Lincoln 2020 – A clear vision of the future
Strategic Planning: Demographic data and survey analysis

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[March 13, 2015]  LINCOLN - On Friday evening six aldermen were present for the Friday night session of the city of Lincoln Strategic Plan workshop. They were Michelle Bauer, Jeff Hoinacki, Kathy Horn, Todd Mourning, Marty Neitzel, and Steve Parrott. Also in attendance was Mayor Keith Snyder, city administrator Clay Johnson, city clerk Susan Gehlbach, city of Lincoln assistant Police Chief Paul Adams and Fire Chief Mark Miller.

Katie Davison of Northwestern Illinois University Center for Governmental Studies (CGS) served as the moderator for the event.

After introductions around the room, Davison explained the end goal for the session, then went immediately into relaying information from studies the CGS had done prior to the session.



Using a power point presentation, Davison pointed out how the population of the city is changing. The population in Lincoln is 14,323, down from previous census information. The biggest drop in population is in the 35 to 44-year-old bracket by 16 percent. The largest increase in population is in the 60 to 64 age bracket by 18 percent.

The median income per household is $38,871 compared to Illinois on the whole with a median income per household of $56,797.


 


Comparing Lincoln to surrounding cities, Davison showed that with the exception of Decatur, surrounding communities are growing slightly. She also pointed out that at 92.9 percent, the city of Lincoln carries the highest percentage of White only population, and the very lowest percentage of residents with bachelor’s degrees with the number being only 18.4 percent.



An interesting statistic Davison shared was commuter data. In the slide she pointed out that there are 3,938 people coming into Lincoln to work. They live in other areas, but commute to Lincoln for their jobs. On the other side, there are 4,441 residents of Lincoln who live here but leave the county for their jobs. At the same time 4,146 live and work here.

Davison stopped her slideshow and Snyder picked up with a new one. He said this was information he has presented to others in the past, and he wanted to share it with the aldermen.


The first slide showed the change in population since 1910 in Lincoln as well as Logan County. The population for both peaked in the 1960’s and 1970’s. He noted that today, the population of Lincoln is only slightly higher than it was in the 1950’s



Comparing 2000 Census information to 2010, Snyder pointed out that the community has lost workers in manufacturing, education, public administration, and governmental jobs as well as retail.

The largest increase in jobs has been in the professional scientific sector.



In the study of population, there are widely recognized terms that define the types of people who live in a given community. Among those terms, Heartland Communities, Midlife Constants, Rustbelt Traditions, Old and Newcomers, Hardscrabble Road, Traditional Living, In Style, Prairie Living, and Salt of the Earth.

Snyder pointed out that within a three-mile radius of Lincoln, the majority of the population falls into the first three categories.

Heartland Communities is defined as “few college graduates, they cherish their homes and care for their gardens.” Lincoln comes in with 29 percent of its population in this category.

Midlife Constants are those transitioning from their child rearing years to retirement and Snyder said that constitutes 23 percent of our population.

Rustbelt Tradition, at 19 percent are the local residents who stick close to home and are not tempted by fads.



Looking at job growth on a national level, Snyder showed that Moody’s Analytics work ranks the state of Illinois 50th for job growth.

When Snyder had finished his presentation, Davison moved into looking at the results of the survey recently conducted by the city of Lincoln.
 


The survey was embedded on the city website in January, and LDN provided links to it in its daily editions. During the survey period, 755 people completed the questionnaire and submitted it through the city website.

This figure represents about 5 percent of the population. On Saturday, Davison would explain that in general it is only one percent of the population that is actively engaged. Therefore the 755 figure was impressive.

In the survey, not all questions were answered. The question answered most often with a 98 percent response asked how often residents visited the city website.

The question answered least often was “What is the nearest intersection to where you live” with only 44 percent responding.



The survey did indicate that those who visited the website found it to be useful for a variety of topics including contact information, permit application downloads, finding council agendas and meeting minutes, and checking collection schedules for leaf, brush, garbage and recycling.



The survey showed that of the 755 surveys, many were unaware of services offered by the city.
 

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In the public safety category, the survey takers indicated they feel safe in the city of Lincoln, especially in their own neighborhoods, and also in downtown Lincoln.



It was noted, that there is a need for a greater police presence at the Amtrak station and in the city parks.



The city also ranked high in the safety category at public events



A question about how the citizenry learns about events in Lincoln showed that residents are becoming more dependent on internet services. While the highest percentage, 70.4, said they learned about city events by word of mouth, the next two highest percentages were given to the two internet based newspapers in Lincoln. Survey takers also indicated that at 4.6 percent, the least used public information product is the Public Access Channel 5 offered (at survey time) through Comcast Cable.



Answering questions about the heart of the city, survey takers responded that 38.3 percent visit downtown Lincoln several times a week. The survey also indicated that 63 percent of the people who do visit downtown go there to shop.

Davison said this was a surprising, in a good way, result. She had imagined that with the courthouse being included in the survey, it would be the most visited.



In some key areas, Lincoln on the whole, only ranked as middle of the road, earning neither a poor nor an excellent rating. Included in those key questions: Is the town an enjoyable place to visit and overall is the city clean? Ranking low on the scale was convenience of parking and recreational opportunities.



The survey also indicated that the condition of the roads in Lincoln is a large concern for residents. This is information that the city is well aware of, and has worked to create solutions on a long-term basis.



Davison also shared a slide that indicated where in the city the survey takers had taken the survey. She noted that the dots indicated computer IP addresses, and that she was pleased to see that the survey had been taken from throughout the city, not just a few specific regions.



Another telling question was: How interested are you in city of Lincoln issues? The survey indicated the residents of Lincoln are ‘interested’ to ‘very interested’ in the city.



The survey indicated that 81.4 percent of those answering the questions had lived in Lincoln more than 10 years. Other demographics from the survey included employment. Sixty-two percent said they were employed, 9.4 percent said they were self-employed, 17.7 percent were retired, and only 1.9 percent of the survey takers were unemployed. In addition, 75.1 percent of the survey takers live in the city of Lincoln. Of the survey takers 44.4 percent were male and 55.3 percent were female.

As Davison wrapped up the presentation, she set the stage for what would come on Saturday.

As the aldermen left for the evening, she wanted to give them four questions to ponder.

“Who are the City’s stakeholders?”
“If you were to leave Lincoln and not return for 10 years, what would you like to have changed? What would you like to stay the same?”
“What makes you proud of Lincoln?”
“What concerns you most about the future of Lincoln?

On Tuesday, LDN will begin a series of articles about the Strategic Plan process, including discussions by aldermen, accounts of break-out sessions, results of the SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) exercise, and much more.

Click here for slides from Davison's demographic study

Click here for the full slideshow presentation by Mayor Keith Snyder

Click here for the full slideshow presentation of the city of Lincoln Survey results

[Nila Smith]

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