Study: Valley perceptions change little over 5 years

By Laban Pelz

The Collegian

A five-year study’s findings of residents’ perceptions of education, crime, government and finances in four Central Valley counties were released Wednesday.

The study, “Quality of life in the Central San Joaquin Valley,” was conducted by Fresno State’s Social Research Laboratory under the leadership of sociology professor Edward Nelson.

The report found residents in Fresno, Tulare, Kings and Madera Counties “have a somewhat more positive outlook about their financial situation than they did five years ago, but people are less confident” in the performance of government and public schools.

“It would be fair to say people aren’t pleased with the job local government is doing,” Nelson said.

The study shows the number of people who are “pretty well satisfied” with their current financial situation went from about 27 percent in 2001 to 32 percent in 2005. Those who responded with “more or less satisfied” made up 47 percent in 2001 but in 2005 are 49 percent. Residents who say they are not satisfied with their financial situation dropped from 25 percent in 2001 to 18 percent this year.

Also, the gap between people who say they have a “great deal of confidence” in local business leadership and those who say they have “hardly any” decreased from 15 to 7 percent between 2002 to this year. In 2003 those respondents with little confidence outnumbered those with a great deal.

Those who say they have some confidence in local business leadership have made up more than half of respondents every year.

In government, confidence in local political leadership has dropped since 2002. While those who say they have some confidence in local leadership rose from 50 to 57 percent from 2002 to 2005, those who say they have “hardly any” confidence rose by 1 percent in that time period, while those with a “great deal” of confidence in local leadership dropped 8 percent.

The study also showed a slight decline in people who rate the performance of government as “good” or “excellent.” Local, state and the federal government all lost ground in this category and those who deem local leadership as “good” or “excellent” dropped from 36 to 30 percent from 2002 to this year.

In crime and safety, the study shows area residents are more concerned about these issues in 2005 than they were in years past.

Those who think crime has increased in their neighborhood made up 24 percent of respondents in 2002 and in 2005 were 30 percent. The number of people who think crime in their neighborhood has decreased dropped from 21 to 17 percent in that period.

The number of people who have limited or changed their activities due to crime climbed from 20 to 30 percent between 2003 to 2005.

On a brighter note, the number of those who say they are afraid to walk alone at night in the area they live dropped slightly from 41 to 39 percent between 2002 to 2005.

Lastly, satisfaction with public schools dropped slightly since 2003.

Those who rate state public schools as “good” or “excellent” fell from 43 to 37 percent in this period.

Those calling state schools “poor” or “very poor” jumped from 18 to 24 percent.

Those who rate local public schools as “good” or “excellent” dropped from 56 to 48 percent in this period. Those calling local schools “poor” or “very poor” climbed from 11 to 19 percent.

Nelson said while the study reflects perception and not reality, perception can become reality.

“If crime rates are dropping, but people don’t see that, it’s going to affect their lives.”

He noted political candidates and marketers rely on people’s perceptions to win votes and make sales.

The study was conducted by telephone using random-digit dialing, Nelson said. It was done in both English and Spanish, and the response rate was about 40 percent.

The study was also cross-sectional, and did not follow the same people each year.

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