(C) Verite News New Orleans This story was originally published by Verite News New Orleans and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Citywide survey: Quality of life in New Orleans [1] ['.Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Coauthors.Is-Layout-Flow', 'Class', 'Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus', 'Display Inline', '.Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Avatar', 'Where Img', 'Height Auto Max-Width', 'Vertical-Align Bottom .Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Coauthors.Is-Layout-Flow .Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Avatar', 'Vertical-Align Middle .Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Avatar Is .Alignleft .Alignright', 'Display Table .Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Avatar.Aligncenter Display Table Margin-Inline Auto'] Date: 2024-05 Credit: Photos by Minh Ha and Eric Shelton; illustration by Bethany Atkinson / Deep South Today Residents of New Orleans are stressed out. About crime, about the economy, about the weather — and about the viability of a future in the city for themselves and their children. And they don’t like their quality of life or city government. READ THE SURVEY BY DR. SILAS LEE That’s the overriding message from a survey of 700 New Orleanians from across the city commissioned by Verite News. The survey, conducted by nationally recognized pollster Silas Lee in 2023, asked residents for their opinions on quality of life, social stressors and local government. The respondents came from every New Orleans City Council district, income bracket and most levels of education. There was a near split between those who identified as female and male, with a small percentage of people identifying as non-binary. And the racial breakdown is reflective of the city as a whole. A majority of those who responded — 55% — were Black and about 39% were white, the two largest racial groups among survey respondents. The findings Residents disapprove of the job elected officials are doing, saying they lack confidence in the ability of the politicians to improve their quality of life in the near future. They also disapprove of the job city agencies, including the Sewerage and Water Board and New Orleans Police Department, are doing. The levels of dissatisfaction and stress are not uniform across all demographics, however. Lee’s survey shows significant disparities in satisfaction with quality of life and local government along racial, class and gender lines. People from communities of color, people from low-income communities and women generally reported less satisfaction with quality of life and government and heightened social stressors than people from white communities, people from affluent communities and men. How we’ll use this data Over the next several months, Verite News will use the data in this survey to help inform our reporting, delving into some of the most significant findings through our stories. Our reporters and editors are already working together to develop story ideas based on some of the findings and we hope to share those stories with you in the near future. Below and throughout this story, you’ll see some of the findings broken out into charts. The presentation of the survey data created for Verite News is also available to download. It is our hope that the survey results help readers, policymakers, public officials and servants, and residents of the city make informed decisions about how to live and build community in New Orleans and hold public officials and agencies – and each other – accountable. Read the latest: This survey was made possible with the generous support of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. [END] --- [1] Url: https://veritenews.org/citywide-survey-quality-of-life-in-new-orleans/ Published and (C) by Verite News New Orleans Content appears here under this condition or license: Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 3.0 US. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/veritenews/