Life in Auburn is good, according to local residents.
The 2008 Citizen Survey, conducted by the City of Auburn, reported high levels of satisfaction in several areas as well as improvement in a number of categories over last year.
The city scored a 95 percent satisfaction rate on whether Auburn was a good place to live; 94 percent surveyed thought it was a great place to raise children. 90 percent were satisfied with the city schools and 90 percent thought Auburn was a safe place to live.
Satisfaction with the overall appearance of the city increased 6 percent from last year to 75 percent; happiness of customer service from city employees was 79 percent, a 5 percent increase from 2007.
”Any time a survey with the accuracy that this one has had over the years shows increases in the areas it did, it proves that the staff is doing a good job of implementing what the (city) council deems as important,” said Mayor Bill Ham.
James Buston, assistant city manager and chief information officer of Auburn, said he believed the city was on the right track.
“The results showed that an overwhelming majority of citizens are satisfied with life in Auburn, safety in Auburn, with Auburn as a place to raise children,” Buston said.
Percentages were based on those surveyed who had an opinion.
Positive responses were tallied from those who rated a “high” or “very high” in the category.
Of the people surveyed, 29 percent thought Auburn University students had a positive impact on the city, compared to 17 percent who thought students had a negative impact; 46 percent thought there was no impact, and 8 percent expressed no opinion.
The six-page survey was mailed to 1,500 random households throughout the city. Residents were also called 7 days after the surveys were mailed and given the option to complete them over the phone.
Approximately 422 surveys were submitted by phone, while 343 were mailed in for a total of 765, or 51 percent of the surveys sent out.
Results had a 95 percent level of confidence with a +/- 3.6 percent margin of error.
Traffic flow and maintenance of city streets were listed as two of the top priorities in which the city should continue to focus.
“There’s no question that we have traffic congestion problems in the downtown area,” Ham said. “We’ve got to work in conjunction with the University to do intersection improvements and traffic flow improvements, we’re currently in the meeting process of doing that.”
Question 28 of the survey asked citizens what is the one thing they would change about Auburn. The write-in comments ranged in topic from the city’s growth to a new recreational basketball facility to transportation issues.
Other comments included, “reduce population by half,” “the immigration laws,” “AU student control” and “football team.”
Hailey Boyles, a sophomore in biomedical sciences, said she has enjoyed her two years spent in Auburn.
“I haven’t been displeased with anything here,” Boyles said.
Kevin McLeod, a senior in psychology, said he would change the amount of parking available in downtown Auburn.
“It’s really unfair, the city has grown, but the parking has not grown with it,” McLeod said.
