Hopkins - City Survey

City Survey Results - February 2008

What do Hopkins residents think of their city as a whole and the City services that are delivered? For the first time in almost twenty years, the City commissioned Decisions Recourses, Ltd, to conduct a community survey. Professional interviewers polled 400 residents by telephone on a variety of community issues.

Summary

Hopkins citizens are very pleased with their community. Overall satisfaction ratings place the City solidly within the top quartile of Metropolitan Area suburbs and among the highest ranking “inner ring” communities. Residents are clearly satisfies with past policies and actions.

Two issues dominate current residential concerns: crime and growth. Even so, residents indicate support for redevelopment and new development, targeted at “starter homes” and “move-up” homes, as well as retail shopping and dining offerings. In addition, residents also strongly favor redevelopment to improve the Downtown Area.

The City of Hopkins excels in its communication with citizens. All four traditional channels in reaching the public are more heavily relied upon than in other communities: the City newsletter, cable television, the local newspaper, and the internet. Residents are extremely complimentary in their evaluations, all the more impressive in the light of the number of rental units in the city.

Even with these changes and challenges, the major task facing decision-makers remains daunting: preserving the aspects of “small town ambience” and community cohesiveness so key to many residents, while targeting development efforts to meet both current tax base and household needs. But, Hopkins elected officials and city staff still possess an advantage not commonly found in inner ring communities: solid performance evaluations of their past policies during redevelopment.