We agree more and more | IN OUR OPINION

Published 10:00 am Friday, December 11, 2015

Bainbridge city officials are still mulling over the recent results from the National Citizen Survey that was conducted on the island, the third year the comprehensive survey has polled residents on issues ranging from business and shopping to development and the environment.

There were some compelling takeaways from the survey (including the high marks islanders give our schools, and fire and police departments, with each getting a 96 percent or above positive rating) but one especially noteworthy finding may have been lost amid the results: our island’s unity of thought about where we live and the issues that affect our lives.

In many areas of the survey, there were few issues where residents hovered around the middle. People here, mostly, felt strongly positive about Bainbridge’s safe neighborhoods and downtown, the island’s excellence as a place to visit, live or learn, its parks and sense of neighborliness.

Likewise, there was also little dispute that Bainbridge has much work to do on the issues of the cost of living, the lack of jobs, affordable housing and land use and zoning.

What’s remarkable, perhaps, is that the pros and cons about our community are widely held across the island. The survey itself received widespread distribution, and a look into the details shows a great diversity in who took the survey.

A total of 584 islanders took the survey; 53 percent female, 47 percent male. Half were full-time workers (another 13 percent, part-timers) and 29 percent were fully retired. The respondents ranged from people who’ve called Bainbridge home for five years or less (27 percent) to those who’ve been here up to 20 years (26 percent) or more (32 percent). Most were also homeowners (77 percent), and many, with no kids under 17 in the house (64 percent).

A few troubling findings: the number of people who are connected enough to city hall to have actually attended a public meeting (35 percent) or watched one on TV or online (18 percent).

The disconnect is even greater for those who consider the local government cable channel as a major source of getting news about city government: just 4 percent.

It’s clear the city has some work to do in moving the needle to the positive zone on islanders’ confidence in city government (a dismal 35 percent positive rating) and the belief that the city is heading in the right direction (43 percent). That effort is only complicated by the fact that most don’t feel that council meetings, talking with city officials, social media or the city’s other communication efforts (beyond the city’s website) are useful outlets of information.