Traffic Tops Crime, Schools as Biggest Worry in O.C. Poll

Most Orange County residents believe the county is heading in the right direction but name traffic and transportation as the area’s biggest problem.

They also weigh in on a few other topics, blaming deregulation for the state’s energy woes and remain largely unmoved on their opinions about a proposed airport at El Toro, according to results released Thursday from a quarterly survey by the Orange County Business Council and the Center for Public Policy at Cal State Fullerton.

The results of the survey, based on responses from 550 Orange County residents and 604 people statewide, varied little from previous polls.

The survey showed, for example, that 78% of local residents said Orange County is moving in the right direction, compared with 68% who felt that way about their respective counties elsewhere in the state. In the last survey, the figures were very similar.

Cal State Fullerton political science professor Phillip Gianos attributed the high satisfaction levels to general optimism about the economy and the disappearance of major county issues such as the bankruptcy.

“No news is good news,” Gianos said, adding that there have been no overriding issues that might unsettle residents.

Those surveyed ranked transportation and traffic as the county’s most important problem, followed by education, crime and population/development. The only topic that has dipped considerably over the years is crime, Gianos said.

In 1999, 22.5% of residents said the biggest problem in Orange County was crime. This year, that number dropped to 9%.

Residents also responded to numerous questions about the state’s energy crisis, though professors who analyzed the data cautioned that the numbers might be deceiving because the survey was conducted before rolling blackouts hit Southern California and before the rate increase.

Orange County residents also mirrored statewide respondents in this category, with about 46% blaming deregulation for the energy problems, followed by about 30% blaming electric companies. Eighteen percent blamed Gov. Gray Davis and the Legislature.

At least 75% of those polled agreed with solutions such as re-regulating the industry, building more power plants and conserving energy.

Officials from the Orange County Business Council, which helped fund the $800,000 survey, said they will continue to closely monitor the El Toro airport issue.

Since November 1999, support for the airport has dropped slightly while opposition has increased. But the numbers have remained largely unchanged despite nearly $3 million spent by anti-airport foes since October 2000.

Business Council President Stan Oftelie said El Toro backers are taking note of those numbers particularly as they prepare to launch an $8-million public information campaign in support of the airport.

Oftelie said they will be looking to answer two questions: Have the opposition levels peaked? And are positions so hardened that opinions won’t change?

Roger Faubel, a consultant for the anti-airport El Toro Reuse Planning Authority, doesn’t expect any major shift. “There is no new information here,” he said. “I think people are offended at the vast amounts of money that are going into this issue when the people essentially have already made up their minds. People have really staked out their ground.”