DataHaven
We New Haveners tend to mistrust neighbors and fear walking at night more than our suburban neighbors do. But we’re more optimistic about our kids’ futures.
Those generalizations now have numbers backing them up.
They come from a first-of-its-kind study being released Monday about the detailed “well-being” of people who live here.
A number-crunching and analysis outfit called DataHaven did the survey for the United Way of Greater New Haven and the Community Foundation for Greater New Haven.
Based on phone surveys with 1,307 randomly selected Greater New Haveners, it probed into the specifics of everyday life that can get lost in broader-brush surveys: like how often people ride the bus, say, how many cigarettes they’ve smoked, how many times a week they eat dinner with their families … or whether they believe they can make a difference in their local government. (News flash: Most New Haveners don’t.)
Overall, despite the grumbling nature of public hearings or online comments threads, the survey shows people in the regional generally happy with their lives and their communities, including a majority of citydwellers. The region ranks in the top 20 percent of the country for general contentment.
And, of course, as any self-respecting foundation-backed survey will tell you, we also have some serious ongoing challenges and economic and racial disparities to tackle.
Click here to read the overall results of the survey.
Click here for what citydwellers might find more interest: the answers to each question broken down by New Haven city proper, the “inner-ring suburbs” (Hamden, East Haven, West Haven), and the wealthier outer ring. In fact, you might find yourself spending quite a bit of time with this document.
You might not be surprised to find that the city has more poor people, more obesity, more stores within walking distance of home, more fun stuff to do, more convenient bus travel than the suburbs do. That city people move around more. …
… Or that proportionately more suburbanites register to vote. (Whoever said power comes from the barrel of a gun?)
But you might be either surprised or just struck by some of the findings. For instance:
• More than 30 percent of citydwellers had times over the previous 12 months in which they couldn’t afford to feed their families. While less true in the suburbs, hard times have definitely hit family tables there, too: 24 percent of inner-ringers said the same thing, as did 10 percent from the well-to-do outer ring.
• A clear majority of people throughout the region said they’re “satisfied” with the “city or area” where they live: 67 percent of New Haveners, 81 percent of inner-ringers, 91 percent of outer-ringers.
• More New Haveners said their hometown is improving than suburbanities did. Almost half the New Haveners said that, compared to 21 percent of inner-ringers and 25 percent of outer-ringers.
• But fewer trust their neighbors. The question: “People in this neighborhood can be trusted.” The answers: Only 22 percent of New Haveners “strongly agreed,” and 36 percent “somewhat agreed.” In the inner-ring the respective results were 33 and 47 percent; the outer-ring, a whopping 62 and 31.
• Sadly, 64 percent of New Haveners said they don’t feel safe going for a walk in their neighborhoods at night. Some 34 percent of inner-ringers said they feel that way; 20 percent of outer-ringers said.
• Citydwellers do seem to feel safer crossing the street.
OK, So …
The report is aimed in part at offering useful information to help citizens and not-for-profits and governments make decisions.
In a new media-age twist on data-dumping, the report’s authors are also hoping to spark suggestions from readers about how to deal with problems revealed by the numbers.
They’ve set up a website where people can propose solutions, broken down by general categories of the report; and where other people can “vote” on those ideas and offer feedback.
The polls are open! Click here to dive in, scroll to the bottom, then click on the general area you’re interested in.
Here’s one to start: that upsetting number about the fear of walking at night. West River activist John Fitzpatrick got the discussion going by suggesting neighbors start using a web and mobile app that shares real-time information about public-safety hazards. Click here to read what he had to say and join in. Or click on this page to offer your own solutions.
DataHaven’s Mark Abraham managed the project and wrote the survey. Don Levy of Siena College Research Institute oversaw the phone-calling and sample design.
There is a trend toward urbanization. Other places have recently found that urban dwellers are much more likely to feel that their neighborhoods are improving - while it is great to see that the same is true in New Haven, it would be best if that same sense extended to our inner suburbs.
So maybe Hamden can take its fence down?