National Research Center Vice President Michelle Kobayashi presented the results, and noted that 68 percent of Paducah’s residents gave positive ratings regarding the overall quality of life in Paducah. That number increased from the 63 percent approval rating in 2013. Paducah received a 78 percent approval rating as a place to live and a 73 percent approval rating as a place to raise children. Community characteristics receiving the highest ratings are overall safety, safety in neighborhoods and downtown, overall ease of travel, and K-12 education. The community characteristics with the lowest ratings include employment opportunities, bicycle travel, and affordable quality housing.
90 percent of respondents gave the Paducah Fire Department a good or excellent rating; 77 percent of the respondents rated the Police Department positively; 77% of the respondents rating garbage collection as excellent or good, and 75% of the respondents rated Paducah’s parks system as excellent or good. Other services receiving high marks are the McCracken County Public Library and the local ambulance service. City services that have the lowest ratings include street repair, recycling, and code enforcement.
Ratings for overall confidence in city government did not change significantly from 2013’s survey, remaining at 33 percent. Kobayashi said the national political climate with negative campaigning may be affecting everyone’s public trust, even at the local level. “There is such a lack of education of what local government does. People can rate the services they receive, but they often get their impressions of government as a whole from national media.”
The National Citizen Survey gathers feedback from citizens about community livability which includes city services, civic participation, governance, and various community topics. In April and May, the NRC mailed the National Citizen Survey to 1400 randomly selected households in Paducah. The City of Paducah had a return rate of 29% with the completion of 370 surveys.
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Citizen Survey Results
