At yesterday’s Austin City Council work session, Council Members heard the results of the city’s annual community survey. Designed to measure a cross-section of the city analogous to its demographics, at least 200 residents from each of the Council’s ten districts took part.
A quick summary of the results:
Austinites are generally satisfied with the city as a place to work, live, and raise a family, but they’re extremely unhappy with how the city is planning growth. The low 13 percent approval rating for planning growth is a notable step down from both last year’s rating (22 percent) and the five-year average (34 percent).
Interestingly, most cities saw drops in their satisfaction levels compared to previous years. As Community Impact’s Christopher Neely explains:
According to a representative from ETC Institute, 85 percent of the cities surveyed in 2016 saw drops in satisfaction levels when compared to their own five-year averages. Experts believe the state of the economy, public safety and the presidential election all contributed to the decrease.
Not surprisingly, Austinites aren’t pleased with traffic, with 86 percent of respondents expressing dissatisfaction with traffic flow on major highways. Austin’s overall flow of traffic and congestion management rated a full 20 points lower than the national average, highlighting the serious predicament Austinites face when trying to get from point A to point B.
Want to read more? Here’s the entire report, which weighs in at a hefty 17 mb .pdf file.
What do you think?
What does the tech sector identify as the largest challenges facing the City of Austin? And are you satisfied with your experience living and working in Austin?