National Citizen Survey
Dublin residents rate city best place to live in national survey
The residents of Dublin rate their community higher as a place to live than people from any other community participating in the recently-published nationwide 2009 independent National Citizen Survey.
The City’s scores are significantly higher than the norm for such surveys, according to Tom Miller, president of the National Research Center, Inc., an independent organization that conducted the survey.
“I have reviewed Dublin’s findings and found them uncommon in that the community is in the top five jurisdictions in our entire database in more than 50 key measures.
Clearly something remarkable is happening in Dublin, demonstrated by empirical evidence that residents truly appreciate so many aspects of community quality,” Miller said.
Dublin ranked first out of 306 communities in the survey when asked to rate their community as a place to live. Dubliners rated their community higher than people from any other surveyed jurisdiction on City services, overall appearance, and overall image and reputation.
Dublin rated consistently above the national benchmark in all 30 community characteristics and in all 36 government-provided services for which comparisons with other communities are available.
In addition to being ranked by Dubliners as the best place to live, categories in which the City rated higher than any other community nationally included economic development, street repair, sidewalk maintenance, traffic light timing and the quality of new developments.
Dublin was ranked second-highest of 238 communities responding as a place to work.
“Periodically taking the pulse of our residents helps us measure, based on the community’s standards, if City Council priorities and the Administration’s service delivery are achieving the most effective outcomes for our residents,” Terry Foegler, City Manager, said, “It also gives us a benchmark of our performance over time and provides a comparison of Dublin’s performance with that of other communities nationwide.”
Foegler added that the City will use the results to plan and make improvements and enhancements to support and continue its high-quality service delivery. The survey results will be used by staff, elected officials and other stakeholders for community planning and resource allocation, program improvement, policy making and tracking changes in residents’ opinions about government performance.
The survey was performed in late 2009 by the National Research Center, Inc, in partnership with the International City/ County Management Association (ICMA). The survey tool allows Dublin to compare resident satisfaction levels regarding community amenities and government service provision with peer jurisdictions nationwide. The survey focuses on quality of life, service delivery, civic participation and unique issues of local interest. The City will use the results to complete ICMA performance measurement review forms.
In Dublin, 1,200 surveys were sent to a random selection of households. Of those, 466 responded – about 40 percent.
Communities taking the survey were able to select which questions would be included in the questionnaires sent to their residents. Not every community included every question in their own surveys. As a result, the number of comparable jurisdictions varies by question.
The statistics mirror survey results from Dublin’s biennial community satisfaction survey, last performed in 2008. In that survey, 99 percent of residents rated Dublin as an excellent or good place to live and those results also indicate that almost all residents who interacted with City of Dublin employees rated their experience as “excellent” or “good.” The City performed that survey again in February with complete results expected in April.
Reports:
Geographic Subgroup Comparisons Report