Town Needs Survey

1

• Town Needs Survey
• Preliminary Results
• Presented to Board of Selectmen
• April 14, 2009

2
Town Needs Survey Committee

• John Ballantine
• Alan Cameron
• Jim Elgin
• Verna Gilbert
• Kathy Mull
• Camelia Rosca

3
Survey Objectives

• Determine current and future community needs and
  services, with focus on the needs of seniors
• Help to prioritize the needs and services
• Solicit input from all adult Carlisle residents

4

Response was high A total of 1755 townspeople
(43.6) returned surveys, out of the 4028 over
21. Maroon/dark Distribution of Ages from Town
Census Yellow/light Distribution of Ages of
Survey-takers
The segment of the population between 21 and 29
mainly children still registered as living
with their parents rather than heads of
households - did not participate extensively in
the survey.
5
Percentage Participation
Number of responses 15 136 417
591 366 176 40 5
80 60 40 20 0

• 40 to 50 of all residents
• in their 30s, 40s and 50s
• completed surveys.
• 69 of those in their 60s
• completed surveys.
• 30 to 40 of those
• over 70 completed surveys.

6
Family Income Level (by Age Bracket)
Percentage of people in age bracket with
indicated family income
Family Income
(160K is the median Family Income for Carlisle.)
Age Bracket
7
Quality of Life

• Participants were asked How would you rate the
  overall quality of your life?
• 53.9 rated it as Excellent
• 42.4 Good
• 3.4 Fair
• 0.4 Poor
• Factors influencing quality of life
• Positively (93.9) Rural Nature, Friends
  Acquaintances, Services, Availability of Medical
  Care
• Negatively (63.1) Cost of living here
• Percentage reporting positively or very
  positively
• Percentage reporting negatively or very
  negatively

8
Plans for Leaving Carlisle
When kids leave high school (5.5
When kids go to high school (1.5
When kids leave home (6.5
When I can no longer drive (6)
When I retire (11
Undecided (31.5
When I can no longer live at home (10.5
I do not plan to leave town (27.5
9
Health

• Participants were asked How would you assess
  your health?
• 60 rated their health as very good
• 35 rated it as good
• 4 rated it as fair
• 1 rated it as poor

85 of participants felt area hospitals met or
exceeded their inpatient needs.
10
Exercise

• How important is exercise? How
  often do you exercise?

Never (1)
Not Important (2)
Somewhat Important (15)
Rarely (11)
Very Important (48)
Weekly (12)
Most Days (40)
Important (35)
A couple of Times a week (35)
11
Socialization

• How often do you socialize with others?

Never (1)
Rarely (10)
Daily (19)
Monthly (17)
A couple of times a week (21)
Weekly (32)
12
We Participate in Many Activities

• Percent rating participation in various
  activities important or very important
• - Gleason library 63.2
• - cultural activities 33.5- civic
  volunteering 28.1 - town social events 26.1
  - school groups 25.3 - town recreation 24.8
  - church groups 20.1- Council on Aging 12.1
• - political groups 10.0

13
Interest in Some Activities Varies with Age
Age Group
Younger residents consider recreational activities
more important than do older residents. Convers
ely, older residents consider COA activities
more important than do younger
residents. Everyone considers the library
important.
Percent considering activity important or very
important
14
Housing

• 82.5 were satisfied or very satisfied with
  their current housing situation.
• 40.7 felt the town should have more housing
  options.
• 31.9 were not sure.
• Participants were asked whether more housing
  options would impact their decision to stay in
  town longer
• 53.4 stated availability of small private
  residences would
• 45.7 stated condos or apartments would
• (Maybe or Definitely)

15
Transportation

• Participants were asked Would you use
  Most desired purposes
• public transportation if available?
  (Percentage
  indicating some or great need)
• - to airport 54.7
• - to MBTA/train 53.7
• - to Concord 47.4
• - to medical 32.7
• - to education 28.3

Very likely (11)
Not likely (32)
Likely (19)
Possibly (38)
16
Town Participation

• Do you go to town meeting?
• Often or very often 26.8 Occasionally
  31.6
• Do you vote in town elections?
• Often or very often 85.0
• Do you participate in town boards, committees?
• Often or very often 10.6 Occasionally
  16.7

17
Town Spending

• Do you feel the town
  spends money wisely?

Always (0.9)
Missing Answer (3.7)
Never (1.3)
Rarely (9.4)
Most of the time (45.5)
Sometimes (39.2)
18
Trust

• Several national surveys have asked Would you
  say that most people can be trusted or that you
  cant be too careful in dealing with people?
• 34.7 of survey participants felt that people can
  be trusted
• In the most recent national survey 35 responded
  the same way
• Compared with 57 in 1963
• Broken down to various groups, survey
  participants trusted a lot
• Police 83.8
• People in their neighborhood 64.3
• Town volunteers 43.6
• Town boards / committees 28.6
• National government 6.8
• State government 5.6

19
Comments

• 1022 (58) survey participants provided written
  comments to What can we do to make Carlisle a
  better place to live in?
• Our preliminary categorization and tabulation
• Reduce taxes/control growth rate of taxes (25)
• Need gathering place/pub/restaurant (11)
• Protect open space and rural character (10)
• More sidewalks/bike lanes/pathways/trails (8)
• Keep it the way it is I love it (7)
• Reduce/freeze taxes for seniors/those with no
  children (7)
• Public transportation to Concord/Bedford/MBTA
  (7)
• Increase commercial tax base (6)
• Reduce/control spending (6)

20
Next Steps

• Meet with individual boards and committees to
  discuss survey data and solicit their input/needs
• Analyze in more detail variations in answers with
  age, income, etc.
• The way the data is stored we can cross-correlate
  the data on any two questions.
• Examine comments in more detail
• There were a lot of them
• Weve looked only briefly at them so far

Are some questions of immediate concern to you?