Imagine.Akron: 2025
Household Survey
Prepared by The Center for Policy Studies:
Jesse F. Marquette, Ph. D, Director
Michelle Henry, M.A., Data Collection Manager
September 2000
The Center for Policy Studies was commissioned by the City of Akron's Imagine.Akron:
2025 Project to poll Akron residents on a variety of topics focusing on their future
vision of the city. This survey was a collaborative effort between the Imagine.Akron: 2025
project and The University of Akron's Center for Policy Studies. The Center administers
the Urban University Program, which helped to fund a portion of the poll. The questions
for the poll were formulated by the Center for Policy Studies based on substantial
findings from other portions of the research that had already been conducted by the
Imagine.Akron: 2025 project staff. The questionnaire covered several different topic
areas: residents' attitudes toward the City, residents' opinions regarding education and
the economy, and residents' views on communication, collaboration and community. This
report will focus on these major areas.
Survey Methodology
The Center for Policy Studies surveyed 402 Akron residents. The study used an RDD
(Random Digit Dialing) sample of telephone numbers that were randomly generated by
computer. Each household was asked a screening question to determine Akron residency. The
respondent from each household was chosen at random ensuring a representative sample of
the population. The approximate cooperation rate was 31 percent.
The Center for Policy Studies prepared the questions for the survey based, in part, on
the findings of other segments of the Imagine.Akron: 2025 project. The survey instrument
was tested on July 5th and fielded on July 6th. The interviewing process took
approximately 5 full sessions, ending on July 12th. Smaller staffs of interviewers were
brought in for the remaining 3 sessions to complete the interviewing phase of the poll.
Interviewers at the Center for Policy Studies are professional interviewers who have
completed a comprehensive training program, which concludes with both a skills assessment
and screening exam. Most calling took place between the evening hours of 5:30 - 9:30.
However, some interviews took place during daytime hours to accommodate respondent
schedules. The interview lasted 14 minutes on average.
Demographic Profile
Of the 402 respondents surveyed in this poll, 74 percent are white and 26 percent are
non-white. According to the 1990 Census data, these percentages represent the demographic
breakdown of Akron. Sixty three percent of the respondents are female and 37 percent are
male. This figure shows a slight overrepresentation of females in this study, which is
common in telephone surveys. Gender was not shown be to a significant factor in any of the
responses. The median age was between 35 and 44. Thirty-one percent are single while 47
percent are married. Thirty-four percent of the respondents have a high school diploma and
17 percent have a college degree. According to Census figures, in 1990 twenty-two percent
of Akron residents had a high school diploma and nine percent, a college degree. While
these figures show a slight overrepresentation in this study, level of education was shown
to be a significant factor in responses in very few questions. In order to ascertain the
area of Akron in which the respondents live, they were asked for the name of the nearest
elementary school and their zip code. The responses for both of these questions are evenly
distributed indicating a good representation of the city of Akron. Sixty six percent of
the respondents own their own home while 31 percent rent their home and 3 percent
indicated they have another housing arrangement.
Attitudes toward the City of Akron
Sixty-seven percent of the respondents have lived in Akron over 20 years. Fifty-two
percent were raised in Akron and 48 percent moved to Akron. When respondents were asked to
give the main reason for living in Akron, 3 responses represented 71 percent of those
surveyed; 31 percent live in Akron to be near family, 20 percent because they grew up in
Akron and 20 percent to be close to work. Significant determinants in these choices
include length of time lived in Akron and whether the respondent moved to Akron or was
raised in Akron. Respondents who have lived in Akron more than 20 years cite proximity to
family as the prevailing reason for living in Akron. Respondents who have lived in Akron
less than 10 years and respondents who have moved to Akron to live are more likely to have
chosen Akron because of work. Respondents who were raised in Akron cited equally, the
proximity to family and having "always" lived in Akron as the main reasons for
living in Akron
When asked about the possibility of moving from Akron, 41 percent stated that they
would never think of moving, 31 percent are currently thinking about moving and 28 percent
would move right now if they could afford it. The significant determinants in these
responses were age, marital status, number of children in the household, length of
residency in Akron and ownership of a home. Respondents 55 and older are more likely to
not consider moving while 18-54 year olds are more likely to be considering moving. Those
with 1 child or no children are more likely to remain in Akron while those with more than
1 child are considering moving. Those who have lived in Akron for more than 20 years are
not as likely to consider moving as those who have lived in Akron less than 20 years.
Those who own a home are more likely to not consider moving and those who rent are more
likely to move if they could afford it. Respondents who are either retired, homemakers or
unemployed are not considering moving while students and employed respondents are thinking
about moving.
Respondents were asked to assign a rating to Akron as a place to live. Fourteen percent
of the respondents rated Akron as an excellent place to live, and 58 percent rated it as
"good." As comparison, in other recent surveys by the Center, a local small city
received 49 percent "excellent" and 44 percent "good" ratings from its
residents; a township in the region received 24 percent "excellent" and 66
percent "good" ratings. Thus, while positive ratings were given by 73 percent of
Akron respondents, the responses are less enthusiastic than measured in recent surveys of
neighboring communities. The only factor determined to be significant in this area is the
ownership of a home. Those who own a home are more likely to rate Akron favorably than
those who rent, though a majority of both groups rated Akron favorably.
When asked what was the most important issue facing Akron today, 27 percent felt that
education was most important, while 15 percent indicated crime and safety and 12 percent,
the maintenance of business and industry in Akron. Significant factors in this outcome
were the number of children in the household, age, marital status and education.
Respondents who were either single or between the ages of 18 to 24 identified crime and
safety as their top concern while respondents with children and respondents with high
school diplomas and above identified educational issues. Respondents with less education
than a high school diploma identified city services as the most important issue facing
Akron.
Another significant determinant of responses to this question is that the more children
in the household being surveyed, the more likely the respondent was to identify
educational issues as the most important issue facing Akron. This also holds true for
higher levels of education.
Education
Sixty-one percent of the respondents have no children in the household, 15 percent have
1 child and 24 percent have 2 or more. Sixty five percent of those with at least one child
in the household attend Akron Public Schools while 8 percent attend a private school and 4
percent are home schooled.
On the topic of education, respondents were asked to give a letter grade to the Akron
public school district. Sixty-seven percent gave the district a passing grade, 52 percent
of which fell in the average and above average categories of A, B or C. Twenty-five
percent had not thought about this issue, while 7 percent gave the district a failing
grade of F. The research found that respondents who have not lived in Akron over 5 years
were more likely to indicate that they had not given this topic much thought.
Respondents were then asked about funding Akron public schools in the future.
Ninety-four percent of the respondents thought schools may need more money. Of those, 36
percent of the respondents feel that it would not be well spent, 32 percent feel they are
unable to afford more taxes and 26 percent are willing to pay. Six percent feel the
schools do not need more money.
There was a significant difference between marital status on this question. Widowed and
divorced respondents felt they were unable to afford more taxes while singles, married and
separated respondents do not think additional funds will be spent well. Another
significant difference was by level of education. Those who had not received a high school
diploma are more likely to be unable to afford more taxes. Those with some college and
above lean toward not believing the money will be well spent. There were no significant
differences found among respondents who either do not think the schools need more money or
those who do think the schools may need more money and are willing to pay more.
There was overwhelming support for school districts in Summit County to find more ways
to share resources. Seventy nine percent felt that this was important, 57 percent of which
indicated that sharing resources is 'very' important.
Respondents who answered that sharing resources was either very important or somewhat
important were then asked if they would support this resource sharing if it meant
consolidating school districts. Eighty-one percent of the respondents asked this question
responded favorably.
Economy
The median income for city of Akron residents was $27,543 in 1990, according to Census
data. The median income in this study fell in the $30,000 to $39,000 range, which,
allowing for inflation, is a close representation. Fifty-three percent of the respondents
are employed full time, 8 percent part-time and 21 percent are retired. Of those working,
59 percent work within the city of Akron and 95 percent drive themselves to work.
Several questions were asked regarding residents' shopping and entertainment habits as
they pertain to Akron. Sixty-six percent of the respondents chose to shop inside Akron, 34
percent outside (see figure 9). Those who have lived in Akron 6 years or more were more
likely to shop inside Akron than those who have lived in Akron 5 years or less.
When asked how often respondents sought out entertainment in Akron over the last month,
48 percent of the respondents indicated that they frequented downtown Akron for
entertainment at least once over the last month. Twenty-three percent sought entertainment
downtown 2-4 times in the last month while 15 percent did so once (see figure 10).
Respondents were also asked how safe they feel in downtown Akron. Overall, 53 percent
feel somewhat safe, 25 percent, very safe and 22 percent do not feel at all safe.
Since Akron has many attractions as a tourist destination, respondents were asked their
views on encouraging efforts to increase tourism in Akron. Forty-six percent felt that
tourism should be encouraged, and 33 percent were somewhat in favor of this.
Communication
Respondents were asked what source of information they used to get most of their
information about local affairs and entertainment. Sixty-two percent of the respondents
answered that they receive their information from a newspaper, 14 percent from TV news, 10
percent from the radio, 8 percent from family and friends and 3 percent from the Internet.
Ninety-five percent of the respondents indicated that they read the Akron Beacon
Journal most often for local news, sixty-three percent of which have a subscription to the
Akron Beacon Journal.
The respondents identified 26 stations as being listened to most frequently. Responses
were evenly distributed with the exception of WAKR, which received the largest share of
listeners at 10 percent. Overall, approximately 40 percent of the respondents listen to an
Akron based radio station. Sixty percent of the respondents, then, listen most often to a
radio station outside of Akron. Since this project is interested in the fragmentation of
audience, this finding is very demonstrative.
The 4 major network affiliates, ABC, NBC, CBS and FOX, received a combined total of
viewers at 56 percent while cable stations are watched most frequently by 31 percent of
the respondents.
Fifty-one percent of the respondents have access to the Internet from home. Of the 49
percent who do not have access at home, 58 percent have access from someplace other than
home.
Respondents were queried about their knowledge of the Imagine.Akron: 2025 project,
which has received significant coverage on the radio, in the newspaper and on cable
television. Eighty-three percent of respondents had not heard of this project, although
respondents with postgraduate education were more likely to have heard of Imagine.Akron:
2025.
A series of questions were asked focusing on communication between the city and the
residents of Akron. There is overwhelming support (90% of the respondents) across
demographic lines for the City of Akron to provide information as a basic community
service, much like water, sewer, streets, police and fire protection.
Those who answered favorably towards providing information as a basic service were then
asked what they felt to be the best way for the City to communicate with its residents.
Thirty-three percent responded television, 28 percent mail, 25 percent newspaper and 4
percent for both radio and the Internet.
A majority (58 %) of respondents felt that the City of Akron should place
"some" effort on communicating with Residents through the Internet, 28 percent
felt "a lot" of effort should be placed in this area while 14 percent said
"no" effort at all.
In keeping with questions dealing with communication, respondents were asked how
important they felt it to be for the city of Akron to try to find a way to restore a
locally produced television newscast in Akron. Overall, 86 percent felt it is either very
important or somewhat important to do so. Sixty-seven percent of the respondents indicated
that it is "very" important for Akron to make such an attempt.
Collaboration
Turning now to the topic of collaboration, 40 percent of the respondents said it was
"very" important to find additional ways to cooperate with governments of
neighboring cities and government agencies, 30 percent chose "somewhat"
important.
Based on recent discussions regarding the relations between Akron's three hospital
systems (Summa Health System, Akron General and Children's Hospital), respondents were
asked if they felt that the hospitals should find ways to collaborate more in providing
health services and compete less, should continue their current level of cooperation or
should compete more and cooperate less. Sixty-two percent of the respondents felt that the
hospitals should cooperate more while only 8 percent felt they should cooperate less.
Another are in which respondents were queried about collaboration was education. As
noted earlier, there was much support for sharing resources between school districts even
if this resource sharing necessitated consolidation.
Community
Respondents were asked their views on how Akron should approach residential housing in
the future. Forty-six percent of the respondents believe that the City of Akron should
focus on renewing existing housing while 37 percent have not thought much about this
issue. Only 17 percent would build new developments. There were several significant
differences on this topic. Non-whites are more likely to support building new developments
than whites. Likewise, those who own their own homes are more likely to support renewal
than are those who rent.
Forty-three percent felt it was "very" important for Akron to be friendlier
to pedestrians and bicycles while 35 percent felt it was "somewhat" important.
The group most likely to support more pedestrian and bicycle friendly policies were
between the ages of 25 and 34. Twenty-three percent of the respondents have the
opportunity to ride a bicycle at least once a month.
60 percent responded that it is "very" important for Akron to create an
office to focus on issues for people over 65 and 26 percent think it is
"somewhat" important. It was noted that thirteen percent of the respondents are
responsible for the care of someone over 70.
Volunteering in public service organizations is important to the vitality of a
community, yet citizen participation is declining. Hence, respondents were asked how they
felt about businesses providing time off from work for volunteer activity. Thirty-five
percent agreed that business should support employees volunteering by giving time off and
another 18 percent strongly agreed.
Customer Service
Several questions were posed regarding the need to request assistance from the city of
Akron and the response they received. Fifty-six percent of the respondents had never had
to ask for assistance from an Akron agency. Of those who had requested assistance, 51
percent responded receiving an "excellent" or "good" response compared
to 30 percent who responded receiving a "poor" or "very poor"
response.
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