Survey asks residents: What city services can Philly improve?

Have a gripe about trash pickup or pot holes in your neighborhood? The City of Philadelphia wants to know what residents think of its city services.

Starting today, residents can fill out a public opinion survey rating garbage collection, street repairs, conditions of city park and recreation centers, and responsiveness of police and fire departments.

The 2016 Philadelphia Resident Survey is available here and takes about ten minutes to complete.

The city, in partnership with Temple University Institute for Survey Research (ISR) and BeHeardPhilly, will randomly sample residents but anyone is invited to voluntarily participate in the survey to provide the city with feedback.

"Philadelphians have never been shy to voice their opinions about city services, but for too long the City has failed to use that feedback in a systemic way," said Mayor Kenney, in a release announcing the survey. "This resident survey is an important step in that direction."

Those willing to give their name and address are entered into a raffle to win a $100 gift card.

The last time the city conducted a public opinion survey was in 2007. The mayor's office will launch them annually, city spokesman Mike Dunn said.

Most of the questions ask respondents to rate a certain city service on a scale of excellent to poor. Respondents are asked to provide their zip code and answer questions about street lighting, snow removal, traffic, quality of water and blight within their neighborhoods.

The city is also collecting responses on how much people spend on utilities, what residents think of city land use, child welfare, health centers and how well government communicates public information.

At the end of the survey, respondents can write in the top three areas they think the city should focus on improving.

The city is spending $32,000 on the survey, two follow-up focus groups with residents, and four topic-specific surveys in the coming year.

Results of this first survey are due out later this fall.

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