COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (KMTV) — A new study reveals that people in Council Bluffs really like their community, with residents expressing high levels of satisfaction with their quality of life and local amenities.
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The Iowa West Foundation and the Chamber of Commerce commissioned research, which was conducted by Professor Josie Gatti Schafer, director of UNO's Center for Public Research.
"There's a lot of positivity about overall quality of life, access to amenities, parks, recreation; folks were really positive about their jobs, they have strong social connections, deep family roots," Schafer said.
Brenda Mainwaring, president and CEO of Iowa West, says community leaders believe Council Bluffs needs to grow but they wanted to understand what neighbors think.
"So, the whole point of the survey was not just to say, 'How do we attract people,' but 'Do we all agree that's a priority for us as a community?'" she said.
One striking result of the survey: residents who love Council Bluffs also feel they're not supposed to feel that pride.
"No one in this room, ever again, gets to tell a visitor like me all about outdated perceptions of Council Bluffs," said speaker and community builder Kiley Miller, during the presentation.
Mainwaring is a Council Bluffs native and says she's also suseptible to negative views of her hometown.
"I have a lot of those old attitudes. I am continuously surprised, and some day I hope I'm not, by how much people love living here because we don't talk about ourselves that way," she said.
The survey also identified areas for improvement. Respondents expressed concerns about affordable housing and opportunities for young professionals.
"Young professionals in particular are looking for those high wage jobs with a lot of career opportunities and advancement and promotions and that was an area of some dissatisfaction as well," Schafer said.
Results of the community survey will be released to the public at a later date.
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