Leaders get low marks from Q-C residents in survey
By Deirdre Cox Baker | Wednesday, September 26, 2007 
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Quad-City residents like where they live but are concerned about the quality of their leaders, especially in Scott County.

Closer to home, two-thirds of those who live in both Rock Island and Scott counties are overweight or obese.

The first Quad-Cities Community Vitality Snapshot was unveiled Tuesday in a conference at Moline’s i wireless Center. The study looks at the quality of life for 310,166 people in the metropolitan area.

Local residents do enjoy “very high” quality levels, better than those experienced in other parts of the United States, said Bruce Lockwood of Professional Research Consultants Inc. The Omaha-based firm conducted polling for the Community Vitality Scan, released last May.

The Snapshot uses information from the more detailed scans, conducted in 2007 and 2002, and from sources including school districts, cities and organizations.

The highest negative rating in the entire study concerns leadership, both in government and in other sectors. Nearly 38 percent of residents rate local leadership as fair or poor, according to Lockwood. “They are more critical in Scott County than in Rock Island County,” he said.

Violent crime and child abuse rates are a top concern, again on the Iowa side of the Mississippi River, with residents in Scott County less likely to praise local safety and crime control efforts.

However, fewer adults in the area report being homeless, and smoking rates have declined. Some 12.9 percent of local residents lack health insurance, compared to 20 percent in the United States.

Too many, too heavy

In other findings, a steady 66.8 percent of Quad-City residents are overweight or obese, slightly higher than the national average of 66.1 percent. But most adults also say they lead a healthy lifestyle.

 There is a higher incidence of sexually-transmitted diseases. Locally, 186 cases of gonorrhea were reported for every 100,000 residents, while the national average is 117. Almost 460 of every 100,000 people have chlamydia, compared to 304 nationally.

There is a higher rate of births to teen mothers, 12 percent in the Quad-Cities compared to 10.4 percent nationwide.

Other higher-than-national averages concern lead poisoning in children which affects 5.1 percent of the youngsters in Rock Island County and 3.9 percent in Scott County. There is a 1.6 percent rate in the United States.

Future uses

The Snapshot information will be used across the region in planning efforts, according to Denise Bulat of the Bi-State Regional Commission, who presented the findings.

“We all work to help our community, and we hope to see some movement in numbers in the right direction,” said Susan Score, president and chief executive officer of the Community Foundation of the Great River Bend.

Event participants — most of whom were from nonprofit agencies — offered suggestions on how to fix the problems identified.

Local clergy share concerns raised by the Snapshot, said Tracy Overstreet of the Safer Foundation. Overstreet suggested the Snapshot organizers involve members of the religious community and their followers. “You are talking about huge numbers of people,” he said, “and many of them have the same goals.”

Snapshot sponsors are United Way of the Quad-Cities Area, the Community Foundation of the Great River Bend, the Quad-City Health Initiative, the Moline Foundation and the Amy Helpenstell Foundation.

Plans are to release the Community Vitality Snapshot every year to monitor changes, while the Community Vitality Scan is to be done every four to five years.

“I hope the general public looks at this and takes personal responsibility for solutions,” Bulat said. “We all want to work toward better numbers.”

Deirdre Cox Baker can be contacted at (563) 383-2492 or dbaker@qctimes.com.