Yellowknife (May 06/05) - An Ipsos Reid citizen's survey released this week indicates that while Yellowknifers are generally happy with their city, they think there's room for improvement.

People were asked why the quality of life has worsened. Topping the list were the cost of living, crime and alcohol/drug use.

Wendy Carrier: "I feel safe. We have negatives and we have positives." Why do you think quality of life has improved? New facilities/developments: 18% More stores/shopping: 14% There are lots of jobs: 11% There is more to do: 10% Improved services: 9% Growing population: 9% There are more businesses: 9% More housing is available: 8% Diamond mines: 7% Economy is improving: 7% Why do you think the quality of life has worsened? Increase in crime/vandalism: 26% Cost of living is too high: 23% Increase in drugs and alcohol: 23% Poor governance: 14% Social problems: 9% Traffic congestion: 7% Increased population: 4% Lack of jobs/unemployment is high: 4% Economic development has occurred too fast: 3% Implementation of smoking bylaw: 3%

Lynn Huang operates a restaurant downtown. She said that the $3,000 a year she pays to heat her house is too high.

Stuart Saul, 20, moved to Yellowknife seven years ago. The cost of living and housing were near the top of his list of things he dislikes about living in Yellowknife.

"It's nearly impossible to get an apartment. My sister's moving out right now, and we've got 15 days to find a place to live for her, and it's really hard," Saul said.

But that wasn't the only issue. Saul would also like to see something done about drug use and alcoholism in Yellowknife, as well as crime.

"I live in Ravenscourt, and a couple of weeks ago every other car had its tires slashed," Saul said.

Downtown crime

Paul Laserich has lived in Yellowknife for 40 years. He agrees that something needs to be done about the crime downtown.

"It's pretty bad when you drive downtown and you see the drug deals going on down in the alleyway," he said.

"It's blatant when you know the cab number of the guy that's a drug dealer."

Wendy Carrier works in the Centre Square Mall. She moved from New Brunswick four years ago and enjoys living here. She said that she isn't sure how much power city council has over crime in Yellowknife.

"Well, I'm not sure what they would do about crime. If (criminals) want to do that stuff, they are going to do it," she said.

On the cost of living, Carrier said that while it is higher here, wages are good.

Yellowknife's roads were among the biggest concerns for Dave MacDonald, who works for the territorial government.

"I'd say the street cleaning would be a big issue," he said. "There's a lot of gravel and stuff like that around."

According to the survey, 26 per cent of respondents identify an increase in crime and vandalism as detracting from the quality of life. Cost of living and a perceived increase in drug and alcohol use were each identified as detractors by 23 per cent of those surveyed. Only three per cent said the smoking by-law detracted from the quality of life.

Garbage collection thumbs up

The survey also found that 92 per cent of respondents were satisfied with garbage collection services, while 37 per cent were satisfied with city recycling programs.

But most like Yellowknife: 95 per cent of respondents rate the overall quality of life as "good."

Councillor David McCann said city hall pays attention to surveys. The perception of crime in Yellowknife "helps us maybe put more pressure for more police resources."

The study was conducted by randomly sampling 800 citizens older than 16 from Feb. 15-16, and is considered accurate give or take three per cent, 19 times out of 20.