Polco presents Moline community and business survey results; residents rate safety and public transit highly

Grace, assistant project manager for Polco, presented results of the National Community Survey (NCS) and the National Business Survey (NBS) to the Moline City Council, reporting that residents rated safety and the ease of public transportation strongly while businesses expressed more critical views of the local economy.

The presentation covered methodology and topline findings. "We received a total of 517 responses," Grace said, reporting a 14 percent response rate to the random-sample NCS, with a 4.3 percent margin of error. She said Polco also ran an open participation survey that produced 125 additional responses stored separately to protect the scientific integrity of the random sample. For the NBS, Polco received 135 responses from about 2,000 mailed business invitations, a 7 percent response rate and an 8.5 percent margin of error.

The NCS asked residents to rate 10 facets of community livability. Grace told the council that utilities and safety were among the highest-rated items and the economy was the only facet that scored below the national benchmark. "About 8 in 10 residents gave excellent…