NEWS RELEASE

EMBARGO UNTIL 7:00 pm on March 1, 2011

Karen J. Freeman February 28, 2011
Marketing & Public Relations Officer
kfreeman@sunyjefferson.edu / 315-786-2234

THE CENTER FOR COMMUNITY STUDIES RELEASES RESULTS OF

4TH ANNUAL LEWIS COUNTY SURVEY OF THE COMMUNITY
_______________________________________________________________________________

The Center for Community Studies at Jefferson Community College

will release the complete findings of the Fourth Annual Lewis County
Survey of the Community at the monthly meeting of the Lewis County
Board of Legislators on Tuesday, March 1 at 5:00 p.m.
The survey is an inventory of the attitudes and opinions of a
representative sample of Lewis County residents. The primary goal of
the survey is to collect data regarding quality of life issues of
importance to local citizens.
Working under the supervision of the Center for Community
Studies research staff, statistics students at the College completed
404 telephone interviews on the evenings of October 26-29, 2010.

Highlights of this year’s survey include:

• Lewis County residents continue to be very satisfied with the
overall quality of life in the area, with 78% of residents rating
it as either “Excellent” or “Good.”
• Residents report the most satisfaction with the following aspects
of the county: quality of the environment, quality of K-12
education, the overall quality of life, policing and crime control,
and healthcare quality.
2-2-2
4th Lewis County Survey

• Residents report the most dissatisfaction with: the availability of

good jobs, real estate taxes, the cost of energy, and the overall
state of the local economy.
• Although residents of Lewis County continue to perceive the
“Overall State of the Local Economy” negatively, the worsening
trend observed between 2007 and 2009 in the county has not
continued in 2010 – the percentage who rates the “Overall State of
the Local Economy” as “Poor” increased from 19% to 44% between 2007
and 2009, while in 2010 this rate was 41%.
• A majority of residents of Lewis County perceive each of the
following business sectors as “Very Important” to the local
economy:
o Maintaining farms and agriculture (90%)
o Manufacturing jobs (87%)
o Tourism and recreation business (63%)
o Having windfarms in the region (50%)
• When asked whether they support or oppose the development of each
of the following four sources of renewable energy in Lewis County
in the future, the following percentages responded with “Strongly
Support”:
o Wind power (68%)
o Small-scale wind power generation (63%)
o Biomass, wood or grass (58%)
o Manure Digestion (42%; 23% had no opinion)
• With respect to residents’ attitudes about the Lewis County
Comprehensive Plan components, the following percentages responded
with “Support” for each component:
o Tourism and recreation-related development and marketing
(88%)
o Development of more public pedestrian (“walking”)trails
(80%)
o Development of more ATV and snowmobile trails (74%)
3-3-3
4th Lewis County Survey

o Municipal government efforts to preserve agricultural and

forest lands from private development (72%)
o County government efforts to acquire rights–of-way to
preserve corridors for future public use (69%)
• With respect to the future of government services in the county,
residents express overwhelming support for:
o Towns and villages in the county working together to share
similar services (95%)
o Towns and villages considering consolidation with their
neighbors (76%)

The entire 72-question survey, including a summary of the

results and the complete survey instrument, will be available
beginning March 2 on the Jefferson Community college website by
following this link for the Center for Community Studies,
http://www.sunyjefferson.edu/ccs/, and clicking on ‘Annual Survey.’
The 4th Annual Lewis County Survey of the Community was made
possible by Jefferson Community College, Northern New York Community
Foundation, Herring College Memorial Trust and Carthage Federal
Savings and Loan, with support from the Lewis County Economic
Development Office.

For more information, please contact Dr. Raymond Petersen,

Center for Community Studies at Jefferson Community College, 315-786-
2488.

SUNY Jefferson: Celebrating 50 Years of Learning ~ Changing Lives

Established on November 7, 1961, Jefferson Community College was the area’s first institution of higher education.
Supervised by the State University of New York (SUNY), Jefferson offers 30+ associate degrees and certificates for career
preparation or transfer; local access to bachelor’s and advanced degrees through partner institutions; lifelong learning
through workshops and seminars; business and industry training; and cultural enrichment opportunities for the entire
Watertown/Fort Drum region. Jefferson is accredited by the Middle States Association and currently serves approximately
3,800 students from Jefferson, Lewis, Oswego and St. Lawrence counties, including a significant number of service members
and their families. Please visit www.sunyjefferson.edu for more information about 50th anniversary events taking place from
January through November of 2011.

- 30 -