Jobs, development, schools top area concerns, study finds
KINGSTON — Keeping businesses in the area and creating more jobs, as well as improving the quality of public schools, are among the top priorities of residents of Ulster, Greene and Dutchess counties.
The results were part of “Many Voices One Valley 2012,” a study conducted by the Marist College Institute for Public Opinion in partnership with the Dyson Foundation. As part of the study, 4,443 residents in Ulster, Columbia, Dutchess, Greene, Orange, Putnam and Sullivan counties were interviewed earlier this year to find out what they think about living in the region and their priorities. This year’s study was the second update to one conducted in 2002.
“The results document residents’ perceptions of
the region and their expectations for the future,” according to the executive summary of the study.
The full results of the study can be found online at http://manyvoicesonevalley.com. The study results can be examined by county, as well as broken down further by demographic factors.
“I think what this documents is the extent to which the region is not recession-proof,” said Lee Miringoff, director of the Marist Institute of Public Opinion. “There’s a strong infrastructure here, but clearly people have been reacting to economic hard times in lots of ways.” He added that more survey respondents have said they had to forgo basic needs because of the economic strain.
In Ulster, Greene and Dutchess counties, residents’ priorities were economic ones. They ranked keeping businesses in the area and creating more jobs as their top two priorities.
In Ulster, residents ranked improving the quality of public schools as the third-highest priority. That priority tied with creating more jobs in Greene County. For Dutchess County residents, making health care more affordable was the third-highest priority, followed by improving the quality of public schools.
The results show a slight change from residents’ priorities 10 years ago. In Ulster County, for example, residents in 2002 considered making health care affordable and keeping businesses in the area as their top priorities.
Increasing the number of public spaces ranked lowest this year amongst priorities for residents in Ulster and Dutchess counties, while in Greene county residents found reducing homelessness and increasing or improving public transportation as the least important.
Overall, the 2012 study showed that 84 percent of local residents like living in the Mid-Hudson Valley. It also showed that most area residents polled see a bleak jobs picture, perceiving jobs as hard to come by.
“The Mid-Hudson Valley was not immune from the recession,” according to the executive summary. “A notable 28 percent of residents found themselves searching for a job at some point after the recession hit in 2007. A majority of Mid-Hudson Valley residents, 51 percent, think the effects of the recession are long-lasting, and the jobs which were lost will never return.”
Miringoff said the information in the study can be used by decision makers, people doing research and community organizations. He said they can use the information for planning purposes or applying for grants, for instance.
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