Walnut Creek citizens think their community is one of the best in the country, based on the results of the City's latest Citizen Survey conducted in April by the National Research Center of Boulder, Colorado. In fact, Walnut Creek is ranked 10th among 211 jurisdictions in citizens' satisfaction with the community's overall quality of life. Further, it ranks ninth as a place to live.
"It's good to know that the folks at home feel we are doing a good job for them," said City Manager Gary Pokorny. "Council and staff are doing good work, and it feels good to hear it from the public."
The survey results are based on mailed-in questionnaires from 443 out of 1,200 randomly chosen homes in Walnut Creek — a relatively high response rate of 38 percent.
The survey results showed an impressively high percentage of citizens rated Walnut Creek either "good" or "excellent" in a variety of categories:
- As a place to live — 97%
- As a place to raise kids — 94%
- As a place to work — 87%
- As a place to retire — 82%
Similarly, 95 percent of respondents said they felt the overall image or reputation of Walnut Creek was good or excellent, and 95 percent said the overall appearance of the city was good or excellent. Perhaps not surprisingly, 95 percent rated Walnut Creek's shopping opportunities as good or excellent.
So, how do these ratings compare with the rest of the country?
- As a place to live — WC ranked 9th among 210 jurisdictions
- As a place to raise kids — 20th out of 177
- As a place to work — 2nd out of 95
- As a place to retire — 4th out of 162
- Overall quality of life — 10th out of 211
The findings showed that Walnut Creek ranked above the norm in a majority of categories, the highest being a 1st place ranking among 97 jurisdictions for "overall image/reputation of Walnut Creek."
"Walnut Creek has scored, hands down, higher than almost everybody else," said Heather Locke, Director of the National Citizen Survey Program. "There are a few communities up there with (Walnut Creek), but not very many."
The survey results also showed that:
- 77% feel they receive good value for the taxes they pay
- 70% are pleased with the overall direction the City is taking
- 65% feel the City government welcomes citizen involvement
- 54% feel the City government listens to citizens
- 87% rated the quality of City services as being good or excellent
- 88% rated police services as being good or excellent
- 76% rated economic development as being good or excellent
- 78% rated services to seniors as being good or excellent
Locke said the survey findings indicate Walnut Creek citizens know they have a good thing going. "They're very lucky to live where they're living," she said. "Things are going really well with city government and people seem to know that."
Along those lines, survey findings showed that 85% citizens have a good or excellent impression of City employees, and 90% rated staff's knowledge good to excellent.
The survey also asked citizens to answer questions regarding their own personal habits related to improving the environmental quality of life in Walnut Creek and things they would do to improve their own health.
