The Quality of Life Index was first addressed at the Study Issues Workshop of 1997. In March 1999, a task force of nine community members was appointed by the Council. The task force met five times between March and June 1999 and developed a list of measures. Next, the Council adopted a workplan for a visioning process on May 9, 2000. A second community task force met in January 2001 and narrowed the focus from 13 areas to 8 strategic priorities. At a February 27, 2001 study session, Council requested staff to draft measures for all eight strategic priorities and develop a process for the creation and implementation of a Quality of Life Index.

On June 19, 2001, the Council adopted the final Quality of Life strategic priorities, objectives and measures. The eight Quality of Life strategic priorities are:

1. Efficient, Safe Transportation Systems,
2. Quality, Diverse, Affordable Housing,
3. A Safe Community,
4. A Healthy and Sustainable Environment,
5. A Community with Diverse, Cultural Opportunities,
6. Community Pride and Involvement,
7. High Quality Education, and
8. Diverse and Growing Economy.

Quality of Life objectives are Council established goals to sustain or improve the quality of key conditions that make Sunnyvale a desirable place to live and work. Measures provide methods to assess annual changes to these conditions. Measures and objectives roll up into eight strategic priorities which represent the high level components that contribute to the overall quality of life in Sunnyvale.

In total, there are over 40 quality of life measures which will be assessed on a yearly basis and included in an annual Quality of Life Index Report beginning in FY 2002/2003. This report will serve as a "report card" on how well the City is addressing these priorities. Assuming Council's final direction on the proposed refinements to the measures and objectives referred to Boards and Commissions and discussed in this report, we anticipate issuing the first Quality of Life Index Report in June 2003, and will include results for FY 2000/2001 and 2001/2002. Attachment A compares the original wording of the nine measures and objectives approved by the Council on June 19, 2001, the revised wording that staff proposed to the Council on November 26, 2002 and the current recommendations as described in this report.

Policy statements throughout the Sunnyvale General Plan refer to the City's role and responsibility for establishing and maintaining a high quality of life for the community, although none specifically refers to a quality of life index.

Two of the revised measures recommended in this report involve adding two new questions to the External Resident Survey which will be conducted in June 2002. These measures are resident's satisfaction survey rating their neighborhood as having convenient services and good places to shop and percentage of Sunnyvale residents who volunteer for the community. Since data will not be available for these two measures until fall 2003, the results for these measures will be added to the Second Quality of Life Index which will include FY 2000/2001, 2001/2002 and 2002/2003.

Staff presented the proposed changes to the Quality of Life measures and objectives at the following Board and Commission meetings:

The minutes from the Board and Commission Meetings listed above are appended in Attachment C. Some Board and Commissions elected to comment on non-referred measures and objectives. These comments are included in Attachment D. It is recommended that these additional suggestions be considered in three to five years when sufficient data and trend analysis is available to evaluate the utility of the current measures adopted by the Council on June 19, 2001 and as modified by the Council as a result of this report.

Some Boards and Commissions passed general motions addressing all nine measures and objectives while others passed individual motions relating to a specific measure or objective. This report groups the general motions and separately lists each Board and Commission motion that addresses a specific measure or objective.

The following describes the recommended changes to objectives and measures within each strategic priority.

Existing Objective: Maintain existing mix of business and industry.

Requested Objective Change as of November 26, 2002: Maintain diverse mix of business and industry.

Explanation: Staff believes that Council's intent for this measure was to maintain an appropriate balance or mix between different business sectors, so that the ups and downs of normal business cycles will not result in wholesale changes to the City's revenue stream and the number of jobs available within the City.

Current Staff Recommendation: Adopt the requested objective change with the elimination of the word "Maintain" and the addition of the word "Encourage". Encourage Maintain diverse mix of business and industry.

The Board of Library Trustees, as noted above, requested a clarification of this objective. The objective of "maintaining an appropriate, or diverse, mix of business and industry" is intended to be a flexible goal to strike the "right" balance among business categories so that Sunnyvale's economy remains stable and strong in market downturns and upturns. As market conditions change the optimum balance among business categories will change.

The industry and business categories, or clusters, are defined as interdependent firms in related industries. In Silicon Valley for example, business and industry clusters include computer and communications hardware manufacturing; semiconductor and semiconductor equipment manufacturing; electronic component manufacturing; software; biomedical; innovation services, including technical services and business services (e.g., human resources, legal); creative services, (e.g., graphic design, advertising marketing); corporate offices; retail; hospitality and services.

1. Changes to existing measures.

Existing Measure: Residents' satisfaction survey rating the City as having convenient service outlets available in their neighborhood.

Recommended Measure Change as of November 26, 2002: Residents' satisfaction survey rating the City as convenient and a good place to shop.

Explanation: Due to the housing/commercial makeup of Sunnyvale, shopping is not decentralized by neighborhood. Instead, there are two major areas identified with shopping: the El Camino Real Corridor and the Sunnyvale Town Center. Therefore, it is recommended that this measure be revised to reflect the centralized nature of shopping in Sunnyvale.

Alternative suggested at the November 26, 2002 Council Meeting: Councilmember Howe suggested that a new question be added to the external resident survey to reflect the existing measure "Residents satisfaction survey rating the City as having convenient service outlets in their neighborhood". Staff indicated that this could be done. The new question could be included in the next survey which will be conducted in June 2003.

Current Staff Recommendation: Adopt the revised alternative measure: "Residents' satisfaction survey rating their neighborhood as having convenient services and good places to shop". This revision incorporates the suggested wording offered by the Commissions noted above. In response to the question raised by the Board of Library Trustees, about the intent of this measure, it is to determine the percentage of Sunnyvale residents who feel that their neighborhood has access to the kind of service outlets they want and the type of shopping opportunities that they desire to patronize.

Existing Measure: Retail sales per capita.

Recommended Measure Change as of November 26, 2002: Percent change in retail sales per capita meets the percent change in retail sales per capita for Santa Clara County.

Explanation: The current retail sales per capita is not a useful measure because it simply compares sales increases, or decreases, within the City's boundaries over time. A more useful measure tracks trends by comparing how well we are doing within the context of the larger economic region of Santa Clara County. This comparison also helps equalize the fact that Sunnyvale's tax base has been comprised more of "business-to-business" sales versus "business-to-consumer" sales, since we have had a relatively large business/commercial base and a smaller retail base.

Current Staff Recommendation: Adopt the recommended measure change: Percent change in retail sales per capita meets the percent change in retail sales per capita for Santa Clara County.

Retail sales per capita is intended to be a high level aggregate measure to track this critical revenue stream in relation to the larger economic region of Santa Clara County. The suggestion made by the Parks and Recreation Commission to break this measure into two categories and to separately track the figures for business-to-business and business-to-consumer is not recommended because the aggregate high level measure provides the most meaningful results.

The suggestion made by the Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee to modify the staff recommendation to only take into account consumer retail sales, excluding business-to-business sales is not recommended because the overall goal is to increase sales tax in all sectors.

The suggestion also made by the Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee to add a new measure to gauge the average distance from residences to neighborhood retail goods and services is not recommended because it is not relevant to sales tax issues and the Quality of Life Index already includes a convenient shopping measure.

Existing Measure: Extent to which the balance of business and industries within cluster groups in Sunnyvale is consistent with the model for business and industry clusters in the Silicon Valley Region (as defined by Joint Venture: Silicon Valley Network).

Recommended Measure Change as of November 26, 2002: Extent to which there is a balance of businesses within the retail/hospitality (R/H) and office/industrial (O/I) cluster groups in Sunnyvale to reduce the risk of being overly dependent on any one business cluster.

Explanation: The existing measure compares Sunnyvale's balance of businesses and industries within cluster groups to a model defined for business and industry clusters in the Silicon Valley Region. There are two problems with the existing measure. First, the Silicon Valley Region model referred to in the measure currently does not exist. Second, the existing measure and the objective do not show whether Sunnyvale has a diverse business structure that is not overly dependent on any single business cluster. Since the majority of Sunnyvale's sales tax comes from business-to-business transactions and, to a lesser degree, business-to-consumer transactions, a better measure is one that measures the balance of businesses within the retail/hospitality and office/industrial clusters groups. This measure will help the Council determine if Sunnyvale is overly dependent on any single business cluster.

Current Staff Recommendation: Adopt the recommended measure change: Extent to which there is a balance of businesses within the retail/hospitality (R/H) and office/industrial (O/I) cluster groups in Sunnyvale to reduce the risk of being overly dependent on any one business cluster.

As noted above in the motion summary, the Parks and Recreation Commission and the Child Care Advisory Board requested further clarification of this measure. The information for this measure comes from the Second Quarterly Receipts for the First Quarterly Sales Report. The retail/hospitality cluster includes primarily business-to-consumer transactions, and is composed of autos and transportation, general consumer goods (retail stores), restaurants, hotels and service businesses such as hair salons and dry cleaners. It also includes building and construction, which is composed of 30% retail/hospitality, as defined by the Building Services Division.

The office/industrial cluster includes primarily business-to-business transactions. Within this cluster are business and industry; and building and construction, which consists of 70% office/industrial, as defined by the Building Services Division. Examples of businesses in this cluster are research and development, biotech, high-tech, semiconductor and other manufacturing companies.

Existing Objective: Maintain existing ratio/proportionate amount of senior and assisted living residential developments of all income levels.

Recommended Objective Change as of November 26, 2002: Maintain the existing ratio of affordable senior and assisted living residential units compared to total housing units.

Explanation: The purpose of changing the existing objective is that City staff does not have a database of residential units for all individuals in the senior and special population categories. The City does, however, maintain a database of "affordable" residential development projects in these two categories. The source for this information is the Housing Sub-element and the annual Consolidated Annual Performance Evaluation Report (CAPER). The aggregated number of affordable housing units can be compared to the total housing units available in the City to determine if we are maintaining the existing ratio.

Current Staff Recommendation: Adopt recommended objective change: "Maintain the existing ratio of affordable senior and assisted living residential units compared to total housing units.

The intent of maintaining the existing ratio of affordable senior and assisted living residential units compared to total housing units is to increase affordable senior and assisted living units proportionate to the increase in total housing stock in Sunnyvale.

The Bicycle Pedestrian Advisory Committee suggested that the number of affordable senior and assisted living residential developments of all income levels should be consistent with the number of seniors and residents who qualify for senior and assisted living and that the City should look countywide to assure that seniors are not forced out of Sunnyvale. The Parks and Recreation Commission recommended further study to track the ratio of senior to non-senior population in Sunnyvale. The measure is not tied to changes in the population of seniors because a subset of seniors are already housed in owned units and are not in need of (or are not income eligible for) affordable housing. The aim of the City's housing program is to influence the total quantity of affordable housing units through affordable housing policies and programs. For example, the Affordable Housing Ordinance (SMC Chapter 19.66) provides a density bonus for affordable housing projects that house seniors. The City is unable to create new housing outside the jurisdiction of these policies in order to ensure that the number of affordable senior and assisted living residential developments of all income levels are consistent with the number of seniors and residents who qualify for senior and assisted living.

The City conducts a semi-annual rental and vacancy survey which tracks rent increases and decreases. Survey results can be analyzed to determine the economic impact of rent increases on seniors. Depending on market forces some seniors may decide to leave Sunnyvale to obtain less expensive housing.

In 2005, the City will update the Consolidated Plan, which identifies seniors as a special needs population. This review process will help identify additional initiatives that may be needed to assist seniors.

Existing Measure: Percent of houses and apartments that are affordable for households with median income.

Recommended Measure Change as of November 26, 2002: Percentage of homes and apartments that are affordable for households at or below 80% of median income.

Explanation: The problem with the existing measure is, again, that the City only maintains information on affordable houses and apartments which are defined as "at or below 80% of median income". The source for this information is the Consolidated Annual Performance Evaluation Report (CAPER) which reports actions taken to accomplish identified goals in the Consolidated Plan.

Current Staff Recommendation: Adopt the proposed measure change "Percentage of homes and apartments that are affordable for households at or below 80% of median income".

The suggestion from the Board of Library Trustees to utilize either "at" or "below" 80% is not recommended because the term "at or below" is consistent with federal usage and is commonly accepted to mean "equal to, or less than".

The Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee suggested that mobile homes be part of this measure. Mobile homes, which are generally owner-occupied, rather than rental units, are not included because the City does not have a separate database, or census data of the income levels of people who live in mobile homes, or financial information about mortgage and rental space payments.

Add New Measure as recommended November 26, 2002: 10% of new housing units (on a five-year rolling average) are affordable.

Explanation: The new measure will create a specific target to measure the future availability of affordable housing. Affordable units will be considered to be those in the below market rate program or developed, or acquired, by a non-profit or assisted with Housing Mitigation Funds, federal funds, or financed with tax-exempt bonds. These units should equal or exceed 10% of the total new housing stock over a five-year period.

Current Staff Recommendation: Adopt the new measure "10% of new housing units (on a five-year rolling average) are affordable" and increase the goal to match increases, as they occur, in the required number of rental Below Market Rate units as prescribed in SMC Chapter 19.66.

1. Changes to Existing Objectives.

None.

2. Changes to Existing Measures

Existing Measure: Number of Community Volunteers

Recommended Measure Change as of November 26, 2002: Eliminate measure.

Explanation: Staff is recommending the elimination of this measure because "community volunteer" is not a defined term and is not measurable by the City’s Volunteer Program. The existing Quality of Life measure, "number of City volunteers" will capture all categories of volunteers associated with the City's Volunteer Program. The core categories are 1) City volunteer – individuals with applications on file who perform regular volunteer assignments within City Departments and 2) Special Event volunteer – individuals and groups who serve at one-time events such as Make a Difference Day or for short term activities like the Mailing Team. In addition to these two core categories the City is fostering relationships with organizations and agencies that serve the needs of the Sunnyvale community. By building partnerships with these organizations, the City can better understand community needs, publicize the needs of these organizations, and refer volunteers to them. The City is also reaching out to community service groups such as the Kiwanis Club, Rotary Club and high school service groups, in order to match these groups with volunteer opportunities. Thus a third category of volunteer, Outside Agency volunteer is defined as an individual or group who contacts the City’s Volunteer Program and is referred to such outside agencies and organizations. The number of outside agency volunteers will be added to the core category number. The total of all three categories will be reported as "number of City volunteers" in the Quality of Life Index Report.

Alternative suggested at the November 26, 2002 Council Meeting: Councilmember Howe questioned eliminating the "number of community volunteers". Although the number of community volunteers is not tracked by the City Volunteer Program, it could be measured by adding a new question to the External Customer Service Survey. The survey question would be generically worded, such as "Do you volunteer for a school, charity, religious or other community organization or agency serving the Sunnyvale community?" The intent of this question is to measure all aspects of community volunteerism within the City. If it is decided that a new community volunteer question be added to the External Resident Survey, it is recommended that the current measure, "number of community volunteers" be changed to "percentage of Sunnyvale residents who volunteer for the community" since resident satisfaction survey data is based on percentage of respondents, not actual number of responses.

Current Staff Recommendation: Adopt the revised measure: "The percentage of Sunnyvale residents who volunteer for the community". This measure will be assessed through the addition of a new question on the external resident survey which is scheduled to be issued in June 2003: "Do you volunteer for youth activities, a sports organization, a school, charity, religious or other community organization or agency serving the Sunnyvale Community"? This survey question incorporates Commissions' suggestion to include several examples of community volunteering.

1. Changes to existing objectives.

None.

2. Changes to existing measures.

Existing Measure: Number of City employees holding multi-lingual certification.

Recommended Measure Change as of November 26, 2002: Number of City employees holding bilingual certification.

Explanation: Multi-lingual certification would require that that City staff members speak two foreign languages in addition to their native language. Staff believes that it was Council's intent for this measure to reflect the number of City employees who speak two or more languages. There are currently 30+ City employees who are certified as bilingual; no data currently exists regarding the number of City employees who are multi-lingual.

Current Staff Recommendation: Adopt the revised measure: Number of City employees holding bilingual certification.

The Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee recommendation to add a new measure, which reveals the number of employees who are monolingual in a language other than English, is not recommended because it is assumed that all city employees must be able to communicate in English at a basic level of proficiency. The City currently does not keep track of those employees who may be in this category.

In addition to the specific motion/actions on the referred measures and objectives above, the Parks and Recreation Commission and the Planning Commission made the following recommendations:

The Parks and Recreation Commission recommendation to send relevant portions of the Quality of Life Initiative to appropriate Boards and Commissions for input as determined by Council is not recommended. The measurers taken together are designed to give an overall picture of the quality of life in Sunnyvale. If the Council wishes to seek future input from Boards and Commissions it is recommended that the full quality of Life Index be referred, rather than select measures.

The Planning Commission suggestion to compare data from nearby cities to all measures in the Quality of Life Report is not recommended. Sunnyvale measures were identified by residents as important to our community and may not be comparable to data from other cities. Also, researching data from neighboring cities, determining if it is comparable to our measures and including any comparable data in Sunnyvale's Quality of Life Index will significantly expand the scope of the project and delay issuance of the report. It is recommended that the report be based on an annual comparison of how Sunnyvale measures change over time, as originally planned. Once published it can be compared to the Bay Area Index issued by the Joint Venture of Silicon Valley to determine if Sunnyvale's measures should be reconsidered in light of indicators tracked in this regional report.

There is minimal fiscal impact to this report. It is anticipated that some additional staff time will be needed to prepare and issue the Quality of Life Index Report, however this can be achieved with current resources and service levels.

Public contact was made through posting of the Council agenda on the City's official notice bulletin board, posting of the agenda and report on the Cities' web page and the availability of the report in the Library and the City Clerk's Office.

1. Approve staff recommended changes to the seven measures and two objectives referred on November 26, 2002 to Boards and Commissions for feedback as described in this report and listed in Attachment A; approve the FY 00/01 base year results for all measures outlined in Attachment B; and evaluate Board/Commission suggestions on non-referred measures as listed in Attachment D in three to five years when sufficient data is available to evaluate the usefulness of the current measures.
2. Provide alternative direction to staff.
3. Take no action.

Prepared by,
Terilyn Anderson
Senior Management Analyst

Reviewed by:
Charles J. Schwabe
Deputy City Manager for Organizational Effectiveness

Approved by:
Robert S. LaSala
City Manager

ATTACHMENTS

1. Summary of Proposed/Recommended Changes to Seven Qualify of Life Measures and Two Objectives

2. Revised Final Strategic Priorities, Objectives, Measures and Base Year results for the Quality of Life Index Project
3. Board and Commission Meeting Minutes Regarding Proposed Changes to Quality of Life Measures and Objectives.

4. Board and Commission Comments on Non-Referred Quality of Life Measures and Objectives.