Town Needs SurveyPreliminary Results

Presented to Board of SelectmenApril 14, 2009

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Town Needs Survey Committee

John Ballantine

Alan Cameron

Jim Elgin

Verna Gilbert

Kathy Mull

Camelia Rosca

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Survey Objectives

• Determine current and future community needs and services, with focus on the needs of seniors

• Help to prioritize the needs and services • Solicit input from all adult Carlisle residents

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Response was high

A total of 1755 townspeople (43.6%) returned surveys, out of the 4028 over 21.

Maroon/dark – Distribution of Ages from Town CensusYellow/light – Distribution of Ages of Survey-takers

The segment of the population between 21 and 29 – mainly children still registered as living with their parents rather than heads of households - did not participate extensively in the survey.

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Percentage Participation

• 40% to 50% of all residents in their 30s, 40s and 50s completed surveys.

• 69% of those in their 60scompleted surveys.

•30% to 40% of those over 70 completed surveys.

Number of responses: 15 136 417 591 366 176 40 5

80%

60%

40%

20%

0

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Family Income Level (by Age Bracket)

Percentage of people in age bracket with indicated family income

Family Income

($160K is the medianFamily Income for Carlisle.)

Age Bracket

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Quality of Life

• Participants were asked “How would you rate the overall quality of your life?” – 53.9% rated it as Excellent– 42.4% Good– 3.4% Fair– 0.4% Poor

• Factors influencing quality of life:– Positively: (93.9%*) Rural Nature, Friends &

Acquaintances, Services, Availability of Medical Care– Negatively: (63.1%**) Cost of living here

* Percentage reporting positively or very positively** Percentage reporting negatively or very negatively

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Plans for Leaving Carlisle

I do not plan to leave town (27.5%

Undecided (31.5%

When kids go to high school (1.5%

When kids leave high school (5.5% When kids leave

home (6.5%

When I can no longer drive (6%)

When I retire (11%

When I can no longer live at home (10.5%

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Health

• Participants were asked “How would you assess your health?”– 60% rated their health as very good

– 35% rated it as good

– 4% rated it as fair

– 1% rated it as poor

85% of participants felt area hospitals met or exceeded their inpatient needs.

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Exercise

How important is exercise? How often do you exercise?

Very Important(48%)

Important(35%)

SomewhatImportant (15%)

Not Important(2%)

Most Days(40%)

A couple of Times a week(35%)

Weekly(12%)

Rarely(11%)

Never (1%)

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Socialization

• How often do you socialize with others?

Daily(19%)

A couple of times a week(21%)Weekly

(32%)

Monthly(17%)

Rarely(10%)

Never(1%)

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We Participate in Many Activities

Percent rating participation in various activities important or very important:

- Gleason library 63.2%

- cultural activities 33.5- civic volunteering 28.1 - town social events 26.1 - school groups 25.3 - town recreation 24.8 - church groups 20.1- Council on Aging 12.1- political groups 10.0

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Interest in Some Activities Varies with Age

Younger residentsconsider recreationalactivities more important than do older residents.

Conversely, older residents consider COA activities more important than do younger residents.

Everyone considers the library important.

Younger residentsconsider recreationalactivities more important than do older residents.

Conversely, older residents consider COA activities more important than do younger residents.

Everyone considers the library important.

Percent considering activity important or very important

AgeGroup

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Housing

• 82.5% were satisfied or very satisfied with their current housing situation.

• 40.7% felt the town should have more housing options.– 31.9% were not sure.

Participants were asked whether more housing options would impact their decision to stay in town longer:

• 53.4% stated availability of small private residences would*

• 45.7 % stated condos or apartments would*– (*Maybe or Definitely)

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Transportation• Participants were asked “Would you use Most desired purposes:

public transportation if available?” (Percentage indicating “some” or “great need”)

- to airport: 54.7%

- to MBTA/train: 53.7%

- to Concord: 47.4%

- to medical: 32.7%

- to education: 28.3%

Not likely (32%)

Possibly (38%)

Likely(19%)

Very likely (11%)

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Town Participation

Do you go to town meeting?• Often or very often 26.8% Occasionally 31.6%

Do you vote in town elections?• Often or very often 85.0%

Do you participate in town boards, committees?• Often or very often 10.6% Occasionally 16.7

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Town Spending

“Do you feel the town spends money wisely?”

Always(0.9%)

Most of the time(45.5%)

Sometimes(39.2%)

Rarely(9.4%)

Never(1.3%)

Missing Answer(3.7%)

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Trust

Several national surveys have asked “Would you say that most people can be trusted or that you can’t be too careful in dealing with people?”

• 34.7% of survey participants felt that people can be trusted• In the most recent national survey 35% responded the same way

– Compared with 57% in 1963

• Broken down to various groups, survey participants “trusted a lot:” – Police 83.8%– People in their neighborhood 64.3– Town volunteers 43.6– Town boards / committees 28.6– National government 6.8– State government 5.6

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Comments

• 1022 (58%) survey participants provided written comments to “What can we do to make Carlisle a better place to live in?”

• Our preliminary categorization and tabulation:– Reduce taxes/control growth rate of taxes (25%)

– Need gathering place/pub/restaurant (11%)

– Protect open space and rural character (10%)

– More sidewalks/bike lanes/pathways/trails (8%)

– Keep it the way it is – I love it (7%)

– Reduce/freeze taxes for seniors/those with no children (7%)

– Public transportation to Concord/Bedford/MBTA (7%)

– Increase commercial tax base (6%)

– Reduce/control spending (6%)

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Next Steps

• Meet with individual boards and committees to discuss survey data and solicit their input/needs

• Analyze in more detail variations in answers with age, income, etc.– The way the data is stored we can cross-correlate the data on any

two questions.

• Examine comments in more detail– There were a lot of them

– We’ve looked only briefly at them so far

Are some questions of immediate concern to you?