City Survey: Portlanders Who Speak a Different Language Feel Less Safe Walking in Their Neighborhoods

Auditor Mary Hull Caballero’s team translated the survey into Spanish, Vietnamese, Mandarin Chinese and Russian.

PSU Farmers Market (Maya Setton)
By Aaron Mesh

The 26th edition of an annual community survey conducted by the Portland Auditor's Office features a new wrinkle: It's polylingual.

Auditor Mary Hull Caballero's team translated the survey into Spanish, Vietnamese, Mandarin Chinese and Russian.

The results, released today, show Portlanders who answered the survey in translation feel significantly less safe and content in their neighborhoods than English-speaking residents.

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Only 71 percent of respondents to translated surveys said they felt safe walking in their neighborhood during the day, compared to 90 percent of respondents in English. The auditor found a similar discrepancy in satisfaction rates for "neighborhood livability": 67 percent of translated respondents felt positive, compared to 85 percent of English-speakers.

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