A City of Laramie Citizen Survey conducted by the University’s Service and Analysis Center (WYSAC) collected data on what locals thought of their city and the way it is run.
Results were based on 533 questionnaires completed online and sent in through the mail.
“The important thing is the purpose of this survey and that’s to assess citizen’s satisfaction with the services provided by the city and their opinions and preferences about various issues,” Brian Harnisch of WYSAC said.
Respondents indicated fire fighting and ambulance services are the city services with which citizens are most satisfied, a finding that has been consistent between surveys across the past 9 years.
The services with which citizens were least satisfied were street maintenance and repair and code enforcement.
Issues considered major problems by a majority of respondents included underage alcohol offenses, driving under the influence, bicyclists not following traffic laws, but issues like illegal drug use, loud noises and nuisances were considered to be major problems by significantly fewer respondents this time around than during surveys going back to 2006.
The study also investigated how people get information about city events and how many people trusted those sources. Talking to friends and neighbors was the most popular way (according to 69 percent of respondents) to receive information, with newspaper articles (66 percent) and radio (57 percent) not far behind.
However, responses indicated Laramie citizens trusted radio to be more accurate than most other sources, trusted newspaper articles slightly less and recognized talking to friends and neighbors as one of the least reliable sources of information.
The survey’s impact was limited by its demographics.
Just 14 percent of respondents were students, an underrepresentation in the city of Laramie. About half (49 percent) lived here for 20 or more years and more than half (62 percent) held at least a bachelor’s degree.
