City satisfaction plummets

The 2004 survey of KCMO residents shows a big drop in their satisfaction with the services provided by City Hall. The number people satisfied with the city’s overall services dropped from a mediocre 54% to a new low of 42%. Some of the worst-rated services were sidewalk and street maintenance, codes enforcement, Downtown mainentance, and parks maintenance. KC’s numbers are comparable to other large cities, but well below the region’s suburbs. It’s no surprise the Northland and Midtown/Plaza/Brookside corridor were in better shape than the East Side or South KC.

The perception street problems are especially interesting, since in the last couple of years have seen voters approved several bonds for street repair. This year the city’s street resurfacing list is twice as big as last year. So even though the politicians keep talking about the need to improve basic services, the people still aren’t seeing enough results.