Calgarians rate quality of life as 'good,' survey says

Almost nine out of 10Calgarians rate the quality of life in the city as good, according to the 2013 Citizen Satisfaction Survey.

The "good" rating comes from a response of seven out of 10, or higher.The poll, conducted by Ipsos Reid, for the city also found 92 per cent of respondents are proud to be Calgarians.

"Its no secret: we live in a great city, and keeping Calgary at its best is a partnership between citizens and their government," said Mayor Naheed Nenshi in a written statement.

"City employees work hard to put citizens first in all that they do, and it's not surprising that Calgarians value this and are optimistic about the future. Together, we are building an even better Calgary."

Only eight per cent of respondents said crime and safety is the most important issue facing the city down from 29 per cent in 2008 when it was the most important issue.

Other results of the survey:

• 90 per cent of respondents think Calgary is on the right track to become a better city in 10 years.
• 95 per cent give the city a positive rating for overall performance, unchanged from 2012.
• 80 per cent are "very or somewhat satisfied"with Calgary Transit, up six points from last year.
• 36 per cent sayinfrastructure, traffic and roads areimportant issues.
• 86 per cent say the city provides open and accessible government.
• 85 per cent perceive their neighbourhoods as safe.

The city got high marks for the way it handled the flood emergency in June.

From 95 per cent to 99 per cent of respondents gave the city positive ratings on each of seven aspects of flood performance, including its overall handling of the crisis, its evacuation procedures, communications and helping Calgarians to recover.

The majority of respondents said they not only receive good value for their tax dollars but would accept a tax increase if services are maintained or expanded. Nenshi used that finding to attack his critics.

"Those who argue Calgarians only think about taxes were proved wrong in the election, and they are proved wrong by these data as well," he said.

The telephone survey was conducted with a randomly selected sample of 1,002 Calgarians aged 18and older between Aug. 21 and Sept. 11.

It has a margin of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.