June 15, 2004

SUBJECT: FY 2002/2003 Quality of Life Index Report: INFORMATION ONLY

This information only report is being used to distribute the FY 2002/2003 Quality of Life Index Report to the City Council. Through this project, staff collects data for about 40 different measures on topics that affect the quality of life in Sunnyvale, such as education, housing, and transportation. This is the City's second Quality of Life Index Report. The report lists the individual index scores for each of the eight strategic priorities that make up the overall Quality of Life Index. The overall index score for FY 2002/2003 is 134, which is an increase as compared to both the base year index (100) for FY 2000/2001 and the FY 2001/2002 index (109).

The Quality of Life Index was established by the City Council in June 2001. The index is designed to measure conditions that local residents and business have identified as important to living and working in Sunnyvale. The index contains eight strategic priorities:

Efficient, Safe Transportation Systems

Quality, Diverse, Affordable Housing

A Safe Community

A Healthy and Sustainable Environment

A Community with Diverse, Cultural Opportunities

Community Pride and Involvement

High Quality Education

Diverse and Growing Economy.

Each strategic priority contains objectives and measures. The objectives represent goals established by the City Council to sustain or improve selected conditions that make Sunnyvale a desirable place to live and work. The measures provide a way to assess changes to these conditions. As an example, "improve public perception of traffic safety in the City" is an objective for the Efficient, Safe Transportation Systems strategic priority. The measure for this objective is the safe roads condition rating.

The Quality of Life Index contains more than 40 measures. The first Quality of Life Index Report was distributed to the City Council in June 2003. This first report established a base year for the index, using data for each measure collected during FY 2000/2001. The report also provided the Quality of Life Index for FY 2001/2002. The overall rating for all eight strategic priorities was 109.

Several policy statements in the General Plan refer to the City's role and responsibility for establishing and maintaining a high quality of life for the community.

Goal 7.3A. Assess community conditions and make appropriate changes to long-range, mid-range, and short-range plans.

Goal 7.2A. Achieve a community in which citizens and businesses are informed about local issues and City programs and services.

Goal 5.1A. Preserve and enhance the physical and social environment and facilitate positive relations and a sense of well being among all community members, including residents, workers and businesses.

City staff has completed the Quality of Life Index for FY 2002/2003. The overall rating for all eight strategic priorities is 134, as compared to 109 for FY 2001/21002. It is interesting to note that results increased for measures in six of eight strategic priorities. There was no change to the combined results for the five measures for Quality, Diverse Affordable Housing. The combined results for the eight measures for A Safe Community were lower in FY 2002/2003 as compared to both the base year and in FY 2001/2002. More information on these specific measures can be found in page 5 of the report.

In addition, Council asked that the Quality of Life Index Report examine results for eight specific measures, and develop a second priority index. The overall rating for these measures was 137 for FY 2002/2003, as compared to 99 for FY 2001/2002.

Finally, Council reduced the service level for the Quality of Life Index. Future Quality of Life Index Reports will be prepared every other year. The next report will be prepared and distributed in FY 2005/2006.

A copy of the complete report is included as Attachment 1.

This is an information only report to Council. There is no direct fiscal impact from Council receiving this report. Future budgets will contain funding for staff to collect data, analyze results for Quality of Life measures, write the report, and for expenses to prepare and distribute the report.

The public was notified of this item through publication of the Council Agenda in the San Jose Mercury News and the posting of the Council Agenda and Report on the City of Sunnyvale's Internet home page. This report is also available at the Sunnyvale Public Library and the City Clerk's Office.

Prepared by:
Charles J. Schwabe
Deputy City Manager

Approved by:
Amy Chan
City Manager

Attachment:

Quality of Life Index Report for FY 2002/2003 (pdf format)