2005 Regional Leadership Institute Sunday, September 25 2005 Charles “Chick” Krautler, Atlanta Regional Commission

What do residents want for the future of the Atlanta region? Residents opinions about issues, challenges & goals Development of goal statements Measure progress Gauge residents perceptions about progress In 2002, ARC and UGA conducted a statistically significant survey of 1650 residents in the region to learn what they see as issues, challenges and future goals for the Atlanta region- Platforms for Progress Indicators were applied to annually measure progress of each goal. 3rd report will be available in November Additional surveys have been conducted to gauge residents perceptions about how we are doing and to ensure that we still have the same goals- Metro Voices & Choices Today I am going to talk to you about what residents think, what their goals are and how this is relevant to you this week and as established leaders in the region

What do residents think? 52% of Metro Atlantans say the quality of life in their community is at least very good. Very good Good Excellent Poor Fair As I go through the results of the opinion survey- keep in mind that both the ARC and United Way surveys were statistically representative In general, most residents believe they have a good or very good quality of life This reinforces growth projections. People want to come to the Atlanta region for a variety of reasons

What do residents think? Metro Atlantans value peaceful neighborhoods and accessibility to shopping, highways, jobs and schools. Question: What are the best things about living in your community?

What do residents think? Concerns about traffic and rapid rate of growth are top-of-mind for most. Question: What, if anything, would you most like to change about living in your community?

What do residents think? Three out of four Metro Atlantans think that their community is headed in the right direction moving into the future. Don’t know Headed in right direction Off on the wrong track

What do residents think? Even though residents think we need to be working on school improvement, a majority of residents, whether they have children in public schools or not, said they would recommend schools in their area to others.

What do residents think? Approximately 25% of residents surveyed, lived in an area accessible to public transportation. Of those 25 percent, 60 % never use public transportation, 10 percent use it once or twice a week and 16 percent said they use it everyday.

What do residents think? Of the 75% of residents who do no have access to public transportation, 54 percent said given easy access they would utilize public transportation regularly, a few times a week or even, everyday. 36 percent of residents said that even with access they would never use public transportation

What do residents think? A Lot Some Public transportation Alcohol & drug abuse School improvement Environmental protection Adult literacy and job training Afterschool programs Affordable housing Support for the elderly & disabled Crime Early childhood education Health & wellness Domestic violence Racial tolerance Homelessness The survey asked residents first about how much work needs to be done on the issues in their community and then how much work needs to be done on these issues in the region. As you can see the most work needs to be done in their communities on transportation, alcohol and drug abuse and school improvement. Interestingly enough in both the ARC and UW surveys, while school improvement was not mentioned as a top challenge, it was thought by residents to be a top goals or an issue that we should be working on.

What do residents think? Gap Community vs. Atlanta 6% 26% 27% 24% 16% 15% 42% 17% 18% 31% 22% 39% Public transportation Alcohol & drug abuse School improvement Environmental protection Adult literacy and job training Afterschool programs Affordable housing Support for the elderly & disabled Crime Early childhood education Health & wellness Domestic violence Racial tolerance Homelessness In most issue areas, residents believe a lot more work is needed in the region, than in their own community

What do RLI class members think? A high majority (65 %) of RLI Class members say the quality of life in their community is excellent or very good. The perception of quality of life is a little greater than that of residents in general. In fact, no one responded fair or poor compared to 14 percent of people in the region.

What do RLI class members think? Economic development and prosperity top the list of most important issues to this class. Transportation challenges follow closely behind.

What do RLI class members think? 84 % of class members think that the region is headed in the right direction

What do RLI class members think? 37% of people in this room have children in the public schools. However, whether you have children in public school or not more than half of you said you would recommend schools in your area to others

What do RLI class members think? Only 16 percent of you in the class have convenient access to public transportation

What do RLI class members think? However, similar to other regional residents, 63 percent of you said that given convenient access to public transportation you would use it regularly, once or twice a week or everyday

What do RLI class members think? When asked about how much work needs to be done in certain issue areas in your community, the issues that you thought need the most work were Public transportation (74% said alot/some work) Alcohol & Drug Abuse (71% said alot/some work) Afterschool programs (71% said a lot or some work) Most of the class members said that your communities are in pretty good shape or need just a little work done in the areas of Homelessness School Improvement & Domestic Violence

What do RLI class members think? 5% 26% 14% 15% -2% 10% 8% 45% 21% 37% 32% 28% 42% So, we know one thing. Class members think that their communities are doing better in most issue areas than the region as a whole is doing. For example in regard to support for elderly and disabled, 60% of you said that some or a lot of work is needed in your community, BUT 97% of you said some or a lot of work needs to be done in this area in the region 58% of you said some or a lot of work needs to be done in your community on school improvement, but 84 % of you said a lot or some work needs to be done in this area in the region Similarly, 45% of you said some or a lot work needs to be done in your community on homelessness, but 90% of you said a lot of work needs to be done on the issue of homelessness in the region The only issue that people said needed equal amounts of work in your community and the region is transportation In sum , as one might expect, the basic sentiment is that these things are a problem, just not in your community, only the communities next door… So, if every community thinks things are OK for them…what is the problem in the region?

What do RLI class members think? 45% 18% 28% 50% 40% 24% 26% 30% 23% 20% 21% 31% Given that you are here today and that you were selected to be part of RLI, it should not come as much of a surprise to you that many of you think a lot more work is needed on regional issues than do your friends and neighbors.

Atlanta Regional Goals ommunity involvement egional Prosperity ducational Excellence ir Quality & ransportation nvironmental Sustainability Ultimately out of the ARC survey, 22 regional goals were developed in 6 distinct issue areas. Indicators were applied to each goal, so that we can annually measure the progress of the region toward reaching its goals 2 reports have been released and the third progress report will be unveiled at the State of the region breakfast. Every fifth year we will do another opinion survey to measure perception of the public against the reality of how well we are doing

So, what does this mean to you? Public’s perceptions of the issues Public’s perceptions of where well we are doing toward addressing issues and challenges The objective of RLI is to educate you about these issues: How these issues affect your community AND the region What you as leaders can do to affect positive change in your community and the region. This work is intended to Identify and articulate what citizens in the region value and what they want for the future Foster public awareness and education about critical issues Create common ground for civic dialogue about the issues Encourage regional thinking This 4th objective is particularly relevant to why you are here this week. As we have just seen, most of us are not inclined to think regionally. This week we hope to educate you about these issues, how issues are interrelated, how local issues are also regional issues and most importantly, what you as regional leaders can do to affect positive change in the Atlanta region

Questions ?