Spring 2004
New Survey Reveals Concerns about the Impacts of Valley Growth
The Public Policy Institute of
California (PPIC) recently
released its latest
survey of the 19-county Central Valley region.
This is the fifth survey in a series started in 1999 to provide
comprehensive information on the opinions and public policy preferences
of Central Valley residents.
According to the survey, Valley residents are clearly enthusiastic
about their local communities. But they are also quite concerned
about the impacts of growth and development patterns on the quality
of their lives. Since 1999, concern over traffic congestion has
nearly doubled from 23 percent to 44 percent. Air pollution — viewed
as the Valley’s most important issue — is now considered
a big problem by 45 percent of the population, up from 28 percent
in 1999. Furthermore, residents express increasing dissatisfaction
with the lack of affordable housing: Positive ratings have fallen
from 37 percent to 19 percent since 1999.
There has also been a decline in confidence — sometimes dramatic — in
the region’s public services and infrastructure: The percentage
of residents who give high ratings to their local streets and roads
has dropped 14 points, from 58 percent to 44 percent, in the past
five years. Positive school ratings have declined from 59 percent
to 54 percent since 1999.
Perhaps Valley residents’ desire to get out of traffic, breathe
cleaner air, and obtain more affordable housing and better schools
will increase receptiveness to smart growth and livable communities
strategies that reduce dependence on the automobile and create
more housing choices at different price points through compact
development. What’s more, compact growth patterns can lead
to neighborhoods with high enough densities to support development
of smaller, neighborhood schools. This can help improve the quality
of local education, while providing additional opportunities for
parks, playgrounds, playfields and other community uses that can
be co-developed with neighborhood schools.
Feelings about the local economy, and religious and political
views and practices are also addressed in the survey. Racial, ethnic
and regional variations within the Central Valley on a number of
issues are noted as well.
The Central
Valley Survey — an ongoing collaborative effort
of the Public Policy Institute of California and the Great
Valley Center — is a special edition of the PPIC Statewide Survey.
The purpose of this survey is to provide a comprehensive, advocacy-free
study of the political, social, and economic attitudes and public
policy preferences of Central Valley residents. Previous PPIC surveys
of the Central Valley were conducted in 1999, 2001, 2002, and 2003.
Findings of the current survey are based on a telephone survey
of 2,005 adult residents in the 19-county Central Valley region,
interviewed between April 12 and April 20, 2004. Interviews were
conducted in English or Spanish.
PPIC
Statewide Survey: Special Survey of the Central Valley, April
2004 (http://www.ppic.org/main/publication.asp?i=518)
|
