The majority of Westminster residents who responded to a community-wide survey this year have a generally rosy picture of their city.
The survey, done by ETC Institute, was distributed to over 6,000 randomly selected Westminster residents and a statistically valid sample of 905 residents participated, ensuring a high level of confidence in the results, said city spokesman Andy Le.
A community survey is done every two years to gauge awareness of the city’s communication channels and to inform city leaders on what policies and services need to be changed, Le said.
The survey, which was reviewed by the city council this week, produced key findings, according to a city staff report, including:
High-Quality of Life: 83% of respondents rated Westminster as an “excellent” or “good” place to live. Satisfaction with neighborhood quality (76%) and community safety (76%) was strong.
Top-Rated Services: Parks and recreation facilities (81%), libraries (80%), and emergency services (80%), received the highest satisfaction scores.
Public Safety: High marks were given for fire (83%), and medical services (81%)
ETC’s Derek Harvey told the city council this week that the results show Westminster is ahead of most cities nationally in key livability benchmarks.
“You guys are leading the way in this area,” Harvey said.
Police, traffic come up short
Residents responding to the survey said the city is falling short in other areas, including police visibility in retail areas, in local neighborhoods and enforcing traffic laws.
Code enforcement also got low scores with 45% saying they were satisfied with those efforts. The survey said debris cleanup, weed control, and property maintenance should be top priorities for the city.
Street conditions got 57% satisfaction ranking among those who responded, and 73% were satisfied with the city’s snow removal efforts.
Most residents – 80% – identified the high cost of housing as a significant challenge along with concerns about crime (68%) and growth (62%).
Harvey told the council that Westminster’s concerns about growth, crime and homelessness are shared by nearly every other city in the country.
“Westminster is on par with regional and national averages,” he said.
The survey results were not a big surprise to city officials, Le said via email.
“We appreciated that the survey aligned with what we have been hearing from the community, and we will keep working to address those issues in 2025,” Le said. “While Westminster is well ahead of our peer communities in the Rocky Mountain area, it doesn’t mean we cannot continue to improve the quality of life for our residents.”
Explore the original article from the Westminster Window, posted by Monte Whaley on December 11th, 2024.