Last week I informed you that we would begin to share survey results from our recently conducted citizen and business surveys conducted by the Public Affairs Research Laboratory (PARL) at Oakland University.  Today, I want to first provide a little information about the process and an introduction to the demographic characteristics of those who responded so that you can have a better sense of what you will read in the days and weeks ahead. 

To begin, PARL sent out 1,200 surveys and received a response rate of 25%.  This provided the City with a result of a margin of error of 6%.

Of those who returned the survey, 59% were female and 41% male.  They broke down by the following ages:  20-29 (11%), 30-39 (7%), 40-49 (11%), 50-59 (23%), 60-69 (24%), 70-79 (17%) and 80+(6%).  The number of households with children under the age of 18 was 31%.  In terms of the length, the respondents have been a resident of the City, that is as follows:  20+ years (39%), 11-20 years (26%), 6-10 years (9%), 1-5 years (23%), and under 1 year (4%).

Geographically, respondents were located throughout the City as follows:  Northwest (16%), Northcentral (8%), Northeast (28%), Central (13%), and South (34%).  Those who are currently working were 66% of the respondents while 34% are retired. 

Next, we dive into the actual results.  Keep an eye out for that information as it continues to roll out.

Tom Tanghe, City Manager