Survey: housing, living, inclusion

Moscow residents who responded to a 2022 citizen survey indicated they are concerned about Moscow’s growth, affordability and inclusiveness.

The Moscow City Council on Monday discussed the biennial survey that was mailed to 1,200 addresses in September. Approximately 26% of those people responded, the lowest percentage since Moscow began these surveys in 2002.

Residents were asked to rate characteristics of Moscow on a 100-point scale. The overall appearance of the city and its job opportunities received the highest scores in the survey’s history.

The characteristics that received the lowest scores since 2002 were access to affordable housing, “openness and acceptance of the community towards people of diverse backgrounds,” and air quality.

When asked about Moscow’s safety, residents generally attributed high scores indicating they felt safe walking alone at night in their neighborhoods and downtown.

As Councilor Hailey Lewis pointed out on Monday, this survey was mailed to residents before four University of Idaho students were murdered Nov. 13 in their off-campus home, and before the suspect in that case was arrested in late December.

“I’m really interested in asking those specific safety questions again while it is still timely,” Lewis said.

It was mentioned during Monday’s meeting that there is a “Campus and Community Safety Town Hall” scheduled Feb. 28 at the UI’s Bruce M. Pitman Center intended to address safety concerns through a panel discussion.

The survey also showed population growth and taxes are among the greatest perceived problems in the community. A third of respondents indicated they either “disagree” or “strongly disagree” that the city is doing a good job planning for the growth of the community.

City services like fire response, emergency medical response, the library and park maintenance were the highest rated services. The lowest rated were street maintenance, public parking, planning and zoning and sidewalk maintenance.

The survey results, which can be found in Monday’s City Council meeting packet, will be posted on the city website, Moscow City Supervisor Bill Belknap said. On Monday, the council discussed the possibility of allowing people to complete this survey online in the future in addition to mailing them.

In other business, the Moscow City Council approved a one-year license agreement with Starship Technologies allowing the company to operate its food delivery robots off the UI campus.

These robots began operating at the UI in March 2022 and there are currently 15 in use. Customers can use an app to order food and drinks from restaurants on campus and have the robots deliver those items to them. Once the robot arrives, customers can unlock the robot’s lid using their app and retrieve their goods.

Idaho law does not allow the city to prohibit these robots from traveling on the sidewalks, but Starship Technologies did agree to several conditions as part of the license agreement.

For example, the agreement limits the number of robots to 30 and prohibits them from traveling downtown during special events like the Moscow Farmers Market. The agreement also caps their speed limit to 4 mph.

Kuipers can be reached at akuipers@dnews.com.