Results of Community Survey Released

Newport residents are generally happy with their overall quality of life in Newport, though the city’s efforts to promote itself were “mixed,” according to the results of a just-released community survey.

Residents also ranked road improvements highest on the list of the city’s financial initiatives and gave relatively high marks to the police and fire departments and the Departments of Public Services and Parks and Recreation.

The city should place the most emphasis on improving the quality of public education in Newport, according to survey responses; residents are generally happy with the Claiborne Pell Elementary School but not so satisfied with the high school, with only 28 percent saying they were satisfied.

Still, the trend shows residents are much happier with education as compared to their responses to a similar survey nine years ago. A 15 percent increase was seen in residents’ satisfaction in overall school quality and 22 percent were happier with the quality of school facilities, likely due to the construction of the Claiborne Pell Elementary School.

Residents are feeling less safe in the city, though, with satisfaction rates dropping 11 percent in the “feeling of safety in the city” category. Other significant decreases were seen in the overall quality of the city’s administrative services (13 percent), the city’s overall appearance (9 percent) and the city’s efforts to manage tourism (16 percent.)

View the full survey results HERE.