The Community Attitude Survey

Most people are familiar with the city employees that protect our public safety such as our police offices and fire fighters, but there are many more. These are the employees that you don't see, the ones that work behind the scenes to add to our quality of life.

From my seat on the City Council I have a pretty good view of what our city employees are up to these days. I see many of them on the job every day. I see reports that they write about various challenges they face on the job.And I see reports that others write about them to let me know about their accomplishments, what they're working on and how they are performing.

Most of the time I am very pleased with what I see and what I read.

And, from time-to-time, I like to remind the residents of District 2 and throughout the city of what an outstanding job the 14,000 men and women who work for the city are doing day in and day out.

Turns out you already knew that.

And it comes as no surprise that the city's 2004 Community Attitude Survey speaks volumes about not only how well city workers are doing their jobs, but also about how you and your neighbors recognize and appreciate their good work.

More than nine of 10 residents who were quizzed for the professional survey - 91 percent - said they are very satisfied or satisfied with the overall performance of the city in its delivery of municipal services.

That result is up four percentage points from the previous survey in 2002 and is the highest positive service rating recorded since the city began conducting the biennial attitude surveys in 1985.

Such a high rating is remarkable to me. But even more amazing is the fact that the outstanding response from residents comes on the heels of the city the past three years having to reduce its budgets by $100 million, cut some services and eliminate some city jobs.

Now that's about the strongest endorsement possible of how well our employees are performing. During good times and tough times, they get the job done. It makes me very proud of each of them and very happy to be associated with such a fine group of dedicated men and women.

Of the individual services provided by the city, fire protection and paramedic service received the highest ratings from those who were polled. Fire protection scored 8.4 and paramedic service scored 8.3 respectively out of a possible 10.

Other services that were given high marks by the more than 700 people interviewed for the survey were garbage, library, Internet access, wastewater, street cleaning, police protection, street flooding controls, bus service, uncontained trash collection, preserving historic buildings and parks and recreation programs.

Being pleased with the performance of the city and its employees and the way they are delivering needed services gives most residents a heightened comfort level that makes them feel good about their community.

That shows up in the survey, too, with more than 90 percent of the residents questioned saying they believe Phoenix is a good place to live. I'm proud of the men and women who work for the city and help to make District 2 such a great place to live, work and play.

To learn more about topics that impact your neighborhood and family, join me at my monthly Issues & Info breakfasts. Take the opportunity to ask questions about issues that are important to you. The next one is 7 a.m. Friday, Oct. 29 at Jillian's in the Desert Ridge Marketplace. Please call my office for more details. I hope to see you there.

Phoenix City Councilwoman Peggy Neely represents District 2, which encompasses most of northeast Phoenix. She can be reached at 602- 262-7445 or via e-mail at council.district.2@phoenix.gov.