In his monthly message for October 2020, Santa Clarita City Manager Ken Striplin spotlights results of the city’s 2020 public opinion survey about the quality of life in our community.

Every two years, the city of Santa Clarita hires an independent consultant to conduct a public opinion poll. The city conducts this scientific survey to evaluate the quality of services provided and to gather feedback on what is most important to residents as we plan for the future.

At the first meeting in September, city staff presented the results of the 2020 Poll to the City Council. I am pleased that once again, the feedback received from residents was overwhelmingly positive. Mainly, 82% of respondents signaled an overall high quality of life in Santa Clarita, and 82% were satisfied with services provided by the city.

One of the key questions in the survey is – what is the most important issue facing the community right now? This feedback helps guide future funding and strategic planning decisions as we place a high priority on proactively addressing anticipated changes in the community.

Over the last few years, the main responses have been traffic congestion, overdevelopment/growth, public safety and homelessness.

This year, as anticipated, saw another issue taking over the top spot. Respondents reported that COVID-19 concerns were number one, followed by overdevelopment/growth, traffic congestion and then public safety. These findings will also be helpful in the development of the City’s next five-year strategic plan, Santa Clarita 2025.

I am pleased to see that respondents are reporting higher satisfaction with the City’s effort to manage traffic congestion. The percentage increased from 38% in 2018 to 54% in 2020.

Newhall Metrolink Station. | Photo: Michael Hammond.

Knowing this is a high priority each time we conduct the survey, the City allocates significant time and funding each year to this area. Over the last couple of years, the city has invested $62.5 million in updates to signal timing systems and rehabilitation of local roads.

This scientific poll was conducted by True North Research, a nationally-recognized firm that specializes in survey research methodology, sampling theory, weighting and the use of statistical methods to generalize survey results.

Overall, our City has once again received high marks from the community we serve, even during this trying time. As a city organization – this city, under the leadership of the City Council, is committed to raising the bar each day and providing services that exceed resident’s expectations, both now and into the future. I want to thank residents who took the time to participate in our 2020 Public Opinion Poll.

If you would like to review all the data collected, please visit santa-clarita.com/city-hall/public-opinion-polls.

Santa Clarita City Manager Ken Striplin can be reached at kstriplin@santa-clarita.com.