San Mateo council reviews 2025 community survey; residents urge more bike lanes, affordable housing remains priority

SAN MATEO — At a March 3 special meeting, the San Mateo City Council received an informational briefing on the City’s 2025 community survey, which was conducted in February by True North Research and completed with 750 interviews (margin of error ±3.6 percentage points at the 95% confidence level).

Assistant City Manager Christina Horzberger introduced the study and said the survey “along with some of our other outreach efforts … are gonna be informative to that strategic planning process,” pointing to a strategic planning workshop set for March 14 at the MLK Center.

Dr. Timothy McClarny, president of True North Research, presented the methodology and key results. “We wound up completing 750 interviews as part of this study, which because it’s a random sample, allows us to estimate the opinions of all adults in the city … and that is plus or minus 3.6% at the 95% confidence level,” he said. Interviewing used stratified random sampling of residential properties, with recruitment by email, text and telephone and survey completion available in English and Spanish.

Key findings

- Overall quality of life: 84% of respondents rated San Mateo’s quality of life as excellent or good. - Overall satisfaction with city services: 71% said they were satisfied with the city’s efforts to provide municipal services; 17% were dissatisfied and 12% were unsure or declined to answer. These results were statistically similar to 2022. - Top-rated services: library services, fire/EMS and maintenance of public buildings and facilities received the highest satisfaction scores. - Lowest-rated areas: facilitating creation of affordable housing, managing land use and development, managing traffic congestion and addressing homelessness were at the bottom of the list.

Dr. McClarny noted several areas of statistically significant change since 2022: marked improvement in residents’ satisfaction with the city’s efforts to address homelessness (+17 percentage points), special events (+13), and litter cleanup (+10); improvements also appeared for street maintenance, facilitation of affordable housing and police/crime prevention. Satisfaction with bike lanes declined about 8% and library services fell about 6%.

Strategic priorities and trade-offs

Survey respondents were asked to prioritize possible actions for the next two years. Upgrading and maintaining city infrastructure (streets, stormwater systems, parks and public buildings) ranked highest, followed by improving emergency preparedness, stabilizing long-term city finances and improving the transportation system to reduce congestion and encourage walking, biking and transit.

Affordable housing showed a notable pattern: while lower in the overall priority ranking, it displayed strong intensity among some groups. Dr. McClarny summarized that 51% of all respondents rated “facilitating the development of more affordable housing” as a high priority; among renters that figure rose to 68% versus 34% among homeowners.

Communication and outreach

The survey found increased satisfaction with city communications compared with 2022 (70% in 2025 versus 62.4% in 2022). Email ranked highest among channels residents said would be effective for receiving city information, followed by direct mail, the city website and social media. Respondents asked for more information on commercial and residential development, long-term city vision and affordable housing.

Public comment and council discussion

Four members of the public spoke during the study session. Seema Patel, who identified herself as a member of the Planning Commission speaking on her own behalf, urged the council to use the North Central Complete Streets Plan data alongside the survey. Patel cited collision data from the plan (dated 03/18/2024) and described higher bicycle and pedestrian collision rates and parking dynamics in the North Central neighborhood.

Several speakers pressed the council to expand safe bike infrastructure. Mike Swire, a resident, told the council the survey demonstrates public support for bike lanes and urged a utilitarian approach to policymaking: “Please be utilitarian, i.e., pursue the greatest good for the greatest many,” he said, and criticized a prior council decision to remove Humboldt Street bike lanes as reflecting the views of a small, localized group over the wider public interest.

Jordan Grimes and Max Monitor (identified in public comment) praised the city’s high overall ratings and also emphasized affordable housing as a continuing top priority.

Council members and staff said the survey will be used in the upcoming strategic planning process. Deputy Mayor Lorraine and other council members thanked staff and True North Research for the presentation and noted the survey’s role as a “report card” on city performance. No formal council action or vote was taken during the study session.

Why it matters

Council members said the results will help set short-term priorities for the city’s strategic plan, particularly for infrastructure maintenance, emergency preparedness, transportation improvements and affordable housing. The survey’s demographic splits — notably the gap between homeowners and renters on housing priorities and the rise in interest in bike lanes among certain neighborhoods — offer council and staff cohort-specific signals to weigh during the March 14 workshop.

Next steps

The city will discuss the survey findings at the strategic planning workshop March 14 at the MLK Center (9 a.m. to 3 p.m.). Council and staff described the March session and the survey report as inputs for drafting the city’s priorities and implementation plans; there was no formal direction taken at the March 3 meeting beyond using the report in the planning process.

(Editor’s note: The survey was performed by True North Research and released to the City of San Mateo in February 2025. The full report contains detailed cross-tabulations and additional subgroup findings cited by the presenter.)