Gettin' Satisfaction in Lake Forest - Part 3

Previously we looked at resident ratings of quality of life and whether or not they wanted to change anything. Lake Forest came in the middle of the pack with regard to quality of life as well as the desire to change things, although we were #1 with respect to identifying major problems. Mission Viejo, Indian Wells, and Laguna Niguel were the stand-outs in the quality of life. Beverly Hills and Apple Valley were the consistent losers from this perspective. Today we'll look at satisfaction with city services and comments on communication.

SATISFACTION

The survey asked - "Generally speaking are you satisfied or dissatisfied with the job the city is doing to provide city services?” Respondents had the options – Very satisfied, somewhat satisfied, somewhat dissatisfied, and very dissatisfied. They also had the option to say Not Sure or to refuse to answer the question.

Looking at the percent who rated services as "very satisfied" Lake Forest comes in a respectable 63% and 5th out of 10 cities. Here are the results -

• Indian Wells – 77%
• Mission Viejo – 70%
• Aliso Viejo- 67%
• Laguna Niguel – 67%
• LAKE FOREST– 63%
• Thousand Oaks – 58%
• La Mesa – 52%
• San Carlos – 52%
• Beverly Hills – 41%
• Apple Valley 33%

These results are not much different from the results we found when people rated the “quality of life” in their city. That’s probably an artefact of the study’s design. Without defining City services first, and having already made the respondents commit to a decision about “quality of life”, residents are going to respond to the question about “city services” as a reflection of their global satisfaction. Hence the high correlation.

I believe one could radically alter the results by first defining city services, and then asking how satisfied people are, or alternatively, waiting until the end of the questionnaire to ask for their global evaluations. For example, for months we have been experiencing problems with our street lights in my neighborhood. At first blush street lights appear to be part of city services, but when we complained, we were sent to Con Ed. So it may not be readily apparent to the average person what is or is not a city service.

Look at the survey results. People indicate that they want the city to change things like illegal immigration, public transportation, taxes, and schools. None of these are city services. Hence, asking how satisfied people are makes little sense, and regardless of their response, there is no true guidance for city officials because people, in general, don’t necessarily know what is a city service and what services are delivered by other agencies.

COMMUNICATION

The survey asked "Are you satisfied or dissatisfied with the City’s efforts to communicate with residents through newsletters, the internet, social media, and other means?" Respondents had the options – Very satisfied, somewhat satisfied, somewhat dissatisfied, and very dissatisfied. They also had the option to say Not Sure or to refuse to answer the question.

Here are the results of the people rating communication as "very satisfied" or "somewhat satisfied" -

• Indian Wells – 92%
• Mission Viejo – 85%
• San Carlos – 84%
• Glendora – 83%
• Laguna Niguel – 81%
• LAKE FOREST – 81%
• La Mesa – 80%
• Apple Valley – 79%
• Aliso Viejo- 76%
• Thousand Oaks – 76%
• Beverly Hills – 69%

We came in at a very respectable 81%, but once again, this is in the middle of the pack, with 5 of 11 cities doing better than we did. Once more, cities like Indian Wells, Mission Viejo, and Laguna Niguel did well while Beverly Hills, Thousand Oaks and Apple Valley did relatively worse. And once again, the differences may well reflect expectations of the residents rather than reality, as well as the way in which questions are asked and the order in which they are asked. At least in this question, in distinction from the other questions we looked at, the question was well defined.

SUMMARY

Regardless of the questions being asked, there is a consistent pattern. Indian Wells, Mission Viejo, and Laguna Niguel come up at the top of most lists while Apple Valley, Beverly Hills, and La Mesa come out at the bottom. Lake Forest receives scores in the middle of the pack, higher in some areas (communication) and lower in others (quality of life), but in the middle regardless.

Tomorrow we’ll summarize.