To the press release!:
Each year, the Citizens Committee for New York City conducts Speak Out New York, a citywide survey to find out how New Yorkers feel about their neighborhoods and what they are willing to do to make them better.
So how are we feeling Manhattan? To a whole lot of bulleted points!
Civic Engagement
• 44 percent of residents said they were “very interested” in neighborhood and community affairs and
51 percent said they were “somewhat interested.”
• 53 percent said they had done something in the last year to improve the community.
• 58 percent said they had attended a resident-led activity such as a block party and 41 percent said
they had attended a public meeting, rally or discussion about a neighborhood issue.
• 60 said they were interested in becoming more active in community affairs.
• The most common barriers to their increased involvement was not knowing about existing
opportunities (37 percent) and the perception that “there are no organized groups in my
neighborhood” (12 percent).
• The activities that residents were most likely to become involved in were a beautification project
such as planting trees or flowers (23 percent), a project for young people (14 percent) and a housing
or neighborhood preservation project such as a tenants rights campaign or a campaign to preserve
affordable housing (14 percent).
Quality of Neighborhood Life
• 38 percent said they were “very satisfied” with the quality of the neighborhood, 52 percent said they
were “somewhat satisfied” and 10 percent said they were “not at all satisfied.”
• 86 percent said the quality of the neighborhood was ‘very important” to their overall quality of life,
13 percent said it was “somewhat important” and 1 percent said it was “not at all important.”
• 26 percent said they would like to move to a different neighborhood.
Interactions among Neighbors
• 36 percent of residents selected “we greet each other in the hallway or outside,” 22 percent chose
“we are acquaintances,” 17 percent characterized their neighbors as “friends,” 14 percent chose “we
can count on each other for small favors,” 9 percent chose “we do not know each other at all” and 2
percent chose “we have had conflicts.”
• 73 percent said they would like to get to know their neighbors better, 9 percent said they would not
and 18 percent said they were unsure.
Future of the Neighborhood
• 57 percent of residents felt that the cleanliness and overall attractiveness of the block was going to
improve and 32 percent felt it would remain the same.
• 46 percent said that the overall sense of community pride would improve and 42 percent said it
would remain the same.
• 42 percent of residents felt that the neighborhood would get better with respect to resident-led
activities such as street clean ups and tree planting and 46 percent said it would remain the same.
• 37 percent felt that “positive social interactions in the neighborhood” would improve and 48 percent
felt it would remain the same.
• 57 percent of residents felt that their neighborhood would become too expensive for them to live in.
You can download a PDF of the survey here. Meanwhile, you can read about the survey in the Post and find out why people in Queens are so much happier than us. Fuckers.
