Most Kelowna residents don‘t trust city hall

Ron Seymour Kelowna Courier
Only one-quarter of Kelowna residents trust city hall “to do what is right,” councillors were surprised to discover Monday. The annual citizen survey also found that less than one-third of residents believe Kelowna is headed in the right direction, and fewer than half believe city hall is “open and accessible.” “These are not great scores, in my view,” said Coun. Robert Hobson, who termed the findings “distressing.” “The general trust issue, that concerns me,” he said. “We have to really strive to raise that.”

The survey, mailed to 2,500 randomly selected residents earlier this year, posed dozens of questions on topics including transportation, satisfaction with city programs, recreation and leisure, taxation and livability. A total of 696 responses were received, with the margin of error said to be 3.7 per cent.

According to survey respondents, growth management is the most important issue facing Kelowna, followed by traffic congestion and affordable housing. The fire department had the highest level of public support, with 80 per cent of respondents saying they were either satisfied or extremely satisfied with the service. Satisfaction levels were also high for the airport (71 per cent), parks maintenance (71 per cent) and sports field maintenance (65 per cent). But the RCMP rated a satisfaction level of 54 per cent, placing it ninth on the list of 13 municipal services for which respondents were asked their opinion. “They (the police) come in a little lower than I would have thought,” given all the extra resources the city has put into the RCMP in recent years, Coun. Norm Letnick said.
Other survey highlights:
– Only three per cent use public transit as their primary mode of travel, but 67 per cent support additional investments in the bus system.
– 38 per cent say that overall city services are very good or excellent.
– Residents are split on increasing residential density as a way to accommodate growth and limit urban sprawl.

Changes to this year‘s survey make direct comparisons to previous ones difficult, consultant Alan Rice of Kettle Valley Research told council. For example, in previous surveys, respondents were typically given four possible responses to questions: strongly agree, agree, disagree, strongly disagree. This year, a fifth possible answer – neutral – was added, because people may not have strong feelings one way or another about a specific question. On the question, “I trust the City to do what is right,” four per cent strongly agreed, 20 per cent agreed and 43 per cent were neutral. That means 33 per cent disagreed or strongly disagreed.
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Don Quixoter Note: A quick survey for the City of Vernon taxpayers can be found on the right hand side of this blog. “I trust the City to do what is right,” is the question.