By City Manager Ken Striplin
Santa Clarita consistently earns recognition as one of the best places to live in the nation, boasting a high quality of life, strong safety record and a business-friendly atmosphere. Our City Council achieves these accolades by listening to the community’s voice and focusing on feedback. This dedication to resident input ensures that our policies and initiatives reflect the needs and desires of our community.
To gain a comprehensive understanding of our residents’ satisfaction, priorities and concerns, the City conducts a Public Opinion Poll every two years. The insights gathered through this scientific survey, are an invaluable resource for guiding the City’s strategic planning and decision-making processes.
Our 2024 survey revealed positive feedback in regards to the quality of life in Santa Clarita. In fact, 85 percent of participants rated Santa Clarita favorably as a place to raise a family and 83 percent rated it favorably as a place to live. In addition to these positive rankings, we also want to know what our residents see as the top issues in our City. This year’s survey showed the most important issues to our community are public safety, followed by overdevelopment and traffic congestion. The top concerns have remained consistent with the findings in the 2022 survey, with only marginal changes in percentages. These concerns are also consistently addressed by your City Council through prioritizing budget spending, enacting initiatives and working with staff to find innovative solutions.
To ensure Santa Clarita remains one of the safest cities in the nation, we increased the budget for our Sheriff’s contract to approximately $33 million. To combat traffic congestion, our traffic Safety Team constantly monitors traffic patterns, optimizing streetlights and signage. Additionally, thanks to Senator Alex Padilla and Congressman Mike Garcia, our City received $1.5 million in federal funding to improve traffic circulation and pedestrian safety. These improvements will help alleviate known chokepoints during peak hours, reduce delays for motorists and increase pedestrian safety along our roads.
Beyond identifying areas for improvement, the Public Opinion Poll also provides direct feedback on resident satisfaction with City services and customer service. Most residents expressed high satisfaction, citing a clean City and high-quality, responsive services. Additionally, 93 percent of participants rated City staff as professional and 89 percent found them easily accessible.
Overall our City has once again received high marks from the community we serve. As a City Manager – this is what I strive for day in and day out. I am proud that our City employs great staff who diligently work hard each day, often behind the scenes, to provide outstanding customer service and beautiful, well maintained parks and facilities, programs and learning opportunities, activities and events. I want to thank residents who took the time to participate in our 2024 Public Opinion Poll. If you would like to review all the data collected, please visit SantaClarita.gov/City-Hall/Public-Opinion-Polls. By staying informed and engaged, residents can play an active role in shaping the future of Santa Clarita.
Ken Striplin is Santa Clarita’s City Manager and can be reached at kstriplin@santaclarita.gov.
