Unofficial Survey Takes Concord's Pulse

Councilman Edi Birsan is taking Concord's pulse with an online survey started in December last year.

The Pulse of Concord asked Concordians about their shopping habits, outlook on city life, contributions to homeless people and more. The survey "is not intended or represented to be the viewpoint of the Concord City Council, the City of Concord, or City staff or officials," according to Birsan. Around 88 percent of the resonses collected responses were from residents and 12 percent came from non-residents. The breakdown of answers for each was "about the same," said Birsan.

A spring "Pulse" is planned for the March/April period. Suggestions for survey topics can be emailed to Birsan at EdiBirsan@astound.net.

A draft of the results of the first Pulse of Concord follow below. Notes from Birsan are italicized.

1. I will be spending more money at stores in Concord this Holiday Season than last.

Agree 32.9%

Disagree 36.8%

Neither Agree nor Disagree 39.3%

A rather even split, and the sort of question that we ask each winter. Significantly last winter when asked in a Yes/No format the answers were 75% NO (not spending more) and 25% YES (Spending more). This indicates that there was a big increase in people’s view that they are going to spend more money in Concord this winter. A good thing for stores… and little boys looking for Red Robin Racers for Christmas. 

2. I will be spending more money on holiday shopping on the Internet this year than last year.

12.9% Strongly Agree

26.7% Somewhat Agree

16.4% Completely Disagree

13.8% Somewhat Disagree

30.2% Neither Agree or Disagree

Another equal split, and I wish we had asked it last year. The question should probably be drilled down somewhat to more specifics, but it is interesting that there is a split rather than a one sided ‘Agree’ so while the dollar amounts spent on the Net keep climbing at least here it looks like there are also some that are going out of Net favor.

3. I am optimistic that, overall, things in the city will get better in 2013.

20.5% Completely Disagree

20.5% Somewhat Disagree

30.8% Somewhat Agree

10.3% Strongly Agree

17.9% Neither Agree or Disagree

An almost even 41% optimistic and pessimistic view of the year ahead. We are coming out of some pretty pessimistic times with the Great Recession and this may indicate that we are the tipping point, not that we are seeing people dancing in the streets — except for Thursdays in Todos Santos in the summer.

4. My neighborhood needs a speed bump or ‘dip’ for traffic calming.

32.3% Agree

48.8% Disagree

18.9% Neither Agree or Disagree

Here there were some interesting aspects. Whether your agreed or disagreed the Strong position was 4 to 1 over the Somewhat position. Also the Non-Concord Residents were 43% neutral and equal splits at 28+ either agreeing or disagreeing.  As an interesting note, the ‘dips’ appear to be left over storm water channels that secondarily acted as speed controls. The City put a stop to making new speed bumps a few years ago for financial reasons and at that time I think there was a backlog of 50+ requests.

5. I have gone to Sunvalley Mall more this year than last year.

62.4% Disagree mostly strongly

15.7% Agree mostly somewhat

18.3% neutral

Those outside seem to be twice as likely to answer that they have gone more this year. So combined with the view on spending more money this winter, makes you wonder where is that money going for the residents and wonder if the non-residents are making more of a line for Sunvalley than elsewhere?

6. Political (Campaign) signs should be limited to 3’x2’

54.7% Agree Strongly

13.7% Agree Somewhat

 3.4% Disagree Somewhat

 6.0% Disagree Strongly

22.2% Neither Agree or Disagree

I guess like campaign signs, this speaks for itself.

7. My neighborhood has been getting more graffiti, which remains visible longer this year than last year.

10.3% Agree Strongly

16.2% Somewhat Agree

16.2% Disagree somewhat

27.4% Disagree completely

29.9% neutral

This is another area where we should drill down further to see where the concern is: residential areas, retail areas, commercial area, highway sidings (CalTrans) and the like.  I also wonder if there is a Graffiti ‘Season’ such that the winter is weak time and summer the high time, which abstractly makes sense but reality is always needed on such things.  If it is seasonal then we may need to ask again in the summer and see how it compares with future summer and winter reports.

8. Do you attend the Farmers’ Market in the winter at Todos Santos?

13.9% Often

28.7% Few Times

57.4% No

Interesting the non-residents are almost identically if not a little more the same size in the Often category, but only half as much in the ‘Few’ times. This may be because of their working in the city and doing it on lunchtime. It seemed like there was more activity this year than the last, but we also seem to have less rainy days as well.

9. Have you given money directly to a homeless person on the streets/side of the road in the last 6 months?

13.7% a Few Times

 8.5% Once

67.5% No

10.3% No-my teenager(s) have already eaten all my money.

This is disturbing in that the giving to the homeless is a sort of Toxic Charity in that it in the long run it hurts the receiver. There is a movement called Change 4 Real Change (change4realchange.org) where you can donate to and get a service coupon ($1 each) so that when you have the urge to give something to a Panhandler you can give them the coupon that will allow them to call for transport to a service center, a meal at a service center and mental health etc. services. We need to start to Enable the Solution NOT the Problem.

10. Did you use or watch the Ice Skating Like Ring in Todos Santos Last Year?

3.4% Often

2.6% A Few Times

3.4% Once

90.6 Never

With those numbers there is no question why they were not here again this winter.