If your household income is over $100,000, are employed full-time, have lived in the city more than 15 years, used to reside in the Bay Area and you own your home you can’t wait for Manteca to land a Trader Joe’s, Winco, and Olive Garden restaurant.
You are also satisfied with the overall quality of life in Manteca but at the same time you believe the overall quality of life in the community has deterred.
That’s among the points mined from the 3,010 responses to the City of Manteca’s inaugural community satisfaction survey. The initial interpretation of the results was shared with the Manteca City Council on Tuesday.
Mayor Ben Cantu — while lauding the effort — cautioned that it was “too small of a sampling” to draw any absolute conclusions given just under 4 percent of the city’s 81,450 residents. Staff noted Modesto, with 214,000 residents, is setting a goal of 500 responses for a similar survey they are doing. Instead of simply encouraging people to respond, Modesto intends to target members of specific demographics.
Of the 3,010 respondents:
uMost were between ages 35 and 65 plus.
64% were female.
55% have no children in their home.
69% were Caucasian (2010 census in Manteca showed the city had 68 percent Caucasians.)
43% had an income of $100,000 plus (2010 census in Manteca showed the city had a $68,000 median household income.)
35% had a college degree or higher (2010 census in Manteca showed 15 percent of the city’s residents had at least a college degree.)
81% owned their own home (2010 census in Manteca showed 59 percent owned their own homes.)
56% percent are employed full-time and 25 percent were retired.
17% commute more than an hour one way to work.
50% have been Manteca residents for 15 years or more.
44% resided in the Bay Area before moving to Manteca and 24 percent resided in the Central Valley before moving to Manteca.
The City Council — while cautioning that the survey is not a perfect snapshot due to the response and the fact it was light on families with kids 18 and under living at home and did not reflect a lot of commuters — said they preferred to look at those who responded by marking “neither agree nor disagree” to specific questions as essentially being neutral or nor having an opinion. Based on that for those that did fill out surveys:
Based on their personal satisfaction with the quality of life in Manteca, 7.29% rate it as excellent, 39.01% as good, 36.68% as fair, 11.14% as poor, and 3.48% as very poor.
In the past five years 10.33% believe the quality of life in Manteca has gotten better, 37.52% said it has stayed about the same, and 52.14% said it has gotten worse.
When it comes to whether there is a strong sense of community in their neighborhood, 22.44% agree, 28.47% somewhat agree, 23.07% have no opinion either way, 13.53% somewhat disagree, and 12.49% disagree.
When it comes to whether their neighborhood is open and accepting of people with diverse backgrounds 45.15% agree, 24.84% somewhat agree, 20.81% have no opinion either way, 5.64% somewhat disagree, and 3.56% disagree.
When it comes to people in their neighborhood helping each other 32.16% agree, 32.70% somewhat agree, 19.06% have no opinion either way, 8.41% somewhat disagree, and 7.67% disagree.
When it comes to the city’s cleanliness 29.36% are satisfied and 52.06% aren’t.
When it comes to Manteca being a good place to raise a family 41.92 percent say it is and 29.66% say it isn’t.
When it comes to Manteca’s patriotic tradition 76.22% say they are satisfied and 5.05% aren’t.
When it comes to Manteca as a place to retire, 26.75% are satisfied and 35.57% aren’t.
When it comes to being satisfied with housing affordability in Manteca 28.71% are satisfied and 44.19% aren’t.
When it comes to job opportunities in Manteca, 13.74% are satisfied and 48.47% aren’t.
38.1% were satisfied with how Manteca provided city services and 35.95% weren’t.
33.07% were satisfied with their personal safety and 43.04% weren’t.
25.66% were satisfied with the amount of services for youth and 29.16% weren’t.
35.52% were satisfied with the amount of services for seniors and 14.27% weren’t.
37.69% were satisfied with city recreation programs and 20.7% weren’t.
12.11% were satisfied with the amount of cultural activities in Manteca and 42.59% weren’t.
45.56% were satisfied with how parks and public landscape were being maintained and 35.72% aren’t.
18.36% were satisfied with how Manteca is managing growth and 59.39% weren’t.
19.42% were satisfied with economic development and 50.39% weren’t.
53.5% were satisfied with trash and recycling collection and 28.62% weren’t.
36.49% were satisfied with traffic enforcement and traffic controls and 43.41% weren’t.
28.45% were satisfied with how the city maintained streets and 52.26% weren’t.
19.19% said the quality of city infrastructure — sidewalks, streets, water, sewer, public landscaping and such — improved in the past year and 40.35% said it has gotten worse.
In the descending order of the most pressing city priorities respondents indicated it was police services, fire protection, road maintenance and economic development (tied), affordable housing, resources for the homeless, parks and recreation facilities and programs, and cultural arts facilities and programs.
Where they got their information about the City of Manteca was 51.49% the City of Manteca Facebook page, 48.67% the Manteca Bulletin, 42.76% the City of Manteca website, 42.14% friends/family/associates. 40.97% utility bill inserts, 35.5% parks and recreation, 28.74% flyers and brochures, 27.93% other Facebook pages, 18.81% other Internet pages, 3.79% do not receive information, and 1.78% government access TV.
On the following questions instead of checking off answers respondents wrote in their own:
If city government could change one thing to make Manteca a better place to live 27% said it would be to improve the homeless situation, 16% police services, 10% improve downtown, 7% improve the streets, 6% more economic development, and 5% have more activities.
The results of asking respondents to name five stores they would like to see located in Manteca showed 984 wanted a Trader Joe’s, 541 Winco, 439 Olive Garden, 351 Whole Foods, 340 Lowe’s, 309 Hobby Lobby, 298 Texas Roadhouse, 244 Sprouts, 201, BJ’s Restaurant, and 191 Red Lobster.
There were also questions regarding feedback on interactions they may have had with specific municipal departments.
The survey is an outgrowth of the Manteca Leadership Council formed with representatives of the business, faith, schools, and non-profit community to advise the City of Manteca.
The plan is to conduct an annual survey to gauge how well the city is doing based on the perceptions of residents.
To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com
