Contact:

Mark Hughes

(602) 495-5901

June 27, 2000

Phoenix residents have given their local government the highest marks in the history of the city’s community attitude survey.

Results of the bi-annual poll show that 92 percent of the citizens believe that Phoenix is a good place to live, and 89 percent are happy with the overall performance of the city in delivering municipal services.

“Phoenix has been honored nationally and internationally for efficient management,” said Mayor Skip Rimsza, who announced the results in a Tuesday morning news conference. “But the most important report card always comes from our customers, the people who live here and receive our services.”

Since 1985, Phoenix has hired a private public opinion research firm to conduct random sample telephone surveys of its residents to determine their levels of satisfaction with city programs and services.

Ted Apostol, president of WestGroup Research, reported that transportation has overtaken crime as the top concern, cited by 39 percent of residents as the single most important problem in their neighborhood. Crime was rated the most important by 27 percent.

Once again, fire protection, paramedic and ambulance services rated the highest among municipal services, followed by garbage collection, library services and police protection. Twenty-one of the 26 services rated by citizens earned higher marks than they had received in the last survey two years ago.

Residents who contacted the city either by telephone, mail or in person during the past year gave high marks to the staff who served them, with 86 percent reporting they were treated in a professional manner.

“This overall positive view suggests increased satisfaction on the part of residents, and demonstrates that efforts by the city to make improvements have been successful,” Apostol said.

When asked to rate a series of specific problems, 46 percent of the residents called air pollution a major problem. Concerns about traffic congestion have increased, rising from 40 percent to 43 percent.

A total of 718 residents were interviewed this spring by telephone in a random sample with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.7 percent.

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