Beverly Citizen's Survey Summary

Introduction I conducted the Beverly Citizen's Survey in an effort to obtain feedback from residents regarding the issues facing Beverly and to gain insight into your opinions about what the city is doing well and what areas we need to work on. I'm very happy to report that 200 citizens from across Beverly participated in the survey. While this survey is not a scientific poll, I believe the views represented in the survey are reflective of the mood and feelings of the residents of Beverly as a whole. Findings related to Quality of Life In general residents rate Beverly very high as a community in terms of quality of life. Below are the categories that residents rated highest:

"Overall as a place to live" 97.5% rated Beverly as Good or Very Good with 50% saying Very Good. "As a place to raise children" 90.2% rated Beverly as Good or Very Good with 45.9% saying Very Good. "Availability and diversity of dining options" 81.1% rated Beverly as Good or Very Good with 36.2% saying Very Good "Availability and diversity of recreational activities" 75.9% rated Beverly as Good or Very Good with 25.6% saying Very Good.

There are also some areas that residents didnt rate as highly. Below are the categories that residents rated lowest:

"Availability of job opportunities" 58.6% rated Beverly as Average and more residents rated Beverly as Bad (6.5%) than those who rated Beverly Very Good (5.9%) "Availability of affordable housing" 40.5% rated Beverly as Average and 13.0% rated Beverly as Bad.

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Findings related to Most Important Issue There are a number of issues that residents feel are important in Beverly. Below is a list of the top 4 issues according to respondents:

"Economic development downtown" received the highest weighted score in terms of importance. 44.2% of respondents rated this issue in their Top 3 and 12.7% rated this as the #1 issue facing Beverly. "Funding our schools" received the second highest weighted score in terms of importance. 38.6% of residents rated this issue in their Top 3 and 18.8% rated this as the #1 issue facing Beverly. "Property taxes" received the third highest weighted score in terms of importance. 36.6% of residents rated this issue in their Top 3 and 14.7% rated this as the #1 issue facing Beverly. "Waterfront development" received the fourth highest weighted score in terms of importance. 36.6% of residents rated this issue in their Top 3 and 8.6% rated this as the #1 issue facing Beverly.

While these issues clearly emerged as the top issues among respondents below are several 2nd tier issues that rate highly among significant segments of residents: "Improving transparency in local government" 45.7% rated this issue among their Top 5 "Brimbal Avenue/Rt. 128 Interchange Project" - 43.1% rated this issue among their Top 5

"Improving roads and infrastructure" 42.6% rated this issue among their Top 5

"Crime/Public Safety" 41.6% rated this issue among their Top 5 Findings related to the Designated Port Area (DPA) and the Waterfront An overwhelming 76.3% of residents support the city's efforts to remove the Designated Port Area (DPA) restriction along the waterfront. 44.3% of respondents indicated that they "Strongly Support" the effort to remove the DPA. Only 7.8% of respondents are opposed and only 2.6% indicated that they "Strongly Oppose" these efforts. 16% of respondents are "Not Sure". In terms of preferences of what residents would like to see on the Waterfront, "Restaurant(s)" are the clear favorite. 65.3% of respondents selected "Restaurant(s)" as either their first or second preferred choice with 44.4% rating "Restaurant(s)" as their #1 choice. "Recreational Uses" and "Public Walkway" also received strong support with 67.3% rating "Recreational Uses" in their Top 3 preferences and 62.8% rating "Public Walkway" among their Top 3 preferences.

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Findings related to transparency in our local government It seems that progress has been made in terms of improving transparency in our local government. 58.7% of residents indicated that transparency has improved since the last election with 20.9% saying that it has "Significantly improved". Only 1.5% of respondents indicated that transparency "Has gotten worse" and 18.4% indicated that it "Has not improved". 21.4% of respondents were "Not sure". While these results indicate that some progress has been made I think there is definitely more work to be done in this area. Findings related to the city's practice of assuming a maximum Property Tax increase every year 63.6% of respondents are opposed (with 34.9% "Strongly Opposed") to the city's practice of assuming a maximum Property Tax increase every year when forming the City Budget. 20% of residents responded that they approve of this practice with (3.6% "Strongly Approve"). 15.4% responded that they are "Not sure". I voiced my opposition to this practice during the last budget cycle and will continue to work to make sure taxpayer funds are used wisely and are not taken for granted. Findings related to Right Direction/Wrong Track and local official Job Approval 64.0% of residents feel that Beverly is headed in the "Right Direction" and only 20.8% indicate that they feel that Beverly is going down the "Wrong Track". 15.2% of respondents are "Not sure". Additionally, 76.3% of residents "Approve" of the job performance of their local elected officials. 13.6% "Disapprove" and 10.1% are "Not sure". Combined, these results are a good indication that residents feel that Beverly is going down the right path and that they believe their local officials are performing well. There are clearly a lot of big issues facing the city and a number of issues that we need to continue to work on but overall it seems that residents feel that Beverly is a great place to live and that our future is bright. Sample of the Verbatim Responses "The neighbors being impacted by all the proposed development in North Beverly are still not being listened to." "Too much urban development in areas that used to be nice and quiet." "Beverly has not been overrun by tourism. Let's keep it that way." "Our roads are an embarrassment to the state. Some of our roads are in worse condition that that of a third world country."

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"The city should focus economic development on downtown/waterfront. 128 cannot handle all the increase in traffic/congestion which is spilling significantly onto local roads." "The quality of life in Beverly is beginning to erode with the city trying to be a regional economic development center and property taxes continue to increase every year." "Beverly has enough low income housing. The downtown needs market rate housing and higher end businesses to revitalize the area." "The litter and homeless people hanging around Ellis Square scare people and turn off visitors, especially families." "Sidewalks in Beverly need vast improvements." "Stop raising taxes so much!" "More opportunities to tell people what the intentions are do not equal more collaboration or inclusion." "Beverly has more than enough low income housing. I think it is time for more market rate housing, especially downtown." "Transparency is improved but has a long way to go." "I live on the waterfront and my hopes and dreams are when you are ready to do over the waterfront you will keep the people of Beverly in mind, don't just go for the visitors. "Downtown is our biggest asset and is also the most lacking area." "Don't turn Beverly into another Danvers or Peabody." "Way too many apartments being built." "I'm concerned about Beverly's pension and health care liability." "Pleased with the new consensus style type leadership that seemingly has allowed for the constituents to have more input and awareness of what is going on in the community." "Still waiting for transparency." "It is very exciting to see Beverly develop into a community where the Arts are valued and all of its natural beauty is being recognized and appreciated." "High taxes make it difficult for retirees to remain in their homes" "I would like to see more focus on the downtown area and the waterfront development. I extremely dislike the idea of any development along 128."