http://youtu.be/VjFXNXiIaJs
Better Employment opportunities, improved road conditions, and more youth activities, were all things Las Crucens said were important to them in a recent community survey for the city’s comprehensive plan.
600 people in Las Cruces were surveyed on what they like best about the city, and what the city needs to improve on. Brian Sanderoff, President of Research & Polling, Inc., the group that conducted the study says that the sample is proportionate to city demographics.
“This sample is a random and representative sample,” Sanderoff said. “So, it has approximately the right mix of Hispanics for example, senior citizens, people with a college degree and things of the like. In order to conduct a competent survey, you want it to be random you want to give everybody an equal opportunity of being selected, and you want it to be representative of the basic demographics of the community, we’ve accomplished this here.”
He says there are a few main points the city can take away from the results.
“People in Las Cruces love their outdoor attributes,” Sanderoff said. “The weather, and the air quality, and things of the like. Also, the culture, the laid-back atmosphere, the friendly people, having family members, that’s such an important part of what makes Las Cruces special. When it comes to some of the challenges that Las Cruces residents face, we’ve learned that traffic congestion, traffic flow, improving the road conditions is a really important thing.”
The study also showed a need for complete streets with bike paths and sidewalks. It also said people wanted to see more mixed-use communities with access to affordable healthy food and employment opportunities in walking distance. Mayor Pro-Tem, Greg Smith says there is also a need for improved public transportation.
“More of us probably would use it if it was more effectively on time, and going to places we want to go,” Smith said. “And also, more of us probably would appreciate it if we understood how it makes it possible for people who don’t have vehicles, or who are working on limited means. How it might make it more possible for them to find work, or to come to the stores, or come to the businesses, so there’s an across the community benefit there that I think some of us are not realizing.”
Smith says the city will use the survey to help determine which projects should be completed.
“It helps us allocate funding,” Smith said. “It helps us put things into our strategic plan, our comprehensive plans, and how we put things together. So, we are actually planning for those things and not going oh that sounds good, and making last minute decisions on things. We still end up having to do that sometimes, but the more we have planned ahead and thought about it and gone ok we need to make sure this funding stream is in place so that this can happen.”
A large percentage of those surveyed also talked about the need to more things to do in Las Cruces, particularly more youth programs.
