Results from a survey of Signal Hill residents taken in January reveal that feelings of satisfaction, safety and inclusiveness correlate negatively with income and age.
Those with annual incomes less than $25,000 rated their quality of life, trust in police and access to public services lower than the average of other residents.
Results for renters, those newest to the city and adult residents less than 25 years old showed similarly negative ratings on quality of life, trust in police and access to public services, though the survey results did not indicate whether or not those groups overlap.
The survey—spearheaded by the City’s Diversity Coalition Committee (DCC)—was designed to assess how residents feel about the City’s efforts in creating diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), as per the committee’s mandate.
Timothy McLarney, president of consulting firm True North Research, which conducted the survey, told the DCC on Wednesday, March 23, that the results are in some ways a normal pattern among lower than average income groups.
“You do tend to find that your lower income groups struggle more,” McLarney said. “If you’re a lower income resident, you’re probably not living in the best neighborhood in the community. You’re probably living in the more marginal neighborhood of the community.”
In terms of age, however, McLarney said he found it “interesting” that 18- to 24-year-olds were more positive on the DEI questions—generally feeling more included and less discriminated against than others—though less positive in their perception of Signal Hill police.
While most residents agreed that Signal Hill police are trustworthy, professional and treat everyone fairly, younger adults and those with incomes less than $25,000 were less likely to agree.
The DCC asked McLarney to amend his report to include more details about what residents mean by “crime” and where in the city they are asking for more police presence. A few members stressed that feeling less safe doesn’t necessarily mean more policing overall is necessary, just in targeted areas.
“You ask somebody on the Hill what their opinion is of more policing, more public safety, versus what that same interpretation is of someone who lives on the north side [of Signal Hill], for example,” Wilson said. “It possibly might not be the same as someone who lives near City Hall or off of Walnut [Avenue] because the police station is there.”
DCC Member Pam Dutch Hughes noted that residents who live north of the 405 Freeway might feel less connected to the city than those living closer to City Hall.
Perceptions of parking, traffic and safety can vary “dramatically” by block, DCC Member J.S. Scott said, noting that some areas have more dense apartments and less parking than others.
Member Lupe Reyes said it was clear that renters and low-income residents had issues that the City should address, including more communication and policing.
“They’re the ones that are complaining,” Reyes said. “Everyone else—they’re not complaining. [...] People on the Hill don’t need more police, but those areas—they need it, they’re asking for it.”
City Manager Hannah Shin-Heydorn said she would bring an updated report with more geographic breakdown to the City Council in May, prior to its scheduled May 26 budget workshop. The DCC plans to ask the council to fund activities based on survey results.
“We’re kind of on the cutting edge of asking these questions. We didn’t know what we were going to find,” Shin-Heydorn said. “I’m really proud of the end product and I’m really interested in digging into what we can do to make them even better.”
Majority of residents satisfied with quality of life, safety and services—except those who are young, lower-income or renters
Overall, survey results indicated that about 80% of Signal Hill residents found their “quality of life” either good or excellent. Of the rest, 16.5% rated it “fair” and only 2.5% rate it “poor.”
The survey included 704 responses out of approximately 12,000 total Signal Hill residents, a sample that McLarney called a “good size” that aligned closely with census demographics of age, homeownership, race and income.
“We wanted to be as inclusive as possible with the survey,” McLarney said, adding that his firm reached out to every adult in the community through mail, email and phone calls in four different languages—English, Spanish, Khmer and Korean.
McLarney analyzed survey results by demographic category and found that most negative variation correlated with lower age, lower income and renting.
Renters “systematically” reported at least 15% lower-than-average ratings in accessing parks, education, healthy foods, healthcare and insurance, high-speed internet, social services, employment, childcare services and housing assistance, McLarney said.
Those with annual incomes of less than $25,000 also reported lower satisfaction in those areas. Furthermore, they reported more negative than average perceptions of homelessness, crime, litter, parking, noise, traffic congestion, graffiti and especially speeding—with more than half indicating it was a “big” or “moderate” problem.
Overall, if a resident feels their neighborhood is unsafe, or has difficulty accessing city services and amenities, they are also less likely to rate their quality of life as good or excellent, McLarney noted.
“The big pattern here is safety,” McLarney said. “If you’re somebody who feels like your community is unsafe, your neighborhood is unsafe, you’re substantially less likely to rate the overall quality of life in the community as excellent or good.”
Nearly a fifth of all respondents indicated “improving public safety” and “adding more police presence” in answer to an open-ended question on changing one thing to make Signal Hill a better place, McLarney said. The next highest response was 12% who recommended improving shopping and dining.
The survey also asked residents to rate specific DEI statements and generally found that most agreed with the City being diverse, equitable and inclusive.
“For most of the statements, [...] although agreement level varies, disagreement level doesn’t vary as much,” McLarney said, adding that most variations were again tied to lower age and income rather than race.
Responses to DEI statements did vary somewhat according to race, with Black residents tending to agree more that they exprience discrimination and that the City should celebrate differences. However, they were also more likely to feel invited to municipal events.
Black residents also agreed less than other ethnicities that Signal Hill police treat all people fairly or that they do a “good job” engaging and interacting with the public.
“Depending on where you live in Signal Hill, perceptions can be different,” one DCC member noted. McLarney agreed to parse survey data by location to determine which geographic areas of the city are expressing the most dissatisfaction.
“I don’t know of other cities that have tackled this directly,” McLarney said of the DCC survey. “This was really at the leading edge of what cities have done in terms of digging in on these topics."
