The majority of Dearborn residents rate the quality of life in their city as excellent or good, believe they are getting their money’s worth for their tax dollars and would favor as a cost-save City Hall being open for just four days a week with longer hours, according to the results from a phone survey recently released by the city.

About 400 registered voters took part in the survey, with 83 percent saying the quality of life in Dearborn was excellent or good, while only 1.1 percent found it poor or very poor.

The survey was conducted by Shreck & Associates in February and the results were shared with city council at their Monday meeting. Of those surveyed, about 37.3 percent reside in East Dearborn, 30.3 percent live in Southwest Dearborn, 25.3 percent in Northwest Dearborn, 3.3 percent in Springwells and 4 percent the South End.

According to the survey:

• 41.3 percent were unable to list any dislike with the city or its services
• 6 percent ranked taxes as a dislike
• 5.8 percent ranked culture as a dislike
• 5 percent disliked the rate of commercial development
• 3.5 percent ranked empty houses and home upkeep as a dislike
• 2.8 percent rated parking as a dislike

Concern about crime was minimal, as just 1.5 percent of respondents mentioned it as an issue, according to survey results.

As the survey was conducted via landline phones, residents who only have cellular phone service were not included in the survey.
“This survey is slanted slightly toward an older demographic,” Mayor John B. O’Reilly, Jr., told the Dearborn Press & Guide. “It’s still perfectly valid, but it’s something we need to keep in mind.”

In addition, the survey found:

• 71 percent of those surveyed agreed they get their money’s worth for tax dollars
• 14.5 percent said they did not get their money’s worth
• 13.5 percent were not sure
• 40 percent said the city no longer has the money to provide the services it did in the past
• 84.3 percent would support, as a cost-save, City Hall being open four days a week from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. rather than the current 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. five days per week.

How could the City save money?

• 4.9 percent suggested reducing city services
• 4.1 percent said eliminate or cut back on underutilized facilities
• 3.4 percent said close pools
• 3.1 percent said eliminate Homecoming
• 2.8 percent said reduce staff
• 2.8 percent said sell or close Camp Dearborn

Those surveyed also rated direct mail as the best way for the city to communicate to residents, with about two thirds saying so. Just 5.3 percent mentioned they wanted to receive more information via the Internet. Some 8.8 percent said they would like to conduct more city business online. Those surveyed under the age of 45 said they would like to use the Internet for City business (18.5 percent), while 62.5 percent of respondents 18 to 25 years said they would.

On Fairlane Town Center residents were split on shopping there when they needed to go to a mall:

• 43.8 percent said they regularly shop there
• 55 percent do not
• 1.3 percent were unsure

When asked why they didn’t shop at Fairlane:

• 11.5 percent said they preferred other shopping venues
• 8.8 percent mentioned crime or safety reasons
• 8 percent don’t drive or get out much
• 7.8 percent don’t like Fairlane
• 6.5 percent mentioned the clientele or culture of the mall as a reason (age, race, ethnicity)
• 3.5 percent simply don’t like malls

What is best about living in Dearborn? According to the survey, city services ranked first (29.3 percent), following by safety and community and then schools.

This entry was posted on Saturday, May 16th, 2009 at 11:20 am and is filed under City Hall. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.