In a survey of Eugene residents, more than half of respondents said they did not participate in their neighborhood associations. When asked what would encourage them to become more involved in their neighborhoods, one of the most common responses was, “knowing other people who attend the meetings.”
In a statement released by the city manager’s office, the survey was praised as an important tool to increase involvement and participation in neighborhood associations and improve neighborhood livability.
More than 4,600 residents from 24 neighborhoods participated in the survey, which was conducted over several months during summer and fall 2009. The survey was designed with a special emphasis on garnering responses from historically underrepresented groups in the area, in terms of age, income, ethnicity, gender and home ownership.
The numbers reported by the survey regarding the ethnic identification of participants were comparable to 2009 Census data. White and Pacific Islander populations in Eugene were slightly underrepresented, while Hispanic, Asian, black and mixed ethnicity populations were slightly overrepresented by the survey.
In terms of gender, women were significantly overrepresented by the survey, constituting 60.6 percent of respondents, to men’s 38.7 percent. The 2009 Census reports women constitute 52.8 percent and men 47.2 percent of Eugene’s population.
The survey involved the University’s Community Planning Workshop for the first time. The CPW helped design the survey to achieve an accurate representation of minorities and other underrepresented populations who typically do not affiliate themselves with neighborhood associations, said Michael Kinnison, director of Neighborhood Services in Eugene.
The survey results will be used by the various neighborhood associations to formulate strategies to boost community involvement in neighborhood associations.
Kinnison said the survey began through Neighborhood Services but soon became a collaborative effort with the CPW at the University.
“We wanted to get folks who had experience designing surveys,” he said, “so we contracted with CPW.”
Kinnison said the survey was a successful experiment in reaching specific demographics, in order to best represent an aggregated population on paper.
Although a majority of respondents “strongly agreed” with the statement “I feel safe in my neighborhood,” improving neighborhood safety was the top concern for residents.
Perceptions of the safety of the Eugene vary greatly from person to person.
John Powers, a resident of southeast Eugene, said safety was not a top concern of his.
“In the 30 years I’ve lived here, I’ve never felt threatened or paranoid or whatever.”
But resident Tina Orem disagreed.
“I can’t decide if (safety) is my No. 1 concern, but it’s definitely in the top three; this is probably the most crime-ridden town I’ve ever lived in, and I’ve lived in big cities and small towns,” she said. “I think most of the crime seems to be focused downtown, that’s for sure. I don’t feel safe here at night; I’ve lived in Denver, and I’d probably rather be in downtown Denver than here at night by myself.”
These discrepancies in perception, from person to person and neighborhood to neighborhood, are what make Kinnison believe this survey is so important to community planners.
“The different thing about this survey is that we’ll be processing a report for each neighborhood association,” Kinnison said. “In this way, they’ll know about what’s going on with the interests and concerns of neighbors within their boundaries.”
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