Community Corner
Neighborhood Groups Survey Approves of City Fire and Police Job
The satisfaction survey revealed crime is still an issue.
The Coalition of Norwalk Neighborhood Associations (CNNA) has been to some a thorn in the side government and to others a powerful voice in preserving neighborhoods. But like much of Norwalk, it has struggled to find a cohesive voice on the issues affecting residents. For several months, the CNNA has conducted a survey to determine what exactly has concerned residents most. Mostly online, the survey link was distributed to CNNA members and posted on their website for the public to participate. Despite several months of publicity, out of the 80,000 plus residents, the number of respondents came in at 391.
Surprisingly, the survey respondents said that they were extremely satisfied with police and fire department responsiveness. The Fire Department earned an almost 61% extremely satisfied with a low 2% extremely dissatisfied.
The Police Department responsiveness was similarly not an issue with 55% of respondents extremely satisfied and only 11% extremely dissatisfied. A look at the areas where respondents were from could tell the tale of police responsiveness in greater detail, however that information wasn’t available in this report. Despite the high level of satisfaction, crime was a top concern.
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Issues that were identified as important, and as an issue of concern were:
- Controlling Property Taxes: 51 percent rated extremely dissatisfied.
- Crime: 38 percent rated extremely dissatisfied.
- Quality of Education: 36 percent rated extremely dissatisfied
- Gang Prevention: 40 percent rated extremely dissatisfied.
Conflicting sentiments about development were apparent. On the one hand, 50 percent of respondents viewed overdevelopment as important and were extremely dissatisfied in the 35 percent range. Yet the status of redevelopment projects was viewed as less important with 33 percent rating it extremely dissatisfied.
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The 2007 survey, according to the CNNA, looked similar in terms of the top issues, however Crime, was ranked 11 in 2007 and is in third place in 2010.
The complete survey results are available on the CNNA website.
The next CNNA meeting is February 28 at City Hall in the first floor lounge at 7:30 p.m.
