Survey: Sacramento residents feel less safe than they did last year
The city of Sacramento Auditor’s Office released the results of the annual community survey this week. It contained some interesting findings.
Residents are feeling less safe
Residents’ responses worsened this year compared to last year in the category of “overall feeling of safety.” Responses were lower than national benchmarks for the following safety measurements: feeling of safety in neighborhoods; police services and crime prevention; and emergency preparedness and fire prevention. Also, residents said that they reported crimes or were victims of crime at higher rates compared to other cities across the county, the audit said.
Residents are most satisfied with fire department, ambulance/EMS, libraries, garbage collection
Eighty one percent of respondents rated fire services excellent or good, which is similar to the national benchmark, the audit found. Seventy five percent rated ambulance/EMS excellent or good; 73 percent rated public libraries excellent or good; and 70 percent rated garbage collection excellent or good.
Residents were least satisfied with street repair, code enforcement, street cleaning, crime prevention and traffic prevention
Nineteen percent of respondents rated street repair excellent or good, which is far lower than the national benchmark, the audit found. Twenty three percent rated code enforcement excellent or good; 31 percent rated street cleaning excellent or good; 34 percent rated crime prevention and traffic prevention excellent or good.
Residents in Natomas, downtown, midtown and Land Park are most satisfied in certain areas
Residents of District 1, which includes North Natomas, ranked their neighborhood a good place to raise children, the audit found. Residents of District 4, representing downtown, midtown and Land Park, feel more positively about their overall feeling of safety during the day, along with District 1, the survey found.
Reaction from City Council members was mixed
Councilman Larry Carr and Councilwoman Angelique Ashby said they wanted to find a way for the city to use the survey results in its budgeting process.
Mayor Darrell Steinberg raised strong concerns about the methodology.
“If we sent out these surveys and people may have responded randomly, that may be random sampling, it may not be,” Steinberg said.
City Auditor Jorge Oseguera responded: “It is a statistically valid survey that is done across the country and that is used for these purposes.”
Steinberg responded: “Dewey defeats Truman. Got it.”
The city mailed surveys to 5,500 residents at randomly selected homes and apartments, the report said. The city received 895 completed surveys, which it used to create the report. The survey, called the National Community Survey, is conducted by the National Research Center.
This story was originally published September 5, 2019 at 12:09 PM.