Resident's Survey Results As part of the Alta Sita plan, a resident survey was conducted in the neighborhood by students from the University of Illinois as well as by some of the residents themselves. Over 140 neighborhood residents were interviewed. The survey consisted of eighty-seven questions covering a variety of topics including opinions about area conditions, location of economic activity, and demographic information. The following supplies an analysis of the closed-ended questions. It is broken down by the topic headings in the survey. General Fifty percent of the residents in Alta Sita have lived in the neighborhood for more than 30 years. This may indicate that the neighborhood is aging, and the concern of the neighborhood plan may need to focus upon the needs of an aging population. Environment The overall heath of Alta Sita's natural environment was evaluated as being fairly unhealthy with 66% of the residents responding "somewhat unhealthy" to "very unhealthy". Sixty-nine percent of neighborhood residents felt that illegal dumping is a problem in the neighborhood. Of those, sixty percent thought that this was a serious problem. This establishes a need for environmental clean-up efforts in the area. Also, it is important to advocate for code enforcement in order to reduce the amount of illegal dumping that is occurring in the neighborhood. Housing 79% of the residents surveyed owned their homes and report being "satisfied" with it. Yet when asked about the overall housing conditions in Alta Sita, a majority of residents stated that they would only rate it as "fair". Many (68%) have made improvements to their property within the last five years. Surprisingly, only 27% have applied for a home improvement loan indicating the improvement made were done so with the personal resources of the home owner. Of those applying for a loan, approximately half were approved and half were denied. Many of the residents report having financed their home through a conventional loan. Bond-for-deed was a close second. Satisfaction with bond-for-deed appears to be split. Forty percent report being "very satisfied" while 37% report being "dissatisfied. 93% of residents reported that they would like to see new homes built in the area. They strongly expressed their preference single-family homes in particular (83%). Community Among the public services, garbage removal and the Metro Link ranked highest in quality of the community services available to Alta Sita. Building demolition ranked the lowest perhaps suggesting a need to clear lots or rehab dilapidated homes. Among local schools, the elementary school ranked highest in quality. The community college ranked lowest. In the social services category, job training, youth development, and drug and alcohol programs were rated as "poor" suggesting the need to target these areas when considering the expansion of neighborhood services. Shopping & Economic Activity A majority of Alta Sita residents shop for goods and services in the surrounding towns. The limited amount of retail in the area makes travelling a requirement in order to fulfill personal needs. This implies the need to attract local commercial and retail business to the area in order to reduce travel time and increase the neighborhoods economic base. Demographic Information The majority of neighborhood residents are African-American and female. An average of 2 adults and 2 children comprise a household. Two adults head 40% of the homes with homes headed by one adult following closely behind (33%). Of these, 46% have children living with them. The neighborhood maintains a high level of education with the majority completing either high school or some college. Many of the residents are either employed (full-time) or retired yet a majority remains below the poverty making between $0 and $12,000. A large amount (89%) of this income is earned from sources such as investment, inheritance, and social security. However, a large amount, approximately 51% is earned from wages. When asked about transportation, 78% use a car. The bus came in as a distant second at 11%. It may be important to encourage the city to provide extended bus service in order to decrease care usage and increase the convenience of public transportation for area residents. Planning & Community Leadership Many of the residents stated that they had heard of Alta Sita Neighbors, Inc., but only 33 percent report attending meetings. However, ninety percent expressed a willingness to aid the group in achieving suggested goals, and 91% reported the desire to be notified about future meetings. These results have positive implications for the group that are looking to expand their organization. An increase in neighborhood involvement may assure that the requests of the residents are considered when improvements are implemented. *For detailed results, please see attached Appendix containing all charts for the data reported on above. Appendix General Environment Housing Community Services Shopping & Economic Activity Demographics Planning & Community Leadership