Tuesday, Oct. 26, 1999 | 1:46 a.m.
Survey Says
Among the conclusions of the recently released city of Las Vegas/UNLV poll:
Excellent: 14 percent
Good: 49 percent
Fair: 31 percent
Bad: 5 percent
Very bad: 1 percent
Excellent: 30 percent
Good: 47 percent
Fair: 19 percent
Bad: 3 percent
Very bad: 1 percent
People like living in Las Vegas, but are increasingly concerned with traffic congestion and air and water quality, a recently released study by the city and UNLV shows.
The city and UNLV's Cannon Center for Survey Research conducted the study of 564 adults living within the valley to investigate the perceived "quality of life." The study was conducted in February; city staffers and councilmen received the study in time for their strategic planning session last week.
"Overall, people find the quality of life very good, and in the neighborhoods even better," said Thomas Perrigo, a planning supervisor for the city's Comprehensive Planning Department.
But when the residents look to the future, they are not quite as upbeat, he noted.
"There's a level of concern about the future, but what's really telling is that people intend to stay here," Perrigo said. "Relative to other cities or other options, even though there may be a level of concern, they still see this as the place to be."
For the basic question, nearly two-thirds of respondents rated the quality of life in Las Vegas as a whole as excellent or good. Another third rated the valley as fair, and 6 percent rated the area as bad or very bad.
Respondents were even more positive when it came to rating their own neighborhood. More than three-quarters of respondents said the quality of life in their own neighborhood as excellent or good; only 4 percent rated it as bad or very bad.
Those who were born in Las Vegas tended to rate the quality of life as better than those who migrated here, and people from similar size cities rated the quality of life as higher than migrants from larger cities.
But in ranking the satisfaction with quality of life issues among valley residents, traffic congestion stood out as the single largest area of concern. Residents also said they are unsatisfied with water quality and air quality.
Following in the "not satisfied" category were crime rates, cost of health care and population growth.
And residents appear willing to support increased funding to address those concerns.
Nearly two-thirds of the respondents support increased funding to improve air quality; almost as many support increased funding to improve water quality. More than 64 percent support increased funding to decrease traffic congestion, and 61 percent support more money to decrease crime rates.
Almost as many are willing to pay more in taxes fund those programs. Nearly 55 percent said they would pay more taxes to protect the environment; 54 percent said they would pay more to improve air and water quality. About half the respondents said they would pay more taxes to increase public transportation and decrease traffic congestion.
"They see the greatest gains in our quality of life to be made in environmental issues," Perrigo said.
Sierra Club organizer Deanna White said she wasn't surprised by the results of the study. The Sierra Club and another environmental group, Citizen Alert, recently conducted a series of "town hall"-style meetings to discuss urban growth and related environmental issues.
"That's what people are concerned about. That's what we've heard at our town hall meetings," White said. "It's not just a matter of convenience. It's a matter of the health of our families and our communities."
One element of life in Las Vegas received generally poor marks from respondents. More than 60 percent of respondents rated Las Vegas as fair at best as a place to raise children; 26 percent said the valley is a bad or very bad place to raise children.
And people are slightly less optimistic about the future quality of life in Las Vegas -- 39 percent of the respondents forecast a decline in the quality of life in five years compared to 34 percent who forecast improvements.
Mayor Oscar Goodman said the city and region will strive to make the educational and community improvements to address those issues, but still applauded the upbeat tone of the study results.
He said the study serves as a selling point for businesses that are considering moving to the valley.
"It's a tremendous opportunity to show those persons who might be interested in moving to Las Vegas how our populous feels about living here," Goodman said. "It's a tremendous selling point."
He said the city is constantly in contact with businesses interested in coming to the region -- and this study is like "a piece of gold to give away" to those potential investors.
The $15,000 study was funded through a grant from UNLV and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's EMPACT -- Environmental Monitoring for Public Access and Community Tracking -- program, Perrigo said.
The public can get copies of the full study or summaries by calling the city planning department at 229-6022.
Funding Priorities
Among the top five priorities for funding:
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