’s email messaging system will benefit from increased security, reliability and mobility. This will be a subscription-based cloud system, not requiring the housing and maintenance of the current on premise server system. The City’s e-mail messaging system has been deemed obsolete by industry standards. At the November 9, 2021 City Council meeting, staff was authorized to purchase the Office 365 license and begin the implementation of this cloud system. Staff estimates the completion of this project in the Summer of 2022.
• Applications Needed:
o Pulseway RMM Software – Remote monitoring and management is the process of supervising and controlling IT systems by means of locally installed agents that can be accessed by a management service provider. o IT Documentation – Creating a central repository of all IT Documentation including Password Management.
The following IT projects are scheduled to start in 2022:
• Network Issues
o Redundant Firewall – Add a second network firewall for redundancy.
CITY COUNCIL AGENDA REPORT – MEETING OF FEBRUARY 8, 2022
IT ASSESSMENT RESULTS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
o VPN Network Stability – Sites outside City Hall (Parks, Golf Course) need better connectivity.
o Upgrading Switches and Network Architecture – Upgrading network switches.
o Network Architecture Reporting – Related to Remote Monitoring and Management.
o Network Upgrade Plan – Create a plan to upgrade the City’s IT Network. o Wireless Connectivity Upgrade – Assess and create a plan to upgrade City facilities that have wireless connectivity issues.
• Server Improvements:
o Network Server Software Upgrade – Create a plan to upgrade those network servers that are running older Operating Systems. o Network Server Architecture Planning – Tied to Remote Monitoring and Management.
o Upgrade Network Backbone – Storage Area Network (SAN) which houses all the City’s server needs to be upgraded.
o Centralized Software Licensing – Utilizing IT Glue, all IT licensing would be documented along with expiration/renewal dates. This will help ensure that when a renewal is due, the system alerts the department. • Desktop/Laptop Replacement:
o Upgrade Cycle for Desktops/Laptops: Create a plan to upgrade all desktops/laptops at city hall over a period of 3-4 years. Having a desktop/laptop replacement plan ensures the City is conducting business with efficient and up-to-date technology.
• Applications Needed:
o Inventory and Asset Tracking – Implement the full transition to Microsoft SharePoint to maintain central Inventory and Asset Tracking systems for all technology.
o Project Management System – Establish a Project Management System that City Departments can use to manage their projects. o Standardize Online Meeting Platforms – The City deployed a new phone system on Feb 4, 2022. With the new phone system, the City will receive GoToMeeting Virtual Meeting platform licensing at no cost. Evaluate if that is the meeting platform will host Council meetings or keep Zoom. For Internal meetings, the City will use Microsoft Teams once Office 365 is deployed.
*Emergency Operations Center (EOC): EOC Requirements are not included in the IT Assessment. A separate plan will be included in the EOC Documentation which will be developed by a separate advisory group in collaboration with Infinity Technologies.
CITY COUNCIL AGENDA REPORT – MEETING OF FEBRUARY 8, 2022
IT ASSESSMENT RESULTS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Recommended IT Funding Needs
The IT Assessment (Enclosure 1) includes a comprehensive schedule of Future Recommendations and Strategic Roadmap (p. 25-29) to address future actions needed in order to ensure our current IT infrastructure, hardware, software and human capital needs are met. Staff has summarized these needs in Enclosure 2 to provide a total funding requirement for City Council consideration. Based on this summary, staff is seeking the following:
One-time Costs: $ 240,500
Ongoing Costs: $ 105,000
Total Additional Appropriation Needed: $ 345,500
IT Business Plan Development and Analysis
The IT Business Plan will be developed based on the results of the IT Assessment and will address the anticipated needs and associated costs for hardware, software, implementation, training and staff resources, and support costs. The IT Business Plan will consist of reasonable, achievable and flexible steps with the goal of improving certain aspects of the IT organization and the overall operations of the City. The plan will detail each of the following areas and issues:
• IT goals and objectives related to the City’s strategic priorities, with IT performance metrics;
• Recommendations to help the City use technology effectively to support its business needs;
• Application and technology infrastructure requirements based on the City’s current and proposed business needs and goals;
• Evaluation of alternative approaches for application and technology infrastructure requirements;
• Recommendations of fiscally feasible implementation steps and related schedules; • Estimated costs of each recommended application and infrastructure requirement for initial implementation and ongoing support;
• Prioritization list of the enhancement and replacement of key business and information systems;
• Recommendations for appropriate staffing levels and IT positions to support City functions;
• Justification for in-house or outsourced IT management to meet the City’s current and future needs;
• Identification of cost-saving technologies, efficiencies and initiatives to support current and future Citywide operations and department’s needs.
The IT Business Plan is expected to be completed by June 2022.
CITY COUNCIL AGENDA REPORT – MEETING OF FEBRUARY 8, 2022
IT ASSESSMENT RESULTS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Alignment with City Council Goals
The IT Assessment and IT Business Plan (once completed) will include a series of achievable projects and initiatives recommended for implementation at adoption or over the next 2-5 years that will be appropriately aligned with the City Council’s Strategic Plan.
Conclusion:
Staff recommends that City Council to receive and file the IT Assessment Results and Recommendations developed by Infinity Technologies and approve an additional appropriation from the FY 2020-21 Year-end Surplus to fund the critical needs in an estimated amount of $345,500. Approval will ensure that IT operations continue to function efficiently and effectively, and keeps the City on a path to improve our technology.
Infinity Technologies will coordinate with City staff to complete the IT Business Plan and Strategic Roadmap, and present it to City Council as soon as possible.
Steve Carmona
SC:AG:DS:ep
Enclosures: 1) Infinity Technologies IT Assessment and Recommendations – February 2022
2) Infinity Technologies IT Assessment and Recommendations – January 2022
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY ASSESSMENT
JANUARY, 2022
PICO RIVERA
CITY OF
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Table of Contents
Letter of Transmittal / Executive Summary
1. Current State Analysis
1.1 IT Policies
1.2 IT Procedures
1.3 IT Strategies
1.4 Technical Infrastructure
1.4.1 Network Summary
1.4.2 Current Network
1.4.3 Servers Summary
1.4.4 Current Servers
1.4.5 Desktops/Laptops Summary
1.4.6 Current Desktops/Laptops
1.4.7 Applications Summary
1.4.8 Current Applications
1.5 Departmental IT Evaluation
1.5.1 Administrative Services/Finance
1.5.2 City Clerk
1.5.3 Community & Economic Development
1.5.4 Human Resources
1.5.5 Parks & Recreation
1.5.6 Pico Rivera Innovative Municipal Energy (PRIME)
1.5.7 Public Works
1.6 Potential Risks
1.7 Costs
1.8 Organizational Structure and Personnel
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2. Recommended IT Staff Plan
2.1 Gap Analysis
2.1.1 IT Risk Assessment
2.1.2 Technical Infrastructure
2.1.3 Organizational Structure and Personnel
2.1.4 Other Factors Affecting IT Organization
2.2 IT Staffing Recommendations
3. Future Recommendations and Strategic Roadmap
3.1 Recommendations for Future Action
3.1.1 Network Recommendations
3.1.2 Servers Recommendations
3.1.3 Desktops/Laptops Recommendations
3.1.4 Applications Recommendations
3.2 Strategic Implementation Roadmap
Appendices
• List of Current City Servers
• List of Current City Desktops/Laptops
• List of Applications Currently Used by City Staff
• Current IT Project Pipeline
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January 12, 2022
City of Pico Rivera
Angelina Garcia, Director of Administrative Services
Finance Department
6615 Passons Boulevard
Pico Rivera, CA 90660
RE: Information Technology (IT) Assessment and Recommendations Dear Ms. Garcia,
In March 2021, the Pico Rivera City Council approved an Information Technology (IT) Assessment in order to gain an objective view of how technology services are currently being used and managed within the City. The primary objectives of this IT Assessment are to measure the City’s IT capabilities, resources, vulnerabilities and internal IT priorities, and identify gaps that need to be addressed in order that the City’s potential can be achieved.
Infinity Technologies is pleased to present our initial IT Assessment and Recommendations to the City of Pico Rivera. Based on research and targeted interviews with City management and staff, this assessment offers recommendations to improve productivity and efficiencies across the entire City infrastructure.
Department Assessment Interviews
In completing this IT Assessment, Infinity Technologies conducted interviews with the following City Department Directors:
• Administrative Services/Finance Angelina Garcia
• Administration Katherine Fuentes
• City Clerk Anna Jerome
• Community & Economic Development Mike Garcia
• Human Resources Ryan Hudson
• Parks & Recreation Pamela Yugar
• Pico Rivera Innovative Municipal Energy Kaitlin McGee • Public Works Terry Rodrigue (interim)
We also interviewed additional City staff, including IT Systems Analyst Paul Gandara of the Information Systems Division (ISD), and Javier Hernandez, Assistant to the City Manager.
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CITY OF PICO RIVERA – IT ASSESSMENT AND RECOMMENDATIONS Page 5 of 35 Executive Summary – IT Assessment and Recommendations
Following is a high-level discussion and highlights from this IT Assessment. Detailed information for each item listed below is provided in the identified sections of this document.
1. CURRENT STATE ANALYSIS
Infinity Technologies’ staff conducted a current state analysis of the IT needs and environment of the City of Pico Rivera. The City’s IT infrastructure spans nine (9) locations, including City Hall, the Senior Center, the Parks and Recreation Department, Rio Honda, Rivera Park, City Hall West, Pico Park, City Yard and Smith Park.
At the time the IT Assessment was conducted, a single City employee was responsible for providing IT services as part of the Information Systems Division (ISD). The City has contracted with different firms to provide IT consulting services and supplemental user support, with the City’s IS staff coordinating with and overseeing the City’s contracted IT consultants.
In consultation with designated City management staff, Infinity Technologies identified the following issues as being most pertinent to the state of the City’s current IT environment.
1.1 IT Policies
The City currently lacks standard IT policies that detail anticipated responses to potential IT issues, such as equipment failure, disaster recovery, employee termination and new hire, ransomware attacks, equipment/asset requisition and other common issues.
1.2 IT Procedures
The City currently lacks documented common IT procedures. Staffing constraints have discouraged the development and documentation of such procedures.
1.3 IT Strategies
The City does not currently have centralized IT strategies developed by the ISD in collaboration with other City Departments.
1.4 Technical Infrastructure
The City’s current technical infrastructure was not designed for disaster resilience or cloud connectivity, and is not sufficiently hardened against common cyber threats. The City’s internet connection currently lacks redundancy options.
1.5 Departmental IT Evaluation
Infinity Technologies interviewed each of the City’s Department Directors regarding their Department’s utilization of IT services from the ISD and their Department’s specific needs and preferences regarding IT services, systems and applications. Section 1.5 contains a detailed response matrix that summarizes the most commonly expressed responses.
1.6 Potential Risks
Section 1.6 details current issues identified as potential risks, including:
• Outdated Network Security
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• Flat Network Infrastructure
• Updating Firewall Access Points
• Deprecated Network Server Software
• Lack of Active Directory Audits
• No Upgrade Policy for Desktops/Laptops
• Lack of Centralized Software Licensing
• IT Staffing Levels
• IT Policies/Disaster Recovery Plan
• IT Procedures
• IT Strategies
1.7 Costs
As the City works with all Departments to create and implement new IT policies, procedures, and strategies, it will be better able to determine actual hardware, software and other related IT costs. Section 1.7 lists categories of short‐term and long‐term costs associated with the recommendations of this IT Assessment.
1.8 Organizational Structure and Personnel
Section 1.8 includes an organizational chart that provides a high‐level overview of the current structure of the City’s primary Departments.
2. RECOMMENDED IT STAFF PLAN
Section 2 presents our findings related to current City staffing for IT services.
2.1 Gap Analysis
Infinity Technologies conducted a gap analysis related to the current state performance or position versus desired performance or position for multiple IT issues, including:
• Firewall / Cybersecurity
• Hardware / Network Redundancies
• Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS)
• Spare Systems in Reserve
• Lack of IT Process Documentation
• Help Desk System
• Remote Monitoring and Management (RMM) Software
• Inventory and Asset Tracking
2.2 IT Staffing Recommendations
The City currently has one (1) full‐time IT technician tasked to provide comprehensive IT services to the entire City infrastructure, including services for IT projects. In Section 2.2, we recommend that the City contract with appropriately qualified consulting company staff as needed to work with City staff to complete current IT projects, while planning for future City staffing based on our understanding of the City’s anticipated IT needs.
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3. FUTURE RECOMMENDATIONS AND STRATEGIC ROADMAP
Section 3 includes near-term and long-term recommendations to help improve the City’s IT infrastructure and service offerings.
3.1 Recommendations for Future Action
In Section 3.1, we provide recommendations for future action, including prioritization ranking and implementation cost estimates, for the City's networks, servers, desktops/laptops, and applications.
3.2 Strategic Implementation Roadmap
The City’s IT Project Pipeline summarizes activities, steps, lead staff and status for IT strategic implementation.
- - - - - - -
If you have any questions regarding this IT Assessment and our recommendations, please reach out to me directly. We look forward to continuing to provide quality IT services to the City of Pico Rivera.
Sincerely,
Mohammad Ahmed
President & Ambassador of IT Services
Infinity Technologies
Phone: 916.479.5560
Email: [email protected]
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1. Current State Analysis
The City of Pico Rivera is located in Los Angeles County, approximately 11 miles southeast of downtown Los Angeles, on the southern edge of the San Gabriel Valley. The City shares borders with the Cities of Downey, Montebello, Santa Fe Springs, and Whittier. As of 2019, the City of Pico Rivera has an estimated population of more than 62,000 residents.
The City of Pico Rivera provides many services to its residents. Fire protection is provided by the Los Angeles County Fire Department, and law enforcement services are provided by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.
The City’s Information Technology (IT) infrastructure spans nine (9) locations:
• City Hall;
• Senior Center;
• Parks and Recreation;
• Rio Honda;
• Rivera Park;
• City Hall West;
• Pico Park;
• City Yard; and
• Smith Park.
Currently, a single City employee provides IT services as part of the Information Systems Division (ISD). The City has contracted with different firms to provide IT consulting services and supplemental user support, with the City’s IS staff coordinating with and overseeing the City’s contracted IT consultants.
General lack of planning and consistency on IT issues has largely resulted in a “break / fix” approach to the City’s IT needs, rather than a sustained, holistic approach that addresses the City’s current IT issues while planning to head off potential future problems.
1.1 IT Policies
The City of Pico Rivera currently lacks standard IT policies that detail anticipated responses to potential IT issues, such as equipment failure, disaster recovery, employee termination and new hire, ransomware attacks, equipment/asset requisition and other common issues.
The primary reason for the lack of IT policies is that no City employees were previously commissioned and specifically tasked to develop and maintain such policies. Instead, City employees have focused on maintaining and growing the City’s IT infrastructure in an organic manner, responding and reacting to IT issues as they arise.
This is commonly known as a “break / fix” philosophy – when something breaks, the focus is on fixing it. Naturally, pressing IT problems need to be addressed as quickly as possible. However, proactive policies – designed to anticipate common problems and detail solutions – are preferable, being more efficient and cost-effective.
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1.2 IT Procedures
The City of Pico Rivera currently lacks documented common IT procedures. Similar to the issues related to IT policies, staffing constraints have discouraged the development and documentation of such procedures.
No process flows have been created for common IT processes. The City’s current IT Help Desk system is not sufficiently robust to provide for the City’s IT support needs, resulting in City staff being unable to track daily tickets and lacks adequate reporting related to user requests for IT services across the organization. The City is currently evaluating a help desk system that is being developed by 3Di Systems.
1.3 IT Strategies
Currently, the City of Pico Rivera does not have centralized IT strategies developed by the Information Systems Division in collaboration with other City Departments.
Instead, various Departments have created discrete strategies, focused on their Department’s specific needs – for instance, software, hardware, camera systems, electronic plan check, and so on.
These strategies are generally reactive (for instance, focusing annually on replacing items that are expected to break soon), rather than proactive strategies that synthesize each Department’s immediate and anticipated needs with the overall plans of the City.
1.4 Technical Infrastructure
Key Issues
The City’s current technical infrastructure was not designed for disaster resilience, either physically or digitally, and was not designed with cloud connectivity in mind.
Cybersecurity and ransomware defense have been demonstrated to be critically important for publicly available municipal networks. The City’s current technical infrastructure is not sufficiently hardened against such cyber threats.
The City’s current internet connection also lacks redundancy options, resulting in potential single points of failure for City web resources, databases, and telecommunications.
Current State Assessment
Below, we provide a current state assessment of the City’s technical infrastructure, organized into 4 basic categories: Network, Servers, Desktops and Applications.
Recommendations for each of these areas are provided in Section 3, Future Recommendations and Strategic Roadmap.
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1.4.1 NETWORK SUMMARY
The City of Pico Rivera’s current IT network consists of one (1) main and eight (8) remote locations:
• Pico Rivera City Hall (main location)
• Senior Center
• Parks and Recreation
• Rio Honda
• Rivera Park
• City Hall West
• Pico Park
• City Yard
• Smith Park
All locations have direct connection to City Hall via direct fiber, with the exception of Rivera Park and Rio Hondo Park. Rio Hondo Park and Rivera Park are connected via point-to-point VPN.
As of 2021, the City’s internet connection is routed through a Meraki firewall, which handles intrusion detection. The firewall is connected to a single Wide Area Network (WAN) port provided by Frontier with a Primary Rate Interface (PRI) fiber connection of 100 Mbps up/down, with no secondary line coming into the City. This provides for a single point of failure that can make the entire City network inaccessible in the event of an outage.
The WAN port connects to Juniper switches for internet and network access. These switches are currently four (4) years old. At present, the City uses a Cisco Call Manager Voice over IP (VoIP) solution, with phones throughout City Hall and all remote locations.
The City is currently in the midst of implementing a VoIP phone system upgrade, as detailed in Activity 3 of the IT Project Pipeline.
As indicated in Activity 5 of the IT Project Pipeline (City Hall Server Room Cable Management), IT staff are currently in the process of reorganizing cabling to a colorcoded system and moving server racks to accommodate the cabling changes. This is scheduled to be completed in October 2021.
1.4.2 CURRENT NETWORK
The current network infrastructure is flat, and can only be set to one IP scheme, with no VLANs. Because of the complexity of the City’s network, it would be preferable to have multiple layers of VLANs for cameras, phones, and data connectivity.
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The Meraki firewall access points have some issues related to the structure of the City’s buildings that need to be addressed to ensure that firewall coverage is extended throughout the City’s wireless network.
1.4.3 SERVERS SUMMARY
The City of Pico Rivera presently has 9 physical servers, with 2 VM hosts with 25 virtual machines. The network is mixed Windows 2012 R2 Active Directory and Windows 2008 R2 Exchange servers. Critical system applications that are used daily include Exchange, Call Manager, Unity, New World, and Galaxy.
The City’s Exchange server is currently running Exchange 2007, which is approaching end-of-life, is no longer being supported by Microsoft, and needs to be upgraded, both to reduce security risks and allow for greater user accessibility.
Active Directory is not currently being audited on a quarterly basis. Doing so is crucial to remove non-active client accounts and security permissions.
1.4.4 CURRENT SERVERS
A list of the City’s current physical and virtual servers has been included in the Appendices section.
1.4.5 DESKTOPS/LAPTOPS SUMMARY
The City of Pico Rivera does not have a current deployment and upgrade policy for City desktops and laptops. In practice, the City has completed a full cycle of upgrading user computer systems approximately every 5 years, on average.
The City currently has 160-200 computers on the Windows 10 operating system, including Dell OptiPlex micro-factor desktop PCs (i7 / 16 GB RAM / 256 GB SSD) and Dell XPS 15 laptops. Microsoft Surface laptops are issued on demand to selected staff.
As indicated in Activity 2 of the IT Project Pipeline, Office 365 is in the process of being implemented for designated City staff, which will allow them to take advantage of Windows 10 functionality and connectivity with email, internal communications and office productivity applications such as Word, Excel and PowerPoint.
1.4.6 CURRENT DESKTOPS/LAPTOPS
A list of the City’s computer desktops and laptops that are currently deployed has been included as an appendix.
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1.4.7 APPLICATIONS SUMMARY
IT Applications
The following applications are currently used or provided (or, in some cases, not provided) by the Information Systems Division (IS):
• Desktop imaging system: IS has no desktop imaging system, which means that software for all newly deployed computer systems must be configured manually. • License subscriptions: The City does not currently maintain centrally managed license subscriptions for Adobe Creative Cloud applications, including Acrobat/PDF, Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Premiere, and After Effects. • Outdated licensing: IS currently manages licensing for Microsoft Office 2013 (current version is Microsoft Office 365, which integrates with Windows 10/11). • Malware/ransomware protection: Malware/ransomware protection software is not currently installed on each computer.
• Virus protection: Current virus protection for individual computer systems is provided by ESET Antivirus Protection.
• Online meeting platforms: The City currently supports Zoom and GoToMeeting online meeting platforms, which are being purchased on a per-user basis. • Remote monitoring and management: Pulseway is currently used for remote monitoring and management across the City’s network, allowing IS staff to monitor operational data and remotely manage servers, VMs, network devices, and computer workstations.
Departmental Applications
The following applications are used by City Departments:
• ERP software: New World Systems is enterprise resource planning (ERP) software. The City uses the Payroll/Human Resources module with eSuites functionality for financial management (including accounts payable invoicing, budget reporting, financial reports and system administration) and the Community Development module for permitting processes (including parcel management, blueprints, maps, permits and code enforcement activities). • CAD drawings: AutoCAD is computer-aided design (CAD) software used to create 2D and 3D construction drawings.
• Construction design review: Bluebeam Revu is used for public works and building construction design review, allowing mark-up and collaboration on the same documents in real time.
• GIS mapping: Esri ArcGIS is used to provide Geographic Information System (GIS) mapping functionalities.
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• City resident services: The 3Di Virtual City Hall and Digital 311 System is a Software as a Service (SaaS) project designed to streamline and support ongoing City resident services and operations. This is in the early stages of implementation.
1.4.8 CURRENT APPLICATIONS
A list of the current applications used by City staff is included as an appendix. Due to the current conditions discussed in this report, this list is not necessarily comprehensive, but reflective of the information provided by City staff interviewed during the assessment.
1.5 Departmental IT Evaluation
As part of the IT Assessment, Infinity Technologies interviewed each of the City’s Department Directors regarding their Department’s utilization of IT services from the Information Systems Division (ISD), and their Department’s specific needs and preferences regarding IT services, systems and applications.
The table starting on the following page identifies commonly expressed responses.
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1.5.1 DEPARTMENTAL IT EVALUATION – RESPONSE MATRIX
Highlighted Issues
Administrative
Services/Finance
City Clerk
Administration
Community &
Economic
Development
Human Resources
Parks & Recreation
Pico Rivera
Innovative Municipal
Energy (PRIME)
Public Works
Angelina
Garcia
Anna
Jerome
Katherine
Fuentes
Mike
Garcia
Ryan
Hudson
Pamela
Yugar
Kaitlin
McGee
Terry
Rodrigue
IT Hardware/Systems: Focus on consistency for
hardware within the Department
Software Licensing: Current lack of centralized
licensing for software platforms
Microsoft Office 365: Want to standardize on Office
365 subscriptions for users of multiple Microsoft
applications
Microsoft SharePoint: Desire to implement SharePoint
for internal database tracking
Adobe Applications: Want to standardize on Creative
Cloud subscriptions for users of various Adobe
applications
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CITY OF PICO RIVERA – IT ASSESSMENT AND RECOMMENDATIONS Page 15 of 35 Highlighted Issues
Administrative
Services/Finance
City Clerk
Administration
Community &
Economic
Development
Human Resources
Parks & Recreation
Pico Rivera
Innovative Municipal
Energy (PRIME)
Public Works
Angelina
Garcia
Anna
Jerome
Katherine
Fuentes
Mike
Garcia
Ryan
Hudson
Pamela
Yugar
Kaitlin
McGee
Terry
Rodrigue
IT Troubleshooting: Perception of more technical
problems than current IT staff have resources to deal
with
Specialized IT Resources: Require specialized IT
resources to support Department processes
Permitting Software: Issues with capabilities/module
implementation of New World Systems permitting
software
Electronic Plan Check: Looking to establish an
electronic plan check platform
Employment Management: Current process for
employee onboarding and exiting is manual; desire to
automate system
Paperless Processes: Desire to establish more
paperless processes
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Administrative
Services/Finance
City Clerk
Administration
Community &
Economic
Development
Human Resources
Parks & Recreation
Pico Rivera
Innovative Municipal
Energy (PRIME)
Public Works
Angelina
Garcia
Anna
Jerome
Katherine
Fuentes
Mike
Garcia
Ryan
Hudson
Pamela
Yugar
Kaitlin
McGee
Terry
Rodrigue
File Storage/File Management: Desire to establish a
centralized system for file storage and digital resources
Wi-Fi Coverage: Current Wi-Fi coverage is
inconsistent/unstable
GIS Services: Desire to house GIS services under a
central services department
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1.6 Potential Risks
A number of current issues highlighted during this IT Assessment qualify as potential risks to the City of Pico Rivera.
Hard Risks (Hardware/Software – Primarily Cost-Driven)
1.6.1 Outdated Network Security – The City's current network was not designed for disaster resilience, either physically or digitally, nor was it designed for cloud connectivity. The result is a very real danger of cybersecurity threats, including ransomware attacks which have the potential to cripple the City's entire network, both internally and externally.
1.6.2 Lack of Internet Redundancy – The City's current internet line allows for a single-pointof-failure, with the possibility that problems with or attacks on the City's single WAN internet connection would take the City's services completely off-line.
1.6.3 Flat Network Infrastructure – The current network infrastructure is flat, and can only be set to one IP scheme, with no VLANs. The complexity of the City’s network calls for multiple layers of VLANs for cameras, phones, and data connectivity.
1.6.4 Updating Firewall Access Points – Firewall stability is critical to ensuring that access to the City’s network is hardened. Current firewall access points have some issues related to the structure of the City’s buildings that need to be addressed to ensure that firewall coverage is extended throughout the City’s wireless network.
1.6.5 Deprecated Network Server Software – The operating systems for the current network servers are old and should be updated to the latest versions for security and compatibility. The current network servers are based on Windows 2012 R2 Active Directory and Windows 2008 R2 Exchange servers. The City’s Exchange server is currently running Exchange 2007, which is approaching end-of-life, is no longer being supported by Microsoft, and needs to be upgraded.
1.6.6 Lack of Active Directory Audits – The City faces security risks when access rights for former City employees is not regularly purged from the system. Active Directory is not currently being audited on a quarterly basis.
1.6.7 No Upgrade Policy for Desktops/Laptops – The City currently lacks a clear and documented upgrade policy for issuing desktops and laptops to City staff, which results in both hardware and related software becoming outdated and potentially a security risk. Industry standards and best practices designate that one-third to one-quarter of the City’s laptops and desktops should be scheduled to be replaced on an annual basis, so that the entire installed base would be cycled every three to four years, ensuring that hardware and software are kept up-to-date and IT maintenance is minimized.
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1.6.8 Lack of Centralized Software Licensing – Pico Rivera does not have Citywide policies or procedures for licensing and maintaining software used by its Departments, which has resulted in Departments purchasing individual licenses and deploying software without the knowledge of City leadership or support from the ISD. Such a situation allows for the possibility of City employees installing software platforms without proper licensing and documentation, which opens the City to potentially large liabilities and financial penalties imposed for software piracy.
Soft Risks (Policies and Procedures – Primarily Time-Driven)
1.6.9 IT Staffing Levels – A single City employee currently provides IT services as part of the Information Systems Division (IS). This is insufficient to address the City's IT current and anticipated future IT needs. The "risk," which is already apparent, is that depleted staffing results in lack of availability, which causes City staff to explore alternate solutions for their IT issues and weakens communication between departments and the ISD.
1.6.10 IT Policies/Disaster Recovery Plan – The City currently lacks standard IT policies that detail anticipated responses to potential IT issues, such as equipment failure, disaster recovery, employee termination and new hire, ransomware attacks, equipment/asset requisition and other common issues. In the case of a disaster, the lack of robust policies could be catastrophic in preventing the City from recovering in a timely manner to help support City residents.
1.6.11 IT Procedures – The City currently lacks documented common IT procedures. No process flows have been created for common recurrent IT jobs such as a desktop/laptop deployment or revoking access for a staff member who is no longer employed by the City, which could result in data security risks to the City.
1.6.12 IT Strategies – Currently, each Department within the City has its own IT strategies, whether documented internally or simply in practice. This results in a jumbled network of hardware and software without a plan in place for monitoring or planning for future replacements. The risk here is not just financial, but also results in stretching IS staff support for improperly maintained and undocumented IT resources.
1.7 Costs
It should be noted that as the City works with all Departments to create and implement new IT policies, procedures, and strategies, certain costs associated with IT may seem to increase.
However, this should not be the case when considered in totality.
The reason for this is that, under the status quo, with each Department exercising a degree of unsupervised ability to purchase its own IT hardware and software, the City is unable to easily
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Once IT hardware procurement policies and software licensing procedures have been formulated, explained to all Departments, and implemented, those previously “invisible” hardware and software costs should be able to be captured and documented. Not only will the City better understand the true cost of its installed IT base but it will also be able to realize potential cost savings through centralized software licensing and hardware purchases.
Further, the City will be able to better predict the true cost of IT maintenance and upgrades, factoring those real costs into subsequent fiscal year budgets. Any perceived increase in hardware and software costs should be practically offset by the shifting of those same prior costs from general reimbursements to defined IT costs.
Note that there will be a relative cost associated with licensing new software for malware and ransomware protection.
Categories of short-term and long-term costs associated with the recommendations of this IT Assessment are presented below.
Hardware Costs
• Redundant internet connection (SD-WAN)
• Redundant firewall
• Fiber connection to sites on VPN
• Upgraded switches (scheduled replacement)
• Upgraded network architecture (scheduled replacement) • Cabling (currently in process)
• Wireless connectivity upgrades / new access points
• Voice over IP phone system upgrade (currently in process) Software Costs
• Microsoft Office 365 licensing (all users)
• AutoCAD licensing
• Adobe Acrobat / Creative Cloud licensing
• Microsoft Project
• ESET Server licensing (network)
• ESET Antivirus licensing (all users)
• New World Systems licensing
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• Finance module
• eSuites HR module
• 3Di licensing
• HdL licensing
• Costar licensing
• Placer.AI licensing
• NEOGOV licensing
• Benefit Bridge licensing
• IT Glue licensing
• ArcGIS / Esri
• Bluebeam Revu licensing
• Dropbox licensing
• Ransomware protection licensing (all users)
• Malware protection licensing (all users)
• Help Desk licensing (network)
• Pulseway licensing (network)
• SQL Server upgrade (network)
• Windows Server upgrade (network)
• Windows VPN licensing (network)
• Additional specialized software platforms
Staffing Costs
Recommended ISD IT staffing:
• IT Manager – Full-time
• Systems/Network Engineer – Full-time
• Help Desk Technician – Full-time
Miscellaneous Costs
• Network Infrastructure Planning
• General IT Planning
• Specialized training for select staff
Estimates of potential costs by category are provided below in Section 3, Future Recommendations and Strategic Roadmap.
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1.8 Organizational Structure and Personnel
Below, we have included an organizational chart that provides a high-level overview of the current structure of the City’s primary Departments.
CITY OF PICO RIVERA – CITY DEPARTMENT ORGANIZATIONAL CHART
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2. Recommended IT Staff Plan
2.1 Gap Analysis
The purpose of a gap analysis is to compare the current state performance or position to the desired performance or position. It is not necessarily the role of a gap analysis to specify a particular solution, although we have recommended some possible remedies below.
2.1.1 IT RISK ASSESSMENT
As discussed previously, the City of Pico Rivera currently faces a number of ongoing risks related to its current state IT network infrastructure.
Firewall / Cybersecurity – The City's current network was not designed for disaster resilience, either physically or digitally, nor was it designed for cloud connectivity, and is not sufficiently hardened against potential cyber threats, including ransomware attacks which have the potential to cripple the City's entire network. Cybersecurity and ransomware defense have been demonstrated to be critically important for publicly available municipal networks. The City’s current firewall system is not suitable to shield against potential attacks.
Hardware / Network Redundancies – The City’s current internet connection also lacks redundancy options, resulting in potential single points of failure for City web resources, databases, and telecommunications. The City's current internet line allows for the possibility that problems with or attacks on the City's single WAN internet connection would take the City's services completely off-line.
Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) – The City’s network architecture currently lacks robust UPS units to keep network resources online during power failures, either routine or related to disasters, when City residents are likely to be seeking information or attempting to access City resources.
Spare Systems in Reserve – In part due to the City’s lack of IT policies and procedures, as well as the lack of overall IT planning, the ISD does not currently have the ability to readily provide comparable spare systems for City staff to use in the event that their primary computer requires service.
Lack of IT Process Documentation – The City currently has a single full-time staff member in the ISD who provides on-site IT services upon request. Given the volume and ongoing backlog for services required, it is not surprising that the City lacks any formal documentation of common processes and procedures. All of the information gleaned from providing these services resides in the head of the single ISD staff. Should this individual leave City employment for any reason, this critical information may be lost
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2.1.2 TECHNICAL INFRASTRUCTURE
In order to serve as a robust central resource to the City’s Departments, the Information Systems Division needs to bolster its technical capabilities in the following areas:
Help Desk System – The City’s current help desk system is not sufficiently robust enough to provide for the City’s IT service needs. Currently, when City staff have an IT-related problem, many try to solve it themselves before contacting ISD staff for assistance.
Whether or not the IT assistance provided solves the problem, without a more functional help desk system, City staff are unable to track daily tickets related to user requests for IT services across the organization. This information therefore remains anecdotal and undocumented, and cannot be used easily to determine any type of trend. The City is exploring the possibility of moving to a 3Di platform for 311 services that may also be used for help desk services.
Remote Monitoring and Management (RMM) Software – It is not feasible to provide round-the-clock network monitoring and management without a comprehensive RMM platform. ISD staff currently uses Pulseway to monitor operational data and remotely manage servers, VMs, network devices, and computer workstations across the City’s network. This functionality needs to be expanded and enhanced to provide timely full spectrum coverage to City staff and other IT users.
Inventory and Asset Tracking – The City currently tracks IT hardware and software using Excel spreadsheets, which lack IT inventory and asset tracking functionalities, such as programmable calendar reminders regarding licensing expiration or asset amortization tracking.
2.1.3 ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE AND PERSONNEL
The Information Systems Division (ISD) is currently seriously understaffed, at 1.0 FTE staff. Given the expressed IT needs of the City’s Departments and the need to plan for growth, the City needs to hire additional IT staff to accommodate the needs of its users and help them to realize the potential of the City’s IT resources.
We have provided staffing recommendations in Section 2.2, below.
2.1.4 OTHER FACTORS AFFECTING IT ORGANIZATION
While current IT staff is out due to vacation or illness, there is no backup staff available to provide ongoing IT services on-site.
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2.2 IT Staffing Recommendations
The City currently has one (1) full-time IT technician tasked to provide comprehensive IT services to the entire City infrastructure, including services for IT projects. This level is not feasible if the City wishes to maintain not only a solid IT network infrastructure, but allow Department staff to rely on City IT services. There are currently more projects identified in the City’s IT Project Pipeline than can be completed in a reasonable period of time with current City IT resources.
Based on our interviews and the findings in this IT Assessment, we recommend that the City contract with appropriately qualified consulting company staff as needed to work with City staff to complete current IT projects.
Our initial future staffing recommendations based on our understanding of the City’s anticipated IT needs would include the following additional City IT personnel:
• IT Manager
• Systems/Network Engineer
• Help Desk Technician
The City should re-evaluate its IT staffing needs once the City’s current IT projects have been completed and the City is at an optimal level of technology.
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3. Future Recommendations and Strategic Roadmap
3.1 Recommendations for Future Action
3.1.1 NETWORK RECOMMENDATIONS
Internet Redundancy – To prevent problems with or
attacks on the City's single SD-WAN internet
connection from taking the City's services off-line, the City should invest in a redundant internet connection
that would allow traffic to be re-routed automatically
in the event of a main line failure.
HIGH PRIORITY
Cost estimate: $600/month
Redundant Firewall – The City’s network currently
has a single Meraki firewall that screens inbound and
outbound internet traffic to and from the City’s
network. Should this firewall fail, the City’s network
would be exposed to potential intrusions. The City
should invest in deploying a redundant firewall
solution.
HIGH PRIORITY
Cost estimate: $4,000
(one-time cost)
VPN Network Stability – We recommend that the
City establish Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS)
physical fiber connections to ensure the stability and
accessibility of the City’s VPN servers. – Yard/Rio
Hondo/Rivera Park/Golf Course – WAN RFP
HIGH PRIORITY
Cost estimate: $2,500/month
Upgrading Switches and Network Architecture – The
City should plan to upgrade its network switches and
other network architecture devices on a regular,
scheduled basis, rather than waiting for devices to
fail.
HIGH PRIORITY
Cost estimate: $45,000
Network Architecture Reporting – ISD staff currently
uses Pulseway to monitor operational data and
remotely manage servers, VMs, network devices, and
computer workstations across the City’s network.
This functionality should be expanded and enhanced,
including the possibility of contracting 24/7/365
monitoring to an IT help desk consultant working in
consort with ISD staff.
HIGH PRIORITY
Cost estimate: $20,000
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proactive planning regarding network upgrades and
factor that planning into future City budgets to avoid
the constant “break/fix” cycle that has the possibility of resulting in network downtime and even higher
restoration costs.
HIGH/ PRIORITY
Cost estimate: $15,000
Wireless Connectivity Upgrade – The City’s current
wireless network provides occasionally spotty
coverage due to the interaction between older
wireless access points and the configuration of the
City’s physical plant. This is not merely an annoyance
to City staff who rely on these wireless access points, but may also be a security risk. Technical
improvements in newer wireless access points
provide a good reason for the City to upgrade these
devices. (20 access points)
HIGH PRIORITY
Cost estimate: $55,000
3.1.2 SERVERS RECOMMENDATIONS
Network Server Software Upgrade – Windows
Network Server operating systems for the current
network should be updated to the latest versions for
security and compatibility.
HIGH PRIORITY
Cost estimate: $40,000
Network Server Architecture Planning – To minimize
the risk of network failure, the City should plan to
replace network server hosts and storage area
networks (SANs) on a three- to five-year cycle,
depending on current status.
HIGH PRIORITY
Cost estimate: $45,000
Upgrade Network Backbone – The City should plan
to replace the City’s network backbone, including
dark fiber (dedicated physical circuits), during the
FY23/24 window. Doing so will accommodate future
services, result in higher performance, allow for
better security and greater operational flexibility.
MEDIUM PRIORITY
Cost estimate: $15,000
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Director interviewed requested the implementation
of Office 365 for their staff, in order to take
advantage of Windows 10 functionality and
connectivity with email, internal communications and
office productivity applications such as Word, Excel
and PowerPoint. This implementation is already in
process.
HIGH PRIORITY
Cost estimate: $65,000 /year
Centralized Software Licensing – In lieu of the
current situation in which each Department purchase
licenses for and deploy software without consulting
with the ISD, the City should centrally license and
maintain the software used by its Departments,
thereby providing consistency across the City,
managing subscription costs, minimizing the risk of
City staff using pirated software, and reducing the
need to service different versions of the same
software.
HIGH PRIORITY
Cost estimate: $20,000
3.1.3 DESKTOPS/LAPTOPS RECOMMENDATIONS
Upgrade Cycle for Desktops/Laptops – To ensure
that hardware and software are kept up-to-date and
IT maintenance is minimized, the City should plan to
upgrade one-third to one-quarter of the City’s laptops
and desktops on an annual basis, so that the entire
installed base would be cycled every three to four
years. The City averaged a 25% refresh rate in 2020.
Approximately 50% of the systems in use need to be
refreshed.
MEDIUM PRIORITY
Cost estimate: $75,000
3.1.4 APPLICATIONS RECOMMENDATIONS
Help Desk System – The City should establish a more
functional help desk system that allows users to
request IT services from a single source that allows
for daily ticket tracking. We recommend the 3DI Help
Desk Module for centralized IT Help Desk needs.
MEDIUM PRIORITY
Cost estimate: $1,500
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to use Pulseway to monitor operational data and
remotely manage servers, VMs, network devices, and
computer workstations across the City’s network.
Pulseway usage should be expanded and enhanced to
provide timely, full-spectrum IT service coverage.
HIGH PRIORITY
Cost estimate: $12,000
Inventory and Asset Tracking – The City currently
tracks IT hardware and software using Excel
spreadsheets, which lack IT inventory and asset
tracking functionalities, such as programmable
calendar reminders regarding licensing expiration or
asset amortization tracking. IT staff is in the process of transferring this information into Pulseway.
MEDIUM PRIORITY
Cost estimate: $0
Project Management System – The City should
research and invest in a robust project management
system for City staff who would benefit from it. While
Microsoft Project is the most standard in its field, it is also expensive, with a fairly steep learning curve. The City may wish to look into newer online (SaaS)
options.
MEDIUM PRIORITY
Cost estimate: $2,000
IT Documentation – To capture IT policies,
procedures, trouble tickets, passwords, and other
related information, we recommend using a
documentation system such as IT Glue, which
provides a structured framework to organize users’
information. The IT Glue framework is standardized
so that ISD staff and IT consultant staff can input and view information the same way each time. IT Glue is
currently being used and access is available to City
staff. The IT documentation process is currently 80%
complete.
HIGH PRIORITY
Cost estimate: $12,000
Establish and Support Online Meeting Platforms –
During the past 18 months, many City staff have
become proficient at using online meeting platforms
such as Zoom, GoToMeeting, GoToConnect, and
Microsoft Teams. The City should research and offer
IT support for these platforms, or others with similar
capabilities
HIGH PRIORITY
Cost estimate: $0 – Provided
through new phone system
carrier
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3.2 Strategic Implementation Roadmap
The City’s current Strategic Implementation Roadmap is presented in the IT Project Pipeline, of which a summary of activities, steps, lead staff and status are provided in the Appendices section below. A comprehensive version of the IT Project Pipeline is currently maintained as a worksheet in Microsoft Excel, in the form of a Gannt chart with project timelines.
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List of Current City Servers
The City currently maintains the following physical servers:
Model Role
Dell PowerEdge R710 Server Exchange
Dell PowerEdge R330 Server Domain Controller
HPE OEM DL360 Gen10 8-SFF CTO Server VM Host Server
HPE OEM DL360 Gen10 8-SFF CTO Server Secondary VM Host Server Tintri S32-XPS3224 Data Storage Enclosure
Cisco MCS 7800 Media Convergence Server Call Manager
Cisco MCS 7800 Media Convergence Server Secondary Call Manager Cisco MCS 7800 Media Convergence Server Voice Mail Server Cisco MCS 7800 Media Convergence Server Emergency Responder The City currently maintains the following virtual servers:
Role Virtual Server Name Operating System
Legacy PW Work Order System ISPWCMS SERVER 2008 R2 STANDARD Paging Server ISBRBVM SERVER 2008 R2 STANDARD
Legacy wIntegrate Print Server CAPELLANEW WINDOWS XP
Domain Controller ISAD01 SERVER 2012 R2 STANDARD
Domain Controller ISAD02 SERVER 2012 R2 STANDARD
Domain Controller ISAD04 SERVER 2012 R2 STANDARD
Galaxy Door Security ISSS01 SERVER 2012 R2 STANDARD
IT Utility Server ISUTIL01 SERVER 2012 R2 STANDARD
Housing Happy Application ISHS01 SERVER 2012 R2 STANDARD IWater Server PWIW01 SERVER 2012 R2 STANDARD
File Server ISFS02 SERVER 2019 STANDARD
New World Application ISNWAS03 SERVER 2019 STANDARD
New World Test ISNWAS04 SERVER 2019 STANDARD
New World Database ISNWDB02 SERVER 2019 STANDARD
New World eSuites ISNWES02 SERVER 2019 STANDARD
Print Server ISPS03 SERVER 2019 STANDARD
Antivirus Server ISAV02 SERVER 2019 STANDARD
GIS Server ISGISSQL01 SERVER 2019 STANDARD
Signage App ISSI01 WINDOWS 10 PRO
Backup Server ISBU02 SERVER 2016 STANDARD
Document Management QUESTYSCMX02 SERVER 2016 STANDARD
VSphere Server VCENTER VMWARE PHOTON
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Linux Test Server LINUX UBUNTU LINUX
List of Current City Desktops/Laptops
As of January 2022, the following desktops and laptops are assigned to City staff:
• Desktops: 149
• Laptops: 54
Detailed information on these systems (including system tags and warranty status) is currently maintained by the City’s Information Systems Division (ISD) staff in Excel workbooks. Going forward, this same information will be tracked using Pulseway remote monitoring and management (RMM) software.
List of Applications Currently Used by City Staff
The following is a list of applications currently used by City staff across various departments.
Some of these applications are licensed; others are free-to-use. Most of these applications are not currently centrally managed or distributed by ISD staff.
Application Name Primary Use
Adobe Acrobat Pro/Standard PDF creation/editing
Adobe Creative Cloud – Photoshop Photo editing
Adobe Creative Cloud – Illustrator Creation of vector-based graphics Adobe Creative Cloud – InDesign Publication design and management Adobe Creative Cloud – Premiere Pro Video editing
Adobe Creative Cloud – After Effects Video post-production and effects Microsoft Office 2013 Word processing (Word); spreadsheets (Excel); presentations (PowerPoint);
email (Outlook)
wIntegrate Terminal emulation and graphical user
interface development
New World Financial System Financial accounting
Questys Enterprise content management
ArcGIS Geographic information system design
and access
AutoCAD Computer-aided design and drafting
Microsoft Project Project management, scheduling and
tracking
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A summary of the activities, steps and lead staff for the City of Pico Rivera’s current IT project pipeline is provided below.
A comprehensive version in the form of a Gannt chart with project timelines is available as a worksheet in Microsoft Excel.
Current IT Project Pipeline – High Level – Less Technical
ACTIVITY LEAD
1. IT ASSESSMENT Infinity Technologies
a. Assess Network Infrastructure - Completed Infinity Technologies b. Assess Sever / PC infrastructure - In progress Infinity Technologies c. Assess software vendors
d. Department Assessment
e. Security Assessment
2. OFFICE 365 Infinity Technologies
a. Evaluate what type of license is needed for each user - In progress
IT Technician / Infinity
Technologies
b. Clean up mailbox directory - In progress IT Technician c. Obtain quotes for G licensing (G Licensing - Enables you to change the quantity of licenses you have through the year) d. Procure Software License (RFP for Office 365 (G licensing) due to the unique nature of G license)
e. Plan for deployment
f. Prepare / plan for full cut over
g. Go-Live
h. Training Program development
i. Train Staff
3. VOICE OVER IP PHONE SYSTEM UPGRADE Infinity Technologies a. RFP posted – Completed Admin Services Director/
Infinity Technologies / IT
Technician
b. Site Walk Through - Completed IT Technician / Infinity Technologies
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ACTIVITY LEAD
c. Staff review of proposals - In progress Admin Services Director / Infinity Technologies
d. Interviews with top ranked proposers & City negotiations e. Consultant Selection
f. City Council Award
g. Notice to proceed
4. CITY HALL SERVERS SOFTWARE UPGRADE IT Technician
a. Purchase licensing - completed IT Technician
b. Plan a deployment schedule - In progress (List of Software to be upgraded & timeline)
IT Technician / Infinity
Technologies
c. Begin first phase (ones that have impact on only a few people) of server upgrades
Infinity Technologies
d. Begin second phase of upgrades
e. Begin third and final phase (impact the most amount of users) of upgrades
5. CITY HALL SERVER ROOM CABLE MANAGEMENT IT Technician a. Reorganize cabling with color coded system - In progress IT Technician b. Move Server Racks to fix new cabling changes - In progress IT Technician / Public Works c. Reconfigure network rack positions
6. TELEPHONE CANCEL / CONSOLIDATE LINES IT Technician
a. Work with Verizon to cancel old lines - In Progress (for Cell Phone, SCADA, Wells, Hot Spots, tough books)
Infinity Technologies
b. Work With T-Mobile to cancel old lines - In Progress (Employee cell phones & Hot Spots)
Infinity Technologies
7. VIRTUAL CITY HALL 311 Assistant to the City
Manager
a. Engage New World for Custom work - Completed IT Technician b Facilitate a purchase order to pay for custom work –
Completed
IT Technician
c. Test with 3Di and New World - Completed IT Technician d. Facilitate a purchase order to pay for new custom work via New World RFS - In progress
IT Technician
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ACTIVITY LEAD
8. GIS MASTER PLAN IT Technician
a. Order Licensing for SQL server - Completed IT Technician b. Deploy and prepare software - Completed IT Technician c. Setup a virtual machine for ArcGIS Pro - Completed IT Technician d. Create virtual directory for sewer cards - Completed IT Technician e. Neptune water meter data extracts from New World ERP - In progress
IT Technician / Infinity
Technologies
9. QUESTYS WEB SERVER PUBLIC PORTAL City Clerk
a. Acquire Quotes – Completed IT Technician
b. City Clerk Department generating purchase requisition - In progress
City Clerk Staff
c. Configure new virtual web server IT Technician
10. EOC IT Technician
a. Replace defective satellite modem (Provided Quotes to Judy)
IT Technician
b. Test EOC emergency phones - Completed IT Technician
c. Verify emergency phone number - Completed IT Technician d. Test and inventory all laptops - In progress IT Technician / Infinity Technologies
11. DIGITAL FAXING IT Technician
a. Purchase licensing - Completed IT Technician
b. Assign/Port in phone numbers - In progress (may not be needed if Telecomm proposers can do this)
IT Technician
c. Test / Deploy /Train - CANCELLED -
12. CITY HALL SECONDARY INTERNET LINE IT Technician
a. Move SCADA system to primary line - In progress IT Technician b. Cancel Internet Service that is tied to a single service provider (anticipated savings of about $1,000/month)
c. Order service from a new Internet Service Provider
d. Deploy configure new line
13. WINTEGRATE (Legacy Financial System)
a. Virtualize Server / Backup
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ACTIVITY LEAD
14. ESET AV CLOUD MIGRATION (Anti-virus is on our servers right now; move to Cloud)
IT Technician
a. Obtain quotes - In progress IT Technician
b. Purchase Software License (Informal Quotes only)
c. deploy / Test / Train
15. HUMAN IT ASSET DISPOSAL IT Technician
a. Inventory equipment to be disposed - In progress Infinity Technologies b. Schedule a pickup
16. REMOTE SITES NETWORK SWITCHES UPGRADE IT Technician a. Obtain Quotes
b. Purchase and deploy
17. DIGITAL SIGNAGE (City Hall main lobby & Employee
break room)
IT Technician
a. Order TVs
b. Configure Media Players
18. STANDARDIZE SOFTWARE PURCHASING AND
DEPLOYMENTS
IT Technician
a. Adobe
b. Revu Bluebeam
c. AutoCAD
19. CITY HALL SURVAILLANCE SYSTEM IT Technician
a. Configure new system - Completed
b. Install 6 Cameras - In progress - Waiting for department direction
c. deploy / Test / Train
20. CITY WEBSITE UPGRADE IT Technician
a. Obtain quotes from Granicus - Completed
b. Project took a different direction - Project now fully handled by Javier and Media and Communications team
Enclosure 2
Recommended IT Funding Needs
Funded
3.1.1 NETWORK RECOMMENDATIONS
Additional
Cost One-Time Ongoing
Internet Redundancy HIGH PRIORITY
Cost estimate: $600/month
$ -
Redundant Firewall HIGH PRIORITY
Cost estimate: $4,000
$ 4,000 $ 4,000
VPN Network Stability HIGH PRIORITY
Cost estimate: $2,500/month
$ 30,000 $ 30,000
Upgrading Switches and Network
Architecture
HIGH PRIORITY
Cost estimate: $45,000
$ 45,000 $ 45,000
Network Architecture Reporting HIGH PRIORITY
Cost estimate: $20,000
$ 20,000 $ 20,000
Network Upgrade Plan HIGH/ PRIORITY
Cost estimate: $15,000
$ 15,000 $ 15,000
Wireless Connectivity Upgrade HIGH PRIORITY
Cost estimate: $55,000
$ 55,000 $ 55,000
3.1.2 SERVERS
RECOMMENDATIONS
Network Server Software Upgrade HIGH PRIORITY
Cost estimate: $40,000
$ 40,000 $ 40,000
Network Server Architecture Planning HIGH PRIORITY
Cost estimate: $45,000
$ 45,000 $ 45,000
Upgrade Network Backbone MEDIUM PRIORITY
Cost estimate: $15,000
$ 15,000 $ 15,000
Unfunded Priorities
3. Future Recommendations and Strategic Roadmap
3.1 Recommendations for Future Action
Enclosure 2
Recommended IT Funding Needs
Office 365 Implementation HIGH PRIORITY
Cost estimate: $65,000 /year
$ 65,000 $ - $ - $ 65,000
Centralized Software Licensing HIGH PRIORITY
Cost estimate: $20,000 for all
$ - $ - $ -
3.1.3 DESKTOPS/LAPTOPS
RECOMMENDATIONS
Upgrade Cycle for Desktops/Laptops MEDIUM PRIORITY
Cost estimate: $75,000
$ 75,000 $ 75,000
3.1.4 APPLICATIONS
RECOMMENDATIONS
Help Desk System MEDIUM PRIORITY
Cost estimate: $1,500
$ 1,500 $ 1,500
Pulseway RMM Software HIGH PRIORITY
Cost estimate: $12,000
$ 12,000 .
Inventory and Asset Tracking MEDIUM PRIORITY
Cost estimate: $0
$ -
Project Management System MEDIUM PRIORITY
Cost estimate: $2,000
$ 2,000
IT Documentation HIGH PRIORITY
Cost estimate: $12,000
$ 12,000
Establish and Support Online Meeting
Platforms
HIGH PRIORITY
Cost estimate: $0 – Provided
Total One-Time Ongoing Funded
Total Cost: $ 436,500 $ 240,500 $ 105,000 $ 65,000
To: Mayor and City Council
From: City Manager and City Attorney
Meeting Date: February 8, 2022
Subject: DISCUSSION OF THE CONSIDERATION OF
PROCEEDING WITH THE INDEPENDENT PROSECUTION
OF CRIMINAL MISDEMEANORS IN THE CITY OF PICO
RIVERA BY A CITY PROSECUTOR
Recommendation:
1. Provide direction on whether the City Council wishes to explore the possibility of having the prosecution of local criminal misdemeanors handled by a City Prosecutor rather than prosecuted by the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office; or
2. Take such additional, related, action that may be desirable.
Fiscal Impact:
To be determined depending upon the direction of the City Council.
Discussion:
At its meeting of January 25, 2022, the City Council provided direction to bring forward a discussion of the possibility of utilizing a City Prosecutor for addressing criminal misdemeanors occurring within the City of Pico Rivera (City).
The City currently utilizes the City Attorney’s office to prosecute administrative code enforcement violations. In addition, the Pico Rivera Municipal Code (PRMC) vests with either the City Attorney or City Prosecutor the power to prosecute other PRMC violations, including the following:
Commercial Cannabis Activity Violations PRMC §9.40.110
Regulation of Entertainment within the City PRMC §5.45.180 Firework Regulation and Social Host Violations PRMC §8.36.050 Smoke Shop Prohibition Violations PRMC §9.42.040
Oversized Vehicle Overnight Parking Violations PRMC §10.80.050 CITY COUNCIL AGENDA REPORT – MEETING OF FEBRUARY 8, 2022
DISCUSSION OF THE CONSIDERATION OF PROCEEDING WITH THE
INDEPENDENT PROSECUTION OF CRIMINAL MISDEMEANORS IN THE CITY OF
PICO RIVERA BY A CITY PROSECUTOR
However, the prosecution of other criminal misdemeanor violations currently rests with the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s (DA) Office. The ability of a city to transfer the power of criminal misdemeanor from the District Attorney’s office to a local City Prosecutor requires the consent of the DA’s office.
Government Code section 41803.5 sets forth the requirements for a city to independently prosecute criminal misdemeanors committed within the city’s jurisdiction arising out of state law:
(a) With the consent of the district attorney of the county, the city attorney of any general law city or chartered city within the county may prosecute any misdemeanor committed within the city arising out of violation of state law. This section shall not be deemed to affect any of the provisions of Section 72193. [Note: Section 72193 applies to charter cities, and therefore does not apply to the City of Pico Rivera.]
(b) In any case in which the district attorney is granted any powers or access to information with regard to the prosecution of misdemeanors, this grant of powers or access to information shall be deemed to apply to any other officer charged with the duty of prosecuting misdemeanor charges in the state, as authorized by law.
Various cities throughout the State of California have either established a City Prosecutor’s Office or have a City Attorney who also carries out the duties of a City Prosecutor. The cities that independently prosecute criminal misdemeanors, such as Pasadena, Inglewood, Los Angeles, and Burbank, are charter cities. Charter cities have the ability to create within their charter a position of City Prosecutor or the additional duties of the City Attorney to prosecute criminal misdemeanors occurring within the city’s jurisdiction.
The City of Hermosa Beach, a general law city, has contracted for criminal misdemeanor prosecution services prior to 2014, when the City of Hermosa Beach contracted with the City of Redondo Beach to provide such services at the cost of $200,000 per year. As a general law city, Hermosa Beach would have been required to obtain authorization from the District Attorney in office at the time in which prosecution services were contracted for, pursuant to Government Code section 41803.5. The City of Manhattan Beach has received approval from its City Council to contract with the City of Redondo Beach for the same services, at a cost of $300,000 per year, but is not yet able to proceed as the city is currently awaiting the approval of such a transfer of authority to prosecute from the District Attorney.
CITY COUNCIL AGENDA REPORT – MEETING OF FEBRUARY 8, 2022
DISCUSSION OF THE CONSIDERATION OF PROCEEDING WITH THE
INDEPENDENT PROSECUTION OF CRIMINAL MISDEMEANORS IN THE CITY OF
PICO RIVERA BY A CITY PROSECUTOR
Conclusion:
Currently, all criminal misdemeanors committed within the City of Pico Rivera are directed to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office for prosecution.
The purpose of this report is to provide information concerning the steps and potential cost if the City Council wishes to seek the transfer of criminal prosecutor responsibilities from the LA County District Attorney’s office to a local City Prosecutor.
Steve Carmona
Arnold M. Alvarez-Glasman
SC:AMAG:NO
To: Mayor and City Council
From: City Manager
Meeting Date: February 8, 2022
Subject: SPANISH TRANSLATION OF THE PROFILE
Recommendation:
1. Take no action, with the number of Profile publications remaining at 10 editions per year in English only. No additional appropriations needed; or
2. Reduce the number of publications from 10 to 8 per fiscal year (FY), and have each publication fully translated to Spanish. Provide four (4) fully Spanish translated editions of the Profile for the remainder of FY and amend the FY 2021- 22 budget to allocate $28,000 of unappropriated General Fund balance to the Parks and Recreation Department Marketing and Promotions Account (No. 100.80.8230-52100 - $7,200 postage/100.80.8230-52400 - $20,800 printing).
Fiscal Impact:
Fiscal impacts vary upon the number of Profile editions produced, printed, and mailed per FY. Current English Profile per edition total includes printing, postage, and contingency costs. Professional full Spanish Translation per edition total includes printing, postage, as well as translation, and redesigning services.
Profile
Publication
Editions Per
FY
Per Edition
Total
Per FY
Cost
Current
English Only
10 – Printing
& Mailing $6,100 $61,000
10 -
Contingency $1,245 $12,450
Total: $73,450
Professional
Full Spanish
Translation
8 – English $6,100 $48,800
8 - Spanish $7,000 $56,000
8 -
Contingency $1,245 $9,960
Total: $114,760
CITY COUNCIL AGENDA REPORT – MEETING OF FEBRUARY 8, 2022
SPANISH TRANSLATION OF THE PROFILE
Typically, the FY budget includes $73,450 for the printing and mailing of the Profile. To proceed with the printing and mailing of both English and Spanish Profile newsletters, an additional $41,310 of General Fund monies would need to be budgeted per future FY General Fund Budget and will be included for City Council’s consideration.
Should Council desire to fully translate, print, and mail the Profile, for the remainder of FY 2021-22 (4 months), a budget amendment allocating $28,000 of unappropriated General Fund monies to the Parks and Recreation Department Marketing and Promotions Account is required (No. 100.80.8230-52100 - $7,200 postage/100.80.8230-52400 - $20,800 printing).
Background:
The Profile was developed in 1973 to communicate with City residents and provide news, notifications and information about upcoming events prior to the internet information digital era. Originally produced in monochrome, it has undergone several transformations, including partial Spanish translation from January 2006 to September 2007. Currently, the Profile is only available in English and produced in full color, 10 times per year, combining the July/August and December/January months into summer and winter editions.
In an effort to get direction on how to proceed with the Profile - Staff has introduced the topic of the Profile to council on three (3) occasions:
1. On April 13, 2021
2. May 25, 2021
3. August 24, 2021
At each meeting, the City Council was given with various possibilities for going forward with the Spanish translation of the Profile. No option was chosen at the end of each discussion. At the final meeting on August 24, 2021, the City Council decided to postpone making a decision on "translation services" until the City's community survey was administered and results tabulated, so they could get a better understanding of residents' satisfaction and needs as it relates to the City's communication efforts, such as printed newsletters and language preferences. The survey was done in both English and Spanish and was given to a statistically random sample of 483 adult residents. The poll was conducted from September 15, 2021, to September 30, 2021, and participants were recruited via email, text, and phone calls.
CITY COUNCIL AGENDA REPORT – MEETING OF FEBRUARY 8, 2022
SPANISH TRANSLATION OF THE PROFILE
The following questions were included in the survey:
On October 26, 2021, City Council was presented with the community survey results, which indicated that 84% of respondents prefer English while 13% prefer Spanish for City communications. In addition, it should be noted that 78% of respondents felt that newsletters mailed to residences were an effective communication tool. At this City Council meeting, City Council requested that staff bring back the options for possibility of translating the Profile.
Discussion:
Based upon the four (4) previous City Council discussions and having viewed the community survey results, staff once again explored potential options to maintain the delivery of 10 editions of the English Profile with an additional 10 fully Spanish translated Profile editions per FY. Unfortunately, staff are still unable to offer 10 fully translated versions within a year, either in-house or through contracted services.
In order to provide proper translation services in a timely fashion, there is an intense amount of work that must be created prior, in terms of format, layout, content, design, etcetera. It currently takes a little over a month to produce and mail one (1) edition of the English-only Profile and staff needs to adhere to deadlines. Mailing current editions often occurs later in the month due to content changes and late approvals going beyond deadlines.
In previous months, staff had not been able to find a contractor/translator service that could work with the needs and parameters the City had with the current Profile deadlines.
Recently, staff received a recommendation on vendor, Avantpage Translations, who has been vetted and has worked with staff to understand our needs and is committed to working with the City to provide “translation services” within 5-7 business days. The CITY COUNCIL AGENDA REPORT – MEETING OF FEBRUARY 8, 2022
SPANISH TRANSLATION OF THE PROFILE
professional translation services of the Profile includes full translation of text content, redesigning of layout and artwork to adjust for additional text, and delivering print-ready documents. The timeframe would positively impact production by increasing the proposed six (6) in-house/contracted translated Profiles (which were previously proposed) to be able to provide eight (8) translated Profiles. This is an increase of two (2) more additions of translated Profiles and staff believe this is the best option at this time. The addition of 5-7 days of translation turnaround time would add an extra 2 and a half to 3 months to the production time and render 10 editions beyond the realm of possibility.
Avantpage Translations, has been identified as the best option for translation and design services to work in partnership with our Profile in-house design team. In addition, Avantpage Translations has experience working with other government agencies, such as the California Office of State Publishing, Human Services Agency of San Francisco, and the California Office of the Patient Advocate. Staff checked references and were quite pleased with the responses regarding their “superior reputation for providing quality translation and design services”.
Conclusion:
Staff seeks direction from City Council on which of the two (2) options they would like to approve:
Option 1: Take no action, with the number of Profile publications remaining at 10 editions per year in English only. No additional appropriations needed.
Option 2: Reduce the number of publications from 10 to 8, and have each publication fully translated to Spanish. Additional appropriations in the amount of $28,000 would be needed to ensure the profile is translated using a professional translation service for the remainder of FY 2021-22.
Upon launch of the City’s new Virtual City Hall in 2022 the Profile will be available online and translatable into any language based upon user preference.
Steve Carmona
SC:PY:kt:ra
COUNCIL
MEETING
DATE
COUNCIL
MEMBER
REQUEST DETAIL DIRECTOR(S)
ACTION TAKEN: Memo; Staff
Report; Closed Session;
Presentation; Follow-up
Meeting; City Manager
Reports; Informal Action
DISCUSSION
ITEM
ACTION
ITEM DATE
STATUS:
Complete;
Pending;
On-going;
In-Progress
3/23/2021 Lutz Explore Possible Dog Park P. Yugar Follow-up Meeting On-going City Council Translate the Profile into Both English &
Spanish
Direction provided to explore
maintaining 10 editions with
full Spanish translation and
potential digital only.
P. Yugar
Staff Report 7/13/2021
10/26/21
1/25/22
In-Progress
Lutz/Lara Research Development of Condos vs.
Apartments at the El Rodeo
Staff to provide a report to
City Council on the pros and
cons
M. Garcia
Memo
√
On-going
Lara/Elias Term limits Set 12-year term limits for
City Council Members A. Glasman Discussion Nov '22 Pending Lara/Lutz Lobbying Ban Set 10-year policy for banning
lobbying contracts to former
employees and City officials
A. Glasman
Discussion 8/10/2021 Pending
Lutz/Lara Shopping Cart Ordinance Review ordinance M. Garcia Discussion 8/24/2021 Pending Elias/Lara Code of Ethics Review policy A. Glasman Discussion 10/26/2021 Completed 9/28/2021 Elias/Lutz Mayor Elias Resolutions Review current ordinances for updates A. Glasman √ 10/26/2021 1/25/2022
Pending
10/26/2021 Sanchez/Lara Protestors Develop an ordinance protecting against bullying A. Glasman Pending
11/9/2021 Elias/Lara Veteran Resources Center Establish a Veterans Commission
M. Garcia
Discussion √ 12/14/2022 Completed
Lutz/Lara Beautification of City Ad Hoc Committee to discuss Pending Elias/Lara Senior Rent Stabilization Direct staff to research rent control for senior citizens. M. Garcia
Pending
GOOD OF THE ORDER
5/25/2021
7/13/2021
8/10/2021
12/14/2021
COUNCIL
MEETING
DATE
COUNCIL
MEMBER
REQUEST DETAIL DIRECTOR(S)
ACTION TAKEN: Memo; Staff
Report; Closed Session;
Presentation; Follow-up
Meeting; City Manager
Reports; Informal Action
DISCUSSION
ITEM
ACTION
ITEM DATE
STATUS:
Complete;
Pending;
On-going;
In-Progress
GOOD OF THE ORDER
Camacho/Lara Rename Street Suggest changing street name near the Sports Arena to
Avenida Vicente Fernandez
Road
Ad Hoc Committee Pending
1/11/2022
Elias/Lara Voting Materials Provide outreach material in Spanish to residents
Voting materials are supplied
by the County to the City for
posting on our social media.
Material is provided in both
Spanish and English.
In-Progress
Lara/Elias Criminal Activity City Attorney to research if the City can prosecute our
own misdemeanor crimes
A. Glasman
Discussion 2/8/2022 Pending
Elias/Lara Rent Control Home and property
protection program
Discussion Pending
1/25/2022
12/14/2021