City Hears Infrastructure, Public Safety Among Resident Concerns
Austin City Council got some feedback today from surveys of residents. Photo by flickr.com/photos/maczter.Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
The Austin City Council received a report card of sorts today.
For the last 10 years, the city has hired a variety of surveying firms to find out where it’s performing well and where it needs to improve.
The majority of the feedback the city council got was good. Chris Tatham is with Kansas-based ETC Institute – the market research firm that ran this year’s survey. Tatham says the more than 1,200 people surveyed had a satisfaction level higher than the national average. But there’s room for improvement.
“Infrastructure, streets and sidewalks, public safety and drinking water continue to be the areas that I think are going to be important to emphasize to make sure that residents feel like you are in line with their expectations and the services they consider are most important,” Tatham told the council.
When it comes to public safety, for instance, the community praised response times of police officers, but was not completely satisfied with their performance. City officials say these yearly surveys are helpful to gauge community concerns and to better plan the allocation of funds and services.
Podcast: Download (1.3MB)
