Residents state irks with city

The results of a new city-commissioned survey show Newport Beach residents are mostly satisfied with emergency services, parks and libraries, but many respondents said city officials aren’t doing enough about growth and traffic problems.

“I think it shows Newport Beach is meeting the needs of residents, but it also pointed out areas we can improve in,” Newport Beach Mayor Ed Selich said. “You can always do better. I think it generally gives us ideas where we are falling down.”

Out of all the questions contained in the five-page survey, residents were the least happy with how Newport Beach managed its traffic.

Seventeen percent of respondents said they were dissatisfied with traffic flow in Newport Beach.

Only 49% of respondents said they were satisfied with how the city has handled growth and development, and 54% said traffic was the city service officials should focus on the most over the next two years.

“That comes as no surprise to me as traffic circulation and the John Wayne Airport are the two issues now and in the foreseeable future which will always have a high level of concern with our citizens,” Newport Beach City Manager Homer Bludau wrote in an official response to the survey results.

Bludau speculated some city traffic woes residents feel could be misdirected frustration with Caltrans, which is responsible for maintaining parts of Pacific Coast Highway.

Selich said the city is working to resolve traffic issues, with such approaches as installing responsive traffic controllers on Newport traffic signals. The devices expedite traffic by reacting to how heavy it is, he said.

The resident survey was mailed to 3,000 randomly selected households in Newport in December. Respondents also had the option of completing the survey by phone. A little more than 710 people completed the survey, which has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.7%.

A separate city survey also released last week found many developers were frustrated with poor service in the Newport’s building department. About 59% of developers surveyed said they were dissatisfied with the responsiveness of staff in the city building department. About 44% were dissatisfied with the level of access to staff members, according to survey results.

Selich said the city is responding to the problem by hiring more staff in the building department.

OVERALL SATISFACTION

Quality of police, fire and paramedic services:

Very satisfied - 59%

Satisfied - 34%

Neutral - 6%

Dissatisfied - 1%

Parks and recreation programs and facilities:

Very satisfied - 40%

Satisfied - 46%

Neutral - 10%

Dissatisfied - 3%

Management of traffic flow on city streets:

Very satisfied - 19%

Satisfied - 42%

Neutral - 22%

Dissatisfied - 17%

BRIANNA BAILEY may be reached at (714) 966-4625 or at brianna.bailey@latimes.com.