Social issues top concern in community survey

By Al Beeber - Lethbridge Herald on June 24, 2022.

LETHBRIDGE HERALDabeeber@lethbridgeherald.com

Survey says! Thirty one per cent of residents surveyed by the City of Lethbridge in April say social issues are at the top of their personal list of concerns which is an increase from 21 per cent in 2020.
Ninety per cent of people have a positive perception about quality of life here, which is down four per cent from 2020. Of those, 34 per cent say quality of life is very good while 57 per cent say it’s good and another seven per cent consider quality of life poor.
Most residents feel their quality of life has stayed the same during the past two years but worsened perceptions are higher than improved.
These are some of the results of the survey conducted between April 7 – 27 of residents aged 18 and older on landlines and cellphones. The survey’s methodology means results would be accurate 19 times out of 20.
Social issues, especially homelessness, has replaced drugs and the supervised consumption site as the most important local issue, with transportation second. Drugs/SCS drops to third and is tied with crime.
Eleven per cent cited transportation as a concern, which is up 22 per cent from 2020. The City’s transit system was revamped last fall. In terms of satisfaction with specific services, public transit was at the bottom of the list with only 22 per cent being very satisfied.
The survey showed while perceptions of quality of life are positive, they are down from previous years.
Overall satisfaction with city services is high but it’s eroding.
Survey results were presented to the Governance Standing Policy Committee of city council Thursday by Director of Public Affairs – Ipsos Catherine Knaus.
Emergency services and roads are residents’ top priorities for investment while satisfaction with the City’s customer service is strong.
The concern about social issues is trending upward over the last few years, Knaus told the SPC. Concerns about drugs and the supervised consumption site have dropped to 13 per cent of respondents, down 19 per cent from 2020 when 43 per cent said these were a concern.
Only one per cent mentioned COVID-19 as an issue, which is down 18 per cent since 2020, said Knaus, who said that result is seen on a national level, as well.
Twelve per cent of residents who say quality of life has improved say it’s because Lethbridge is a great city to live in, 11 per cent say its because of improved employment/jobs while 10 per cent attribute that to more parks and recreational facilities. Nine per cent say it’s because of eased COVID-19 mandates/restrictions.
Twenty-four per cent who say quality of life has declined here attribute that to crime which is up three per cent from 2020. Twenty per cent say quality of life is lower because of the economy and 18 per cent said it’s due to COVID-19.
Overall satisfaction with City services and programs is high, say the survey results, with 22 per cent of respondents being very satisfied while 60 per cent are somewhat satisfied. This 82 per cent total between those two is down four per cent from the survey in 2020 and down 16 per cent from the high of 98 per cent in 2005.
In terms of specific programs, sixty nine per cent said they’re very satisfied with fire protection, the total satisfaction level of 93 per cent down four per cent from 2020. Forty per cent are very satisfied with the city trails and pathways system, 60 per cent feel the same about garbage collection, 43 per cent are very satisfied with recreational facilities and 53 per cent are very satisfied with the public library and parks and open spaces.
Of all evaluated programs and services, 98 per cent rate ambulance service as very important, while 93 per cent say garbage collection is.
Ninety-four per cent rate fire protection as very important while 91 per cent say police services are important.
Animal control and sheltering is considered important by 60 per cent of respondents which is up 49 per cent from 2020.
Arts and culture facilities are at the bottom with only 40 per cent rating them as very important.
The public rates police services, snow removal and maintenance, cleaning and upgrading of streets and sidewalks as primary areas for improvement this year. Also on that list are animal control and sheltering, bylaw enforcement, public transit, land use and community planning, Access-A-Ride and arts and culture facilities.
Respondents consider primary strengths to be ambulance services, garbage collection, parks and open spaces, fire protection, recycling and recreational facilities.
Of city programs and services used in the last 12 months, recycling tops the list at 98 per cent, followed by garbage collection at 97 per cent and parks and open spaces at 88 per cent which is down from 95 per cent in 2020.
Maintenance, cleaning and upgrading and snow removal follow at 79 per cent and the city trees and pathway system at 78 per cent.
Least used was Access-A-Ride at eight per cent and fire protection at 12 per cent. Twenty-three per cent of respondents used ambulance services in the last 24 months while 27 per cent used public transit.
A total of 92 per cent of respondents are satisfied with the City’s customer service, up one per cent from the last survey. Seventy-eight per cent said they’re very satisfied with the 311 contact centre.
Forty-eight per cent strongly agree that city staff are courteous, helpful and knowledgeable while only 27 per cent had that opinion when asked if the City responds quickly to requests and concerns.
Seventy-two per cent say they get good value for the property tax values, up three per cent from the last survey. The norm is 81 per cent.
Fifteen per cent said they’re very satisfied with municipal government including both city council and staff while 60 per cent say they are somewhat satisfied. The total of 75 per cent is down three per cent from the last survey.
Only 11 per cent said they’re very satisfied with council, the total satisfaction rating of 74 per cent being down from 77 per cent.

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