5/19 Blog Topic: The 2018 Marin County Resident Survey More than Just Housing
March 19, 2019
Theme areas of the National Citizens Survey
Recently the Marin County Board of Supervisors accepted survey results produced through a “National Citizens Survey” (“the Survey”). The Survey is designed to capture a snapshot of a community’s opinions on a common set of themes such as “governance” (like how our public sector functions) and characteristics like “safety” and the “economy.” There are over 120 questions including qualitative and open-ended questions. Over 3,700 responses were received through both written and electronic form. The Survey also benchmark’s responses against other like communities (there were between 25-40).
As a self-proclaimed “data-geek” I enjoyed pouring over the 30-plus pages of results. Some of the notable takeaways were on how well Marin residents scored safety, wellness and the environment. As a parent I loved the extremely high positive response on “Marin County as a place to raise children.” One thing I would say about the Survey is it covers a huge range of topics, yet I was disappointed to see the discussion of results focus on housing. To be clear, lack of affordable (and workforce) housing IS a big issue in Marin and MEF has identified the associated negative affects frequently over the past few years. But the Survey responses are useful for understanding other issues that also remain a priority for our residents. For example, when asked to rank the 5 priority areas in the FY 2018-2020 Board of Supervisors budget, the top response by far was “investing in County infrastructure” (91%) followed by “improving disaster preparedness” (84%). “Preserving affordable housing” ranked a distant 3rd. Residents think money should be invested in more than just housing.
Drilling down into issues that characterize our economy, there were several interesting responses (and some of them disappointing):
- Among the many positive datapoints in the “Economy” section was that 98% of respondents purchase goods or services from a business located in Marin County. This figure was higher relative to other communities surveyed and a strong sign of resident’s use of local businesses. The MEF takeaway: residents overwhelmingly use and need local businesses.
- Unfortunately, some of the lowest scores of the Survey were also found in the economy category: Only 28% of respondents said the “Economy will have positive impact on income.” Meanwhile just 37% noted “positive” for “employment opportunities” and only 69% considered “Marin County as a place to work” as positive, which placed Marin in the lower half benchmarked against 39 other communities. The MEF takeaway: although our economy is generally considered strong with low employment and an affluent population, there are some troubling sentiments from residents for Marin County as a place to work.
- Just under 50% of respondents noted “economic development” as positive. Anyone who follows the Marin economy would probably not be surprised to see a tepid response in this category. However, that by no means makes it acceptable. The MEF takeaway: Competition for our local businesses is only getting worse not better. Our County’s workforce is getting older not younger. Inequality in Marin is growing. Economic development plays a role in all these issues, so we need to be very good at it for our future.
The Survey supports the need to address two MEF focus areas: business retention & expansion efforts will ensure our local businesses can stay competitive and continue to serve our residents, and workforce development can help employers and employees alike derive more benefit from our economy.
I invite all readers to review the results and learn what their fellow residents are saying about Marin’s priorities: https://www.marincounty.org/depts/ad/divisions/management-and-budget/resident-survey
-Mike
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