7 Unstructured tables Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 4 Developer tables Name: “Table 1 of 1 on page 1 of 7” Table: 1 T H E S TAT E O F PUBLIC OPINION Name: “Table 1 of 1 on page 2 of 7” Table: 2 To merge or not to merge? To merge or not to merge was not the only question, however. Participants were asked about such matters as travel patterns, rea- sons for travel to different cities and counties, perceptions of regional cooperation among the different jurisdictions, perceived (That was just one of the questions asked in barriers to regional cooperation, perceptions of quality of life, and perceived constraints on the quality of life in the Hampton a recent survey of Hampton Roads residents.) Key Findings ould you like to see the 14 cities and counties of Hampton Roads merge into a single jurisdiction? Surprisingly, 50.5 percent of 1,169 people polled recently believe that such a merger should occur. For cities or counties 1. Survey data on travel patterns and activities of respondents show that Hampton Roads residents are as much a part of the Wwhere at least 20 individuals responded to this question, the percentage of those desiring a merger ranged regional community as they are of their particular city or county. Whether they travel for purposes of employment, shopping, recreation, entertainment or personal business, they depend on continuing access to all parts of the Hampton Roads region from lows of 41.7 in Suffolk and 42.4 in James City County to highs of 54.8 percent in Gloucester County irrespective of formal boundary lines. and 55.8 percent in Norfolk. The region’s largest city, Virginia Beach, split evenly on this issue, with 153 respondents preferring 2. The inner-core cities (Norfolk, Portsmouth, Newport News, Hampton) continue to serve as the economic engine of the region, a merger and 153 opposing it. South Hampton Roads residents, at 51.5 percent, are slightly more in favor of a merger than as measured by the number of people accessing jobs. Most jurisdictions, with the exception of the outer suburbs and Peninsula residents, 48.4 percent. Support for a merger is relatively even across racial and ethnic groups: 54.2 percent of African Portsmouth, provide a broad range of services in meeting the needs of the respondents. Americans favored a merger, while 49.7 percent of whites/caucasians and 52.4 percent of all others expressed support for a 3. A majority of residents support combining public services among the different jurisdictions for the good of the region. This is single jurisdiction. particularly true for mass transit, where 72 percent favored combining transportation services. Other services receiving strong support for some form of joint arrangement included roads and streets, social services, emergency services, libraries, recre- Merger or not, a large majority of Hampton Roads residents, regardless ation facilities, public parks and economic development. On the other hand, merging public housing and schools did not TABLE 1 of where they live, see the region as one continuous community that receive majority support on this question. Percent of Individuals Supporting Merger of they use to meet their daily needs. Whether they travel for employment, shopping, recreation, entertainment or personal business, survey respon- 4. On the question of merging several Hampton Roads cities into a single regional jurisdiction, 50 percent of the respondents dents reported that they rely on free and open access to all parts of the approved and 50 percent were opposed. region regardless of boundary lines that formally separate jurisdictions. City or County Percent 5. Most respondents (62 percent) had not heard of the Hampton Roads Partnership, a regional organization that promotes Supporting Merger Because of this, a clear majority of residents see the need for regional regional cooperation. Gloucester County 54.8 cooperation through joint arrangements and combining of public serv- James City County 42.4 ices. This is particularly the case for mass transit: respondents to the 6. Ninety-five percent of the people surveyed said their elected officials should encourage formal working relations among the York County 47.7 survey reported traffic congestion as a major problem. various Hampton Roads jurisdictions. Seventy-six percent said they would vote for a candidate who favors combining services on a regional basis. Chesapeake 53.3 Most of the people who were surveyed view politics and govern- Hampton 47.2 ment, as well as competition among the cities and counties, as 7. Most respondents (more than 60 percent) view politics and government, as well as competition among the cities and coun- Newport News 52.1 impeding regional cooperation. They would vote for candidates who ties, as impeding regional cooperation. Business, the media and public employees are viewed as supporters by a majority of Norfolk 55.8 favor combining public services on a regional basis and agree that the residents. Portsmouth 52.7 their elected officials should encourage formal working relations Suffolk 41.7 among the different Hampton Roads jurisdictions. 8. A clear majority (more than 75 percent) report that the region and the city or county where they reside provide a high quality Virginia Beach 50.0 of life. Also, most of the respondents rated shopping, restaurants, entertainment, culture, museums and higher education as Overall, three-quarters of the residents rate their city as well as the good or very good. On the negative side, cost of living, transportation and earnings were given a good or very good rating Overall 50.5 region as a good or excellent place to live. However, they give low rat- by only about a third of those surveyed. ings to such factors as cost of living, transportation and earnings. Forty- Notes: 1,055 individuals responded to the question, “Should five percent of those who view earnings as very poor report that they 9. Forty-nine percent view traffic congestion as the biggest problem in their city or county. A higher proportion of residents from Hampton Roads be merged into a single jurisdiction?” Isle of would move out of Hampton Roads if they had the opportunity. the urban core (45 percent) identified crime and drugs as a great or very great problem, compared to 15 percent of those Wight County, Mathews County, and the cities of Poquoson who live in the suburbs. and Williamsburg are not presented because there were fewer The findings reported here are based on telephone interviews with of a than 20 respondents in those jurisdictions. random sample of 1,169 Hampton Roads residents, conducted by the Old Dominion University’s Social Science Research Center, between Source: Social Science Research Center at Old Dominion May 8 and May 24, 2000. The sampling margin of error is ±2.9 per- University, Regional Survey 2000 centage points at a 95 percent confidence level. That is, if another sample of the same size were repeated under the same conditions, then 95 percent of the time the deviation from the results reported would be no more than 2.9 percent in either direction (see page 17 for more details on the methodology). 4 T H E S T A T E O F T H E R E G I O N P U B L I C O P I N I O N 5 Name: “Table 1 of 1 on page 3 of 7” Table: 3 inner suburbs and the urban core, 40 percent of those in the outer suburbs, 46 percent from the urban core and 30 percent of Perceptions of Regional Cooperation the inner suburb residents favored combining schools. Income also influenced views on combing schools. Low-income residents (45 percent) were more likely to favor combining schools as compared to those who are classified as upper income (32 percent of those earning more than $75,000). ost respondents favor some form of joint effort to combine public services on a regional basis (see Graph 1). This High-income residents were more likely to TABLE 2 is particularly the case for mass transit, where 72 percent favored combining services. Other services that rated favor combining roads, mass transit, Respondents In Favor of Combining Services and Income Mhigh for combining services (more than 50 percent) were roads and streets, social services, emergency services, prisons and economic development (see Table 2). (Percent Reporting “Favor” to “Strongly Favor”) libraries, recreation facilities, public parks and economic development. Neither the merging of the region’s public housing, nor its schools, received majority support. Most respondents (62 percent) had not Option Low Income High Income heard of the Hampton Roads Partnership. (<$25,000) (>$75,000) Taking into account geographic location on the question of combining services, no difference was found between residents on No differences could be noted comparing Combine Schools 45% 32% the Peninsula and those in South Hampton Roads. However, in comparing respondents from the outer suburbs with those from the the core cities, the outer suburbs and the Combine Roads and Streets 50% 66% inner suburbs. However, high-income Combine Mass Transit 64% 75% respondents (earning more than Combine Prison/Jails 41% 60% GRAPH 1 $75,000) were more likely to have heard Combine Economic Development 57% 68% Percentage of Hampton Roads Residents Favoring of the Partnership (54 percent) than those Combining Services on a Regional Basis earning less than $25,000 (26 percent). Ninety-two percent of respondents said Source: Social Science Research Center at Old Dominion University, Regional Survey 2000 Schools 38 their elected officials should encourage formal working relations among the different Hampton Roads jurisdictions. Public Housing 46 Of the respondents who gave an opinion, 76 percent said they would vote for a candidate who favors combining services and 24 percent said they would vote for a candidate who opposes formally combing services. Eighty-three percent of the Solid Waste 50 urban-core residents, 72 percent from the inner suburbs and 68 percent from the outer suburbs reported they would vote for a candidate who favors formally combining services. Water and Sewer 50 Jails 50 Opinions on the Pros and Cons of Regionalism Fire 51 Social Services 53 ost the people who were surveyed (more than 60 percent) view politics and government and inter-jurisdictional city and county competition as Economic Development 59 TABLE 3 Mbarriers to regional cooperation Percent of Respondents Viewing Component as Barrier Emergency Services 59 (see Table 3). On the other or Support to Regional Cooperation hand, a large majority view business and eco- Roads and Streets 59 nomic interests as being supportive of regionalism. Component Viewed as Viewed as Barrier Support Recreational Facilities 60 Other supportive entities reported included the Competition of Jurisdictions 65% 35% media (newspapers and television) and Public Parks Politics and Government 63% 37% employees in the public sector. Residents living in Virginia State Legislature 46% 54% Public Employees 30% 70% Libraries 62 the outer suburbs were less likely to view politics Media 30% 70% Mass Transit 72 and government as a barrier (45 percent) as com- Business & Economic Interests 27% 73% pared to those from the inner suburbs (65 percent) 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 and the urban core (63 percent). Source: Social Science Research Center at Old Dominion University, Regional Survey 2000 Source: Social Science Research Center at Old Dominion University, Regional Survey 2000 6 T H E S T A T E O F T H E R E G I O N P U B L I C O P I N I O N 7 Name: “Table 1 of 1 on page 4 of 7” Table: 4 Rating Quality of Life and Amenities GRAPH 2 Percentage of Respondents Rating Hampton Roads Amenities as “Good“ or “Very Good“ n rating their city or county on quality of life, 75 percent of the respondents believe it to be good to excellent; also on this issue, 50 percent said their city/county was better to much better in the past five years. In rating the Hampton Roads region, 77 per- Earnings 25 Icent reported good to excellent; and 57 percent said it has gotten better or much better over the past five years. TABLE 4 Transportation 31 Residents from the inner and outer suburbs were more likely to rate their city as excellent (38 percent and 34 percent, Rating of City and Hampton Roads respectively) as compared to 14 percent from the inner core. (Percent Rating “Good” or “Excellent”) Cost of Living 37 Individuals who earn more tended to be more positive in rating their cities than did low-income respondents (see Table Location Low Income High Income 4). Eighty-five percent of those earning more than $75,000 (<$25,000) (>$75,000) Job Opportunities 53 rated their city as good or excellent. In contrast, 50 percent Your City 50% 85% of those who earn less than $25,000 rated their city as Hampton Roads 66% 85% Culture and Museums 65 good or excellent. In viewing amenities in the region, 60 percent of the respon- Source: Social Science Research Center at Old Dominion University, Regional dents rated the following as good or very good: shopping, Survey 2000 Entertainment 69 restaurants, entertainment, culture, museums and higher edu- cation (see Graph 2). Higher Education 74 Shopping 79 Restaurant 79 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 Source: Social Science Research Center at Old Dominion University, Regional Survey 2000 On the negative side, cost of living, earnings and transportation in the region received good or very good ratings from only about a third of the people surveyed. Earnings were viewed positively by a mere 25 percent of respondents. While there appears to be little difference among respondents based on location, some differences can be noted based on income. Those earning less than $25,000 were less likely to rate job opportunities (44 percent), cost of living (24 percent) and earnings (17 percent) as good or very good, as compared to those earning more than $75,000 (60 percent, 31 percent and 32 percent, respectively). As a reflection of degree of satisfaction with the region, 77 percent report they would continue to reside in Hampton Roads. Of this number, 54 percent would stay where they are, 13 percent would move out of their neighborhood but stay in the same city or county, and 10 percent would move out of their city but remain in some other location in Hampton Roads. The remaining 23 percent indicated they would leave the region. It should be noted that the desire to leave is associated with per- ceptions of job opportunities and earnings. Of those who rated job opportunities as very poor, 35 percent said they would move out of Hampton Roads, as compared to 17 percent of those who rated job opportunities as very good. Of those who rated earnings as very poor, 45 percent said they would move out of Hampton Roads. In contrast, of those who rated earnings as very good, only 4 percent said they would leave Hampton Roads. Age and the number of years one had lived in the area were also factors. Newer residents (38 percent) were more likely to report a desire to move out of Hampton Roads, as compared to those who had lived in the area for more than 40 years (11 percent). Younger people, age 30 or less, were more likely to say they would move out of Hampton Roads if given the opportu- nity (33 percent), as compared to 18 percent of those over the age of 50. 8 T H E S T A T E O F T H E R E G I O N P U B L I C O P I N I O N 9 Name: “Table 1 of 1 on page 5 of 7” Table: 5 A higher proportion of respondents from TABLE 5 Perceived Problems the urban core (45 percent) reported that crime and drugs are a great or very Perceived Problem and Location great problem, as compared to 15 per- (Percentage of Respondents Reporting Crime or Traffic espondents also were asked what they viewed as problems in their city/county (see Graph 3). Traffic congestion was cent of those who live in the suburbs (see as a “Great” or “Very Great” Problem) viewed as the biggest problem overall, with 49 percent of the respondents rating it as a great to a very great con- Table 5). Slightly more than half of the Rcern. There was virtually no difference in the views of respondents on the Peninsula and those on the Southside for any residents from the urban core and inner- Outer Suburbs Inner Suburbs Urban Core suburban areas viewed traffic as a great Crime 15% 15% 45% problem. or very great problem. In contrast, just 22 Traffic 22% 52% 50% percent of the outer-suburban residents rated traffic as a great or very great GRAPH 3 problem. Source: Social Science Research Center at Old Dominion University, Regional Survey 2000 Percentage of Respondents Identifying this Issue as a “Great“ Those who have lived in Hampton Roads for or “Very Great“ Problem in City/County more than 40 years were more likely to rate TABLE 6 drugs and crime as a great or very great High- and Low-Income Respondents Perceive Problems Differently problem (39 percent). In contrast, 22 percent Racial Problems 13 (Percent of Respondents Rating Crime, Housing or Taxes who have lived in the region for five years or less rated crime and drugs as a great to very as a “Very Great” or “Great” Problem) great problem. Low Income High Income Housing 13 Respondents earning less that $25,000 a year <$25,000 > $75,000 were more likely to rate crime, housing and Crime 41% 22% taxes as great or very great problems. This con- Housing 20% 7% trasts with higher income respondents who view Noise and Dirt 15 these matters as less of a problem (see Table 6). Source: Social Science Research Center at Old Dominion University, Regional Survey 2000 Politics and Government 20 Regional Travel Patterns TABLE 7 Most Frequent Cities Traveled to in the Past Month Crimes and Drugs 27 n the subject of travel patterns in City Percent of Respondents Hampton Roads, respondents Norfolk 24% Taxes 37 Owere asked to what city or county Virginia Beach 15% Chesapeake 10% they traveled most often in the Newport News 10% month prior to the survey. Norfolk was the leading Did not travel to other places 15% Traffic 49 city, followed by Virginia Beach, Chesapeake and Newport News (see Table 7). Source: Social Science Research Center at Old Dominion University, Regional Survey 2000 0 10 20 30 40 50 On the Peninsula, almost half of the respondents from Gloucester, Isle of Wight County, James City County, Mathews County and York County identified Newport News as the city they traveled to most frequently in the past month. Hampton was identified Source: Social Science Research Center at Old Dominion University, Regional Survey 2000 by 5 to 18 percent of the respondents traveling from these areas. Among Newport News residents, 32 percent identified Hampton, while 19 percent identified Norfolk. Twenty-four percent of Hampton respondents reported no travel to other cities for any reason in the month prior to the survey. On the Southside, almost half (47 percent) of the Virginia Beach respondents identified Norfolk as their prime destination. Among Chesapeake residents, 38 percent identified Virginia Beach and 28 percent listed Norfolk as prime destinations. Among Norfolk residents, 41 percent identified Virginia Beach as their prime destination, and 20 percent reported no travel to other 10 T H E S T A T E O F T H E R E G I O N P U B L I C O P I N I O N 11 Name: “Table 1 of 1 on page 6 of 7” Table: 6 cities for any reason in the month prior to the survey. Portsmouth respondents indicated Norfolk (26 percent), Chesapeake (22 Notes on Methodology percent) and Virginia Beach (19 percent). Residents from the urban-core cities were most likely to travel to Virginia Beach (20 percent) or reported no travel to other places in the month prior to the survey (18 percent). Among inner-suburban residents, 56 percent reported traveling to Norfolk and 13 DATA COLLECTION percent reported no travel to other cities in the month prior to the survey. Among outer-suburban residents, the greatest number The results reported here are based on a random sample of 1,169 Hampton Roads residents interviewed by telephone between (28 percent) reported traveling to Newport News. The remaining outer-suburban residents listed their most frequent destinations May 8 and May 24, 2000. The interviews were conducted by the Social Science Research Center at Old Dominion University. as follows: Chesapeake, 15 percent; Hampton, 13 percent; Virginia Beach, 12 percent; no travel, 12 percent. Interviews were conducted between 3 and 9 p.m. on weekdays, and from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturdays. The sampling The most common reasons given for traveling in Hampton Roads were business (39 percent), shopping (19 percent), personal margin of error is ± 2.9 percentage points at a 95 percent confidence level. Each interview typically required approximately 10 chores (19 percent) and recreation/entertainment (13 percent). Those living in the outer suburbs were slightly more likely to minutes to complete. The sample was derived from a population of random-digit-dialed telephone numbers. All numbers were report traveling to another city to shop (39 percent) than for job-related business (35 percent). However, for those in the inner subsequently randomly sorted for allocation to interviewers during the course of the study. The sample is stratified to represent the suburbs, 42 percent traveled to another city for job-related business. Thirty-nine percent of the urban-core residents traveled for proportion of adults in the population age 18 or older for each geographic location in Hampton Roads. job-related business, while 17 percent traveled for the purpose of shopping. SAMPLE DESCRIPTION Most of the people who traveled to Portsmouth did so for work-related reasons. A greater proportion of those who traveled to Norfolk (45 percent) came for work than to shop (15 percent). Of those who traveled to Chesapeake, 35 percent did so for The resulting stratified, random sample matched the actual population distribution across municipalities in Hampton Roads (see work, while 30 percent went to shop. Residents traveled to Newport News for similar reasons: 33 percent came for work and Table 9). 29 percent came to shop. Table 8 summarizes the percentage of respondents who traveled to the seven most frequently selected destinations for a particular purpose. TABLE 8 TABLE 9 Percent of Respondents Reporting Reasons for Traveling to City Sample Distribution Compared to Hampton Roads City Traveled To Business Shopping Recreation/ Personal Other Total Survey Sample Hampton Entertainment Municipality Raw Count Percentage Roads Actual Chesapeake 35% 30% 5% 22% 8% 100% Percentage Hampton 42% 20% 9% 18% 11% 100% Newport News 33% 29% 8% 17% 13% 100% Gloucester County 32 2.7 2.3 Norfolk 45% 15% 16% 12% 12% 100% Isle of Wight County 19 1.6 1.9 Portsmouth 52% 0% 9% 21% 17% 100% James City County 37 3.2 3.0 Virginia Beach 31% 18% 16% 26% 8% 100% Mathews County 6 0.5 0.6 Williamsburg 36% 20% 24% 16% 4% 100% York County 48 4.1 3.8 Chesapeake 152 13.0 13.1 Source: Social Science Research Center at Old Dominion University, Regional Survey 2000 Hampton 98 8.4 8.8 Newport News 131 11.2 11.6 Of the 373 people who said they traveled to another city for employment, 34 percent said they traveled to Norfolk, fol- Norfolk 161 13.8 14.6 lowed by 14 percent who traveled to Virginia Beach, 11 percent to Chesapeake, 11 percent to Newport News and 10 per- Poquoson 15 1.3 0.8 cent to Hampton. Portsmouth 81 6.9 6.4 Suffolk 43 3.7 4.2 Of the 181 respondents who said they traveled to another city to shop, 24 percent said they went to Norfolk, followed by 19 Virginia Beach 342 29.3 28.1 percent to Chesapeake, 19 percent to Newport News, 18 percent to Virginia Beach and 11 percent to Hampton. Williamsburg 4 0.3 0.8 Of the 121 respondents who traveled to another city for recreation or entertainment, 36 percent traveled to Norfolk, followed Total 1169 100.0 100.0 by 23 percent to Virginia Beach and 14 percent to Williamsburg. Source: Social Science Research Center at Old Dominion University, Regional Survey 2000 12 T H E S T A T E O F T H E R E G I O N P U B L I C O P I N I O N 13 Name: “Table 1 of 1 on page 7 of 7” Table: 7 TABLE 10 Annual Household Income Range of Income Percentage in Sample Less than $25,000 16.7% $25,001 - $50,000 39.9% $50,001 - $75,000 25.4% $75,001 - $100,000 11.3% More than $100,000 6.7% Source: Social Science Research Center at Old Dominion University, Regional Survey 2000 TABLE 11 TABLE 12 Age in Years Race/Ethnicity Race/Ethnicity Group Percentage in Sample Age Group Percentage in Sample White/Caucasian 66.8% 30 or younger 24.0% African American 25.0% 31 – 40 20.6% Hispanic 2.3% 41 – 50 23.3% Philippino 0.3% 51 – 65 19.5% Asian 1.2% 66 or older 12.7% Other 4.3% Source: Social Science Research Center at Old Dominion University, Source: Social Science Research Center at Old Dominion University, Regional Survey 2000 Regional Survey 2000 The median reported annual household income for all of Hampton Roads in the sample was between $25,001 and $50,000. The average reported age in years in Hampton Roads in the sample was 44.5. OTHER DEMOGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTICS The average survey respondent has lived in Hampton Roads for 24 years. Thirty-nine percent of the sample have lived in the region for 26 or more years, while 18 percent have lived here for five or fewer years. Slightly more than 60 percent of the sample were female. Almost 40 percent had at least a college degree. Nearly 30 percent of the sample reported working in professional or managerial occupations, while about 7 percent described themselves as working in the military. 14 T H E S T A T E O F T H E R E G I O N P U B L I C O P I N I O N 15