UTSA survey finds majority would vote against PGA district

(May 13, 2002)--Nearly 60 percent of area residents responding to a UTSA survey say they oppose the San Antonio City Council's decision to create a special district over the Edwards Aquifer to accommodate the proposed PGA Village.

When asked their opinions about the council's decision, 56 percent of respondents either strongly disagreed (22 percent) or disagreed (34 percent) with the decision. And, should the matter come to a referendum, an equal number of respondents indicated they would vote against the measure.

Only seven percent "strongly agreed" with the decision, with another 37 percent agreeing. Seven percent indicating they did not know" or had "no answer" to the question.

The findings are part of a random-sample, general population survey about citizens' attitudes and perceptions on several current topics conducted by the UTSA Hispanic Research Center/Metropolitan Research and Policy Institute. The telephone survey was conducted April 29-May 3.

"Area residents definitely have strong majority opinions against the council's PGA decision, so much so they would likely vote against the issue were it brought to a referendum," said UTSA Associate Professor Arturo Vega, study principal investigator.

Vega added that ethnic minorities, individuals with lower family incomes, those who are less formally educated and younger respondents tended to express more disagreement with the council's decision than their Anglo, higher income, more formally educated, older counterparts.

Ethnic-minority respondents also indicated a greater willingness to vote against the issue in a referendum than did their Anglo counterparts. Men and women respondents did not vary statistically in their opposition to the council's decision (males, 59 percent disagreed overall; females, 54 percent disagreed overall).

In addition, 69 percent of the survey respondents expressed they only had "some confidence" in the people running the City Council. Eight percent indicated they had "hardly any confidence," while only 16 percent expressed a "great deal of confidence."

When the same question was asked in a fall 2001 survey, 17 percent of respondents had "hardly any confidence," 23 percent a "great deal" and 52 percent, only "some confidence."

The population sample for this survey comprised 397 people in Bexar County. The standard error of the entire sample is +/- 4.9 percent with a 95 percent confidence level. Eighty-three percent of respondents identified themselves as currently living within the San Antonio city limits, while 17 percent said they lived in another incorporated area (Alamo Heights, Leon Valley or Hollywood Park) or in an unincorporated area of Bexar County. Survey results were weighted by sex and race/ethnicity according to 2000 Census data for Bexar County.

"We sampled Bexar County residents because we wanted to get people's views on issues of interest to the area. Because issues related to the Edwards Underground Aquifer District impact everyone in the area, we felt comfortable with a general population sample frame," said Vega.

Responses from individuals who live in the San Antonio city limits did not significantly differ from respondents who lived in another incorporated municipality in the area or even in an unincorporated area of the county. Fifty-seven percent of San Antonians disagreed with council decision compared to 53 percent of non-San Antonians.

For more information, call (210) 458-2650 or visit the Hispanic Research Center/Metropolitan Research and Policy Institute Web site.

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