Lakewood residents are emphatically positive about their city’s capacity to be a good place to raise a family, enjoy recreation programs, shop, and work. More than four-fifths of residents in a recent community survey graded their city B+ for preventing neighborhood blight (81%), keeping city streets in repair (83%), providing effective public safety (87%), preserving the pleasant appearance of Lakewood neighborhoods (88%), and providing recreational opportunities (89%).

Their high level of satisfaction with city programs and services may stem from another significant indicator: Lakewood residents truly believe in their community. Nearly nine out of ten residents grade Lakewood B+ (or better) for preserving the community’s positive qualities (83%), sustaining their sense of community over the years (86%), and providing a good place to raise a family (88%).

Residents value their sense of community highly (93%) and believe they have found it in their own neighborhood (86%).

Perhaps as a result, strong majorities of Lakewood residents also believe that they have a direct bearing on the outcome of city decision-making and that city officials listen to them: 69% of those surveyed believe they have at least moderate influence on decisions (39% disagreed) and 62% believe that city officials listen to residents (27% disagreed).

Lakewood residents have other positive expectations about their city, too. When asked the direction of city government, 62% said Lakewood was going in the right direction versus 15% who disagreed. They were less positive, however, about the direction of Congress (39%) and the California state legislature (33%).

When asked to judge if Lakewood is a better place to live because of ethnic change, residents gave a balanced answer: 42% said the new ethnic mix made the community better while 43% said it didn’t make much difference.

But the high cost of housing disturbed the overwhelmingly positive view that residents have of life in Lakewood. Only 37% of those surveyed saw housing in Lakewood as affordable while 48% graded Lakewood C- because of housing affordability issues. Still, 91% of residents said they were “satisfied” or “very satisfied” with their home or apartment in Lakewood; just 3% held a negative view of their housing situation.

When asked their shopping preferences, 65% of those surveyed said that they had shopped at a Lakewood Center department store in the past month. In the past week, they said, they had shopped most frequently at a Vons supermarket (60%) and Target store (59%).

(These results are drawn from a telephone survey of a random sample of 452 registered Lakewood voters conducted in late November 2006. The margin of error is +-3 points. The complete survey is on file at the Lakewood City Clerk’s Office.)