Public Opinion and Issues in Anne Arundel County: Leadership Anne Arundel Presentation – NLA

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Public Opinion and Issues in Anne Arundel County: Leadership Anne Arundel Presentation – NLA

Feb. 28, 2009

Dan Nataf, PhDDirector, Center for the Study of Local IssuesAnne Arundel Community College101 College ParkwayArnold, MD 21012(410) 777-2733(410) 777-4733 fax [email protected]

www.aacc.edu/csli

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LAA Presentation – Feb. 28, 2009The Center for the Study of Local Issues: Overview

• CSLI – Part of Sarbanes Center for Public and Community Service

• 1978-79 – 30th Anniversary

• Mission: Provide students opportunities for engaged learning, community outreach

• Main activity: Public interest and client surveys/research each semester

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LAA Presentation – Feb. 28, 2009 The Center for the Study of Local Issues: Overview

Surveys: Respondents randomly chosen from universe of listed telephone numbers combined with computer generated numbers

• Typical sample size: 400-900 respondents; students used as interviewers

• Topics: Each survey includes demographic and attitude/behavior questions, including such themes as:

– Economic conditions – Growth/Development– Transportation– Economic conditions– Education– Tax and spending preferences– Policy preferences

• Visit CSLI’s web site for previous surveys (www.aacc.edu/csli)

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LAA Presentation – Feb. 28, 2009

Main Issues for Today

– County - Right/Wrong direction– Economic conditions– Confidence in government– Housing– Growth– Crime– Education– Immigration– Tax and spending preferences

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County – Right/Wrong Direction

County Trend - Right or Wrong Direction

57 5458 55

6266

60 61 6258 58

5357 55

51 52 51 50 52

2327 25 24 23

15

2621

2531

2429 27 26 29 27

33 32 31

20 19 17 2015

1914

1813 12

19 18 16 18 20 2116 17 17

Right 51

Wrong 34

Unsure 15

05

10152025303540455055606570

Sp

99

Fa 9

9

Sp

00

Fa 0

0

Sp

01

Fa 0

1

Sp

02

Fa 0

2

Sp

03

Fa 0

3

Sp

04

Fa '0

4

Sp

'05

Fa '0

5

Sp

'06

Fa '0

6

Sp

'07

Fa '0

7

Sp

'08

Fa '0

8

Right Wrong Unsure

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Economic Concerns – Most Important Problem

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LAA Presentation – Feb. 28, 2009 Economic Concerns: Perceptions of the Local and National Economies 2002-2008

National

County

“Thinking about our county's economy, how would you rate economic conditions in Anne Arundel County today -- excellent, good, only fair, or poor?” (Total percentage saying excellent and good)

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LAA Presentation – Feb. 28, 2009 Economic Concerns: Perceptions of the

Local Economy Fall 2008 by Income Groups

“Thinking about our county's economy, how would you rate economic conditions in Anne Arundel County today -- excellent, good, only fair, or poor?”

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LAA Presentation – Feb. 28, 2009 Economic Concerns: Applicability of Specific Conditions

Spring/Fall 2008

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LAA Presentation – Feb. 28, 2009 Economic Concerns: Applicability of Specific Conditions Fall 2008

by Income Groupings and Gap (Poor-Rich)

Condition Overall 0-$50,000 $50-100,000 Over $100,000Significant losses in stocks or retirement accounts 71 57 72 81Hard to afford cost of utilities such as electricity or gas 50 75 54 36Wages or salaries are not rising as fast as the cost of living 59 66 64 51Hard to afford cost of taxes 58 62 59 57Hard to afford cost of transportation 32 43 36 22Health care insurance is unavailable, too expensive or inadequate 30 39 26 24Unable to find affordable housing 11 21 11 7Facing the possibility of unemployment 15 24 15 10Facing the possibility of house foreclosure or loss 4 11 3 2

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by Age Group

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by Race and Gender

Better

About the same

Worse

Fall 2004 Better-Worse

Fall 2008

The overall quality of life in the County 33 43 20 13 22

Spiritual or religious life 27 47 15 12 16 Economic conditions 33 40 23 10 13

Family life 27 45 20 7 17 General responsiveness of County

government to citizens’ needs 23 47 20 3 12

Ethics in local government 20 44 26 -6 -1 Public schools 28 28 36 -8 0

Health care 24 32 36 -12 1 Growth and development 30 20 46 -16 0

Crime 11 42 42 -31 -33 Water and air quality 17 32 49 -32 -30

Local taxes 5 26 64 -59 -68 Traffic congestion 3 5 92 -89 -82

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LAA Presentation – Feb. 28, 2009 Economic Concerns: What will the Future bring - 2004 looking to 2010

and 2008 looking at 2018

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Preparedness/

Confidence

Econ crisis/ Feds Fall 2008

Econ. Environ. Terror Disaster

Very 5 8 7 11 11

Somewhat 40 45 38 42 49

Not very 53 41 50 44 36

No answer 2 7 6 3 4

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LAA Presentation – Feb. 28, 2009 How Prepared are Local Authorities in Event of Terrorist Strike – 2001-

2006

30

22 2427

44

33

121513 15

11Very prepared

4854

4847Somewhat prepared

Not very prepared

37

611

58

Unsure 0

10

20

30

40

50

60Katrina

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Housing - What is “Affordable Housing?” (asked Fall 2002)

Attribute cited %

Purchase priceMedian: $150-175,000

39%

A type that is lacking in AA County 20%

Housing type – apartments, townhouses, section 8 19%

User type – low income, poor 9%

Other 12%

Total 100%

Is the lack of affordable housing in Anne Arundel County a problem?

Yes 54% No 34% Don’t know 12%

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Main Economic Challenge for the Next Decade (Fall 2005)Transition to Managing Growth

Challenge % Citing

Managing growth/development 31

Providing affordable housing 19Providing proper skills/education for workers

19

Infrastructure, roads 10 Providing enough jobs 9Govt. budget problems/services 3Gas prices 2Taxes 2Other 5

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How effective have County policies been regarding growth and planning?

6

4038

16

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40 Very effective

Somewhat effective

Not very effective

Don't know

LAA Presentation – Feb. 28, 2009 Economy and Growth: Effectiveness of

County Growth Policies (Fall 2004)

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LAA Presentation – Feb. 28, 2009 Economy and Growth: County Growth Choices – New Roads

or Mass Transit (Spring 2001)

To solve the transportation congestion issues that affect you the most, is it more important to fund new mass transit projects or build new roads and improve existing ones?

Approach to growth and transportation Yes No

Build or upgrade highly congested roads and intersections in the county

77 13

Create a local jitney bus service 71 21

Increase bus availability to major cities (Balt/DC) 69 22

Make it easier to get o MARC trains 67 20

Make it easier to find other people with whom to carpool 63 26

Severely limit new residential development – higher impact fees 54 33

Put moratorium on new residential development in your area 53 35

Reduce fares on public transportation 52 28

Allow more intense development of areas well served by public transportation

43 45

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Approaches for Managing Growth/Transportation (Fall 1998)

Issue

Gotten better

Stayed about the

same

Gotten worse

Better-Worse

Improving the local economy 43 46 10 33

Improving the overall quality of life in our County

34 52 14 20

Controlling crime 30 54 16 14

Improving the environment 35 39 26 9

Reducing poverty and homelessness 18 58 24 -6

Improving ethics in government 20 50 30 -10

Improving the efficiency of local government

18 54 28 -10

Keeping taxes low 15 59 26 -11

Improving the academic performance of our children

27 34 39 -12

Planning growth and development 25 30 45 -20

Reducing traffic congestion 15 16 70 -55

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I am going to read you a list of problems facing

the County. Please tell me how well you

think the County has dealt with

these problems over the

last year. Has the problem gotten better, stayed

about the same, or gotten worse?

LAA Presentation – Feb. 28, 2009 How well has County Performed? (Fall 1999)

Transition to Crime

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Crime Problem: % saying Major, Moderate, Minor

23

11 12 16

64

17

56 6066

18

1626

010203040506070

1999 2002 2005 2008

Major

Moderate

Minor

23

19 18

3022

29

5563

7771 69

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

1997 1999 2002 2005 2008

% S

ayin

g "

Ver

y S

afe"

County

Neighborhood

24

% Saying "Yes"

1412

912 11

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

1997 1999 2002 2005 2008

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One Thing to Most Improve Safety

Service More

% Same

% Less %

Don’t% know

Public schools 71 23 5 1

Police 60 35 4 1

Fire 53 43 2 2

Community college 46 44 7 3

Seniors’ services 44 45 7 4

Roads 43 49 6 3

Average percentage 41 46 11 3

Environmental programs

39 44 15 2

Social services 34 43 17 5

Health department 32 54 9 5

Libraries 26 67 6 1

Parks and recreation 26 57 16 2

Planning and zoning 13 42 39 7

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LAA Presentation: Feb. 28, 2009

Education – Perceived Value to Taxpayers? Spend More, Same or Less on Public Services? (Spring 2004)

Help Hurt No effect

Help Hurt No effect

Add Teaching Aides in Classrooms

91 1 7 Increase Local Community Control over Schools

69 11 20

Reduce Class Size 89 2 9 Provide More Elective Courses in Higher Grades

66 13 21

Give Teachers More Power when Dealing with Disruptive Students

86 8 7 Allow more variety in the curriculum

60 15 24

Emphasize a "Return to Basics" Approach to Education

86 5 9 Change the School Board selection process

60 8 33

Provide More Assistance to Special Education

85 4 10 Provide More Financial Assistance to Schools doing Poorly on Standardized Tests

55 13 31

Encourage Flexibility in Teaching Methods

83 9 8 Add some Specialized Programs 52 15 33

Increase Teacher Salaries 82 3 15 Introduce School Prayers 52 17 31

Start some Countywide "Magnet" Schools

79 7 14 Place Some Schools on a Year Round Schedule

49 24 27

Create a Special High School for Disruptive Students

76 13 12 Redistrict schools more frequently

26 39 36

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LAA Presentation: Feb. 28, 2009 Would Proposals Help, Hurt or have no Effect on the Quality of Public Schools

(Spring 1996)

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LAA Presentation: Feb. 28, 2009

Immigration Questions – Various (Spring 2008)

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LAA Presentation: Feb. 28, 2009 Legal and Illegal Immigrants (Spring 2008)

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Do you think that you personally have benefited from the services of illegal immigrants for example in landscaping, construction, restaurants or janitorial services?

LAA Presentation: Feb. 28, 2009 Personally Benefitting from Illegal Immigrants(Spring 2008)

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LAA Presentation: Feb. 28, 2009 Personally Benefitting from Illegal Immigrants(Spring 2008)

By Political Party

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Support

Oppose Unsure Noanswe

r

Total

Environmental measures meant to restrict development in critical areas?

84 11 3 1 99

Efforts by police to identify illegal immigrants and refer them to federal immigration services?

70 25 4 1 100

Increasing impact fees on new construction in our county?

63 31 5 1 100

Creating or increasing fees to sports leagues that use public parks to cover the maintenance of those parks?

50 45 4 1 100

Increasing the tax on hotel stays from 7 percent to 10 percent

33 59 6 1 99

Decreasing the drinking age to 18

29 68 2 1 100

A $500 ambulance fee to help pay for county services?

26 67 6 1 100

Proposal Spring 2003 Fall 2003 Spring 2007

Cut programs 40 34 31

Increase taxes 36 34 --

Other -- 18 8

(Combo – cut spending/ raise taxes) -- -- 54

Don’t know 24 14 7

Total 100 100 100

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LAA Presentation: Feb. 28, 2009 Funding Government – cut programs or cut spending?

(Spring 2003, Fall 2003, Spring 2007)

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LAA Presentation: Feb. 28, 2009 Funding Government – Various Approaches (Fall 2003)

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LAA Presentation: Feb. 28, 2009 Funding Government – % Favoring Raising Income Tax? (Fall 2003)

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LAA Presentation: Feb. 28, 2009 Funding Government – % Favoring Sales Tax? (Fall 2003)

Approach (N=85) Favor Cases

Reduce government salaries 15 13

Reduce politicians salaries 12 10

Reduce government perks 7 6

Cut waste, administration 11 9

Cut back on specific programs 39 33

Other miscellaneous 16 14

Total 100 85

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LAA Presentation: Feb. 28, 2009 Expenditure reduction – Identify ways to cut govt. spending (open-ended)

(Spring 2003)

Public Opinion and Issues in Anne Arundel County: Leadership Anne Arundel Presentation – NLA

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