Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Community Survey topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
San Bruno survey: 70% rate quality of life; potholes rank high in importance but low in satisfaction
Summary
A consultant presented the city's 2025 community priorities survey showing 70% positive quality-of-life ratings and a 65.6% satisfaction rate for city services; rapid 911 response and street repairs rank highest in importance while street maintenance scores much lower on satisfaction. The survey tested parcel-tax and zoning ballot language and found message framing materially affects support.
Brian Godby, the consultant who conducted a city-commissioned 2025 community priorities survey, told the San Bruno City Council on Jan. 13 that respondents rated their overall quality of life positively and prioritized emergency response and street repair.
"The interplay between the two of those provides the bulk of the analysis," Godby said, describing an intensity scoring method used to rank how important residents view services and how satisfied they are with those services. The survey completed 403 interviews of likely November 2026 voters in early November (after the Prop 50 special election and before Thanksgiving) and reported a margin of error of ±4.83%.
Key findings include a combined 70% positive rating for quality of life and an overall 65.6% positive response for satisfaction with city services. In the importance rankings, rapid 911 emergency response scored highest (about 93% extremely/very important; intensity score 2.55) and maintaining city streets and repairing potholes ranked second (about 91.2%; intensity score 2.44). Godby told the council that while street repair is highly important, satisfaction with that service is substantially lower than for 911 response, a gap the city could address through information campaigns or targeted capital work.
The survey also tested two parcel-tax concepts and split-sample land-use questions. A high-level flat parcel tax on all parcels produced about 51.7% combined "definitely" and "probably" support, below the two-thirds threshold needed for a parcel tax. A variant assessed on non-residential and multifamily buildings (excluding single-family homes) polled stronger at roughly 63.6% in the first test. Land-use questions about removing a 1997 voter-approval requirement for certain height increases polled in the low 50s; when the measure was framed to say new commercial projects would provide revenue for pothole repair and station upgrades, support rose to roughly 65%.
Godby said the results are an early test, not a final vote model, and emphasized the importance of message framing and more outreach as the city considers potential ballot measures.
The council thanked Godby for the report and asked no formal action; Godby offered to return or provide further crosstabs and detailed tables on request.
