Page last updated on March 30, 2023 at 10:01 am
Each week, Mayor Hamilton and Deputy Mayor Carmichael provide video updates on recent news and key initiatives. Access all of the weekly video updates at bloomington.in.gov/videoupdates.
Join Mayor John Hamilton and Deputy Mayor Mary Catherine Carmichael as they discuss the 2023 Community Survey.
This is the fourth community-wide, biennial, scientific survey of Bloomington residents since 2017 and is again being administered by National Research Center, Inc. (NRC).
A random and scientific sample of 3,000 households is being mailed invitations to participate in the survey, with the first wave of invitations sent last week. The second wave is being sent this week. Participants’ responses are confidential and will be weighted, analyzed, and published on the city’s open data portal B-Clear. Residents not selected randomly may still participate in the survey by completing it online. The results of residents who opt-in will be collected, analyzed, and published in a separate data set.
This online open participation option will begin on April 17. Data collection for the random sample survey and open participation survey closes May 1. A formal presentation of the results will be presented to City Council in late May.
The results of the 2017, 2019, and 2021 surveys are available at bloomington.in.gov/communitysurvey.
Transcript
John Hamilton:
Hello, I'm John Hamilton, the mayor of Bloomington
Mary Catherine Carmichael:
And I'm Deputy Mayor, Mary Catherine Carmichael. Big topic today, important. A lot of people are going to hear about this.
John Hamilton:
City survey.
Mary Catherine Carmichael:
That's right.
John Hamilton:
So Mary Catherine, you've been in the middle of this for a long time. Thanks for all your leadership on it. And we hadn't done Scientific City surveys before, which we've started now, this is the fourth one, but it came from a parks department where you used to sit on the board.
Mary Catherine Carmichael:
That's right, yeah. Back when the world was young, I was a parks commissioner. And for many years, the parks department, in fact still does, does surveys, citywide surveys.
John Hamilton:
Yeah.
Mary Catherine Carmichael:
And then uses those results to make choices about what they choose to invest in, and that's why we have all the trails that we have in Bloomington, because year after year after year, residents said, "We want more trails. We want more trails."
John Hamilton:
So I remember learning that, how important they were, and when I came in a few years ago, we said, "We don't have that city-wide."
Mary Catherine Carmichael:
Right.
John Hamilton:
And so, this is now the fourth time we've gone out to the public with a scientific survey that asks the public, "What do you think about the city? How's it going? What do we need?" So it's coming out this week, right?
Mary Catherine Carmichael:
That's right. Odd-numbered years, so this is 2023.
John Hamilton:
Okay.
Mary Catherine Carmichael:
So we started in 2017. And the nice thing about this is, it is scientifically proven to be accurate.
John Hamilton:
Yep.
Mary Catherine Carmichael:
As far as reflective of the opinions of a wider net, if you will, than we get of people who are just able to show up at meetings.
John Hamilton:
That's kind of important. City government, we want feedback all kinds of ways, and we get feedback all kinds of ways. But it is true that, at council meetings or commission meetings or different kinds of things, we don't get a random sample of people.
Mary Catherine Carmichael:
Right, right.
John Hamilton:
A lot of people don't have time, they don't think of it. But we really want to know what the public thinks as a whole.
Mary Catherine Carmichael:
Yeah.
John Hamilton:
So that's out there now.
Mary Catherine Carmichael:
Right.
John Hamilton:
And how many it's getting mailed to?
Mary Catherine Carmichael:
3000 households.
John Hamilton:
Okay. I hope you're one of them. Maybe you will be.
Mary Catherine Carmichael:
It's random, but it's not.
John Hamilton:
Yeah.
Mary Catherine Carmichael:
Again, it's set up in such a way that it will be representative of the whole community. And so, if you do get a survey, please, please fill it out. We really need that to happen. The more we get, the more statistically valid it is.
John Hamilton:
And I know we've learned some things. We use these surveys to understand public view, to change our budget priorities. I'm thinking of several things. One, from the beginning, these city surveys said, "Yes, digital infrastructure, better connectivity is super important."
Mary Catherine Carmichael:
Right.
John Hamilton:
So we've been working on it really hard. We also learned from our public how important our investments in affordable housing and dealing with homelessness.
Mary Catherine Carmichael:
Yes.
John Hamilton:
And we've invested millions and millions of dollars. It really can change behaviors and drive investments, which is why we ask these questions. So do please answer it. Now, I do think I actually got the survey once. I didn't get it two other times, but it was kind of fun.
Mary Catherine Carmichael:
Yeah.
John Hamilton:
Takes a little time. If you really want to do it, there's also a way later to do it, even if you're not selected, right?
Mary Catherine Carmichael:
Right. It's important that 3000 be sacred, and those are calculated in one set, and then yes, it's opened up to the public. Anybody who wants to give feedback is welcome to do that. Now, those results will be calculated separately, but they're both interesting, and we look at both sets of results, of course. And what I think is really cool now is that this will be our fourth year, we can actually... We're really starting to see some trends.
John Hamilton:
Yep. So please fill it out. This is your city government. This is a way for you to get involved. We'll have a link. If you get it mailed to you, please do it. And if you don't get it mailed to you, wait a few weeks, we'll let you come in online and do it yourself anyway. But this data is really important, and I want you to know how important it is to us to get this information to help steer our city forward.
Mary Catherine Carmichael:
That's right. Well, I'm Deputy Mayor, Mary Catherine Carmichael.
John Hamilton:
And I'm John Hamilton. Thanks for listening.