Mayor Kenney announced the 2019-2020 Philadelphia Resident Survey, which shows officials how residents really feel about the city.
Going into Kenney’s second term, he plans on taking the feedback very seriously. In a press release, he stated that, “As our Administration begins its second term, these results shine an invaluable light on the opinions and concerns of Philadelphia residents about how this government serves them.”
Mayor Kenney added, “The findings will help us further identify opportunities for improvement, including how we allocate limited taxpayer dollars over these next several years. Your voices are being heard.”
A press release states that this survey gathered information from 11,370 of Philadelphia’s approximately 1.58 million residents.
A significant discovery from this survey was that city services that ranked as excellent or good by most residents included fire services (76 percent), recycling services (53 percent), quality of drinking water (51 percent), and quality of parks (48 percent).
Overall, the survey stated that 75 percent of residents thought that city services were excellent, good, or fair.
Residents’ top three areas of concern were streets, police and public safety, which respondents would like to see prioritized. These areas of concern are umbrella categories under which fall police, traffic enforcement, EMS, and fire and emergency preparedness.
When it comes to the streets, about one in five residents rated street conditions as good or excellent. Most residents only ranked street conditions as fair (29 percent) or poor (46 percent). This has not changed much over time; in the past, the rankings were similar.
Police were a little less favored by residents. Forty-eight percent of residents believe that police services are excellent or good; while the same percent reported that police services are fair or poor. The study also showed that residents of color were more likely to rate police approachability as poor, as compared to white residents.
Residents had mixed thoughts on safety throughout the city. White residents were more likely to agree that they felt safe in their own neighborhood versus black or hispanic residents.
Two-thirds of residents reported that they could easily travel between their homes and their jobs.
On the other hand, a divide was noted over the quality of trash collection; about half of residents said it was good or excellent, whereas the other ranked it as fair or poor.
“These results are the culmination of a citywide, highly engaged process to ensure we’re understanding what issues are impacting Philadelphians,” said Anjali Chainani, Director of the Mayor’s Policy Office.
Chainani added, “This Administration recognizes that in 2020, no government should rely purely on anecdotal feedback. Decisions need to be data-driven, and this survey is part of that process in Philadelphia.”
