Mobility, Safety, Economy Top Priorities For Cedar Park Residents

CEDAR PARK, TX — The results of a survey of Cedar Park residents — the first of its kind in city history — taken in the spring are in, revealing that safety, mobility and the economy are the most important issues among them.

A randomly selected group of residents received a resident survey in the mail from the National Citizen Survey (NCS), administered by the National Research Center, Inc. (NRC). The NRC spent the past few months collecting survey results and complied a report they presented to city council at their July 25, 2019, regular scheduled meeting.

Cedar Park Mayor Corbin Van Arsdale said he was gratified by the initiative: "I’ve always wanted to do a survey so I am glad the council last year wanted to do it," he said in a prepared statement. "I always knew our staff was doing an outstanding job based on the e-mails I get. I just viewed the results as a glowing affirmation of the men and women who work for our city.”

Out of a scientific sample of 3,600 households, city officials said, 440 people returned surveys. The survey has a 5 percent margin of error, officials added. Citizens gave especially positive feedback regarding various facets of community livability. Key findings show that safety, mobility and the economy are most important to residents, according to Jade Arocha, Senior Research Analyst with the National Research Center, which conducted the NCS.

“These key findings are what stood out to us as survey researchers,” Arocha said in a prepared statement. “Cedar Park receives exceptional ratings. Cedar Park’s ratings in comparison to the national database were higher than and similar to national averages. To see so many ratings that were higher is definitely worth noting.”

The surveys revealed that Cedar Park ranks 68th in quality of life in general when compared with hundreds of benchmark cities nationwide, and as it relates to raising children ranked 36th in the nation.

Council Member Mel Kirkland noted: “I’m impressed with the number of cities in our area – Round Rock, Pflugerville, New Braunfels, San Marcos and Austin — that have completed the survey and for Cedar Park to be compared with those and other cities.”

Among the survey's highlights, nine in ten respondents gave excellent or good ratings to the following categories:

o Cedar Park as a place to live.

o Cedar Park as a place to raise children.

o Overall quality of life.

o Neighborhood as a place to live.

Eight in ten people rated Cedar Park excellent or good:

o In overall image or reputation.

o In overall appearance.

o As a place to retire.

Seven in ten positively rated the Sense of Community in Cedar Park, and nine out of every ten people surveyed said they are likely to recommend living in Cedar Park and to remain here for the next five years.

Residents gave especially high marks to the quality of service they receive from the city:

• 89 percent rated the overall quality of city services as excellent or good.
• 98 percent said the fire department is excellent or good.
• 88 percent said the police department is excellent or good.
• 91 percent rated city parks as excellent or good.
• 87 percent rated trash and recycling collection as excellent or good.

The survey further revealed that safety is a top priority for Cedar Park residents. Nine in ten respondents positively rated the following:

o Overall feeling of safety in Cedar Park.

o Feeling safe in neighborhoods.

o Feeling safe in commercial areas.

Also worth noting: As it relates to certain safety services, survey respondents gave positive feedback and their evaluations in these areas were higher than the national benchmarks:

• 82 percent of respondents gave crime prevention an excellent or good rating.
• 80 percent said emergency preparedness is excellent or good.
• 80 percent gave an excellent or good rating to animal control.

Citizens surveyed expressed their priorities over the next two years:

• Mobility (ease of getting to places you visit regularly).
• Safety.
• Economic health.
• Quality of natural environment.

Those surveyed indicated that areas for opportunity exist particularly with regard to mobility. Only 48 percent positively rated ease of walking and ease of travel by bicycle. Fifty three percent said they support the city spending more on transportation and roads and nearly half of respondents support the city spending more on parks, trails and green space.

To arrive at these results, the NCS used bench-marking questions, city officials noted. These benchmarks made the survey results comparable to other similar sized cities across the country, officials explained.

The survey also included custom questions based on the specific needs and interests of the City of Cedar Park. To ensure accuracy, residents receiving the survey were a randomly generated group taken from a statistically significant number of residents calculated for the purpose of the survey, officials said.

For more information visit www.cedarparktexas.gov/surveyresults.