THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, May 3, 1996 TAG: 9605010098
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 04 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ELIZABETH THIEL, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 82 lines
Chesapeake is generally a good place to live.
But city officials need to find a way to supply more and better drinking water. And there should be more recreational and cultural opportunities for residents.
That was the message from the sixth annual, city-sponsored survey of Chesapeake citizens.
Three hundred residents participated in the 15-minute telephone questionnaire, conducted in January by Continental Research Inc., a Norfolk-based consulting firm. The results were given to City Council recently.
The residents who participated make up only a small fraction of the city's more than 180,000 population. But city officials said they were representative of the city as a whole because they were surveyed randomly.
Of those who responded, 74 percent were white, 75 percent were registered voters, 78 percent were homeowners, 70 percent were married and 44 percent had children under 18. The median income of the participants was $44,523.
The results showed:
70 percent say mostly good things about Chesapeake when describing the city to people who have never been here; 27 percent say some good things and some bad things.
Without being prompted, 36 percent said water was their No. 1 concern, higher than any other category; 92 percent said they rely on city water to supply their homes, while 67 percent had bought bottled water for cooking or drinking in the past six months.
Growth was the next biggest concern, with 16 percent naming it as the city's most pressing dilemma.
74 percent thought growth has been good for the city; 21 percent said it has been bad.
93 percent said they were satisfied with city services.
92 percent were satisfied with the quality of life in Chesapeake, and 80 percent were satisfied with the school system.
91 percent agreed that Chesapeake is a safe place to live, while 86 percent agreed that their neighborhood was safe.
57 percent indicated a desire to stay informed about the city, reporting that they had watched a program on the city's public access channel, cable Channel 23, in the past year.
Compared to previous years, residents' satisfaction with the overall quality of life is the highest it's been. But concerns over water are higher than ever, too. Only about 9 percent of participants identified water as a top problem in 1990.
Mayor William E. Ward said the results encouraged him, even though citizens highlighted some concerns.
``The survey indicates that people basically feel good about their city,'' he said.
But Vice Mayor Robert T. Nance Jr., who is running for re-election to City Council on a Republican ticket that's challenging Ward and his running mates, said the survey doesn't jibe with what he's hearing from citizens.
``I'm hearing that we're growing too fast, obviously, to meet the needs of our citizens,'' Nance said. ``Everybody that I've talked to has said that we need to just catch our breath and have some relief from growth until we can catch up on our facilities.''
Nance said citizens also are concerned about overburdened roads and crowded schools with portable classrooms.
``I'm just hearing from people that our quality of life is slipping and they want a grip on it, and they want us to do something about it.''
Citizens who participated in conversations sponsored recently by The Virginian-Pilot also said they were dissatisfied with the fast rate of growth of residential developments, and how that was affecting their public services.
But Ward said he and other city officials were working on controlling growth and were dealing with the water issue.
Construction is under way on improvements to the Northwest River Water Treatment Plant that should give citizens better-tasting water by 1998.
Ward said council is considering ideas for increasing the quantity of water available to the city.
He also said that he and other officials recognize it's time to concentrate on improving recreational and cultural opportunities for residents.
``I know that we're not a perfect city,'' he said. ``But basically Chesapeakeans feel good about their city.'' by CNB