New Orleans voters are less satisfied with life in the city and less optimistic about the future than they were three years ago, with crime remaining a major concern, according to a new University of New Orleans survey released Wednesday.I wish there were a way to filter out crime from these surveys. Crime is bad, of course. But it tends to distort or drown out concerns about other quality of life issues, (cost of living, education, transportation, impact of tourism, etc) that we might be able to do something about.
More to the point, something is driving these numbers down. Is it all just because of crime, though? Who knows?
About 66 percent of voters in New Orleans said they satisfied with the quality of life in the city, compared to 94 percent in Jefferson Parish. While the satisfaction rate in the suburbs has remained relatively stable over the 30 years UNO has been conducting the survey, this year’s results amount to an eight-point drop for city residents.I think, in Jefferson, you are required to be satisfied, though. So take that with a grain of salt. Of the greatest interest (at least in this article) the survey reveals the lowest measure of overall "optimism" since 2004. Who knows what accounts for that?
Only about 32 percent of voters say the city has become a better place to live in the last five years, a 15-percentage-point drop from 2013.
Also of note
The survey also found that 50 percent of city residents support removing monuments to Confederate officials and white supremacist groups.The pro-monument crowd often rallies around calls to "put it to a vote" rather than respect the very long and painstakingly inclusive process that has gotten us to the point of almost being ready to the statues down. The survey suggests that even that hypothetical plebiscite would end up being yet another waste of everyone's time. Given the aforementioned survey results on crime, is it too early for us to ask the pro-monument people to please focus on the murders?
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