The Results Are in – Here’s What Pleasant Ridge Residents Had to Say in Latest Survey
(Kurt Metzger, former Mayor of Pleasant Ridge, Nov. 21, 2023)
Pleasant Ridge, MI -The results are in from The City of Pleasant Ridge’s latest community survey. The last time a survey was done was back in 2016, receiving responses from 306 residents on a wide-ranging series of city service-related questions.
The last seven years have brought a great many changes to the city – both in city infrastructure and recreational assets, as well as resident mix. In fact, Pleasant Ridge was in the minority of communities in southeast Michigan to experience an increase in its youth population (less than 18 years) between 2010 and 2020. These facts, coupled with a soon to begin City Master Plan update, lead city officials to decide that an updated survey could serve to provide important resident feedback.
The 2023 survey was designed to include a number of questions from 2016 that would allow the administration to track changes over time and understand how residents viewed city investments made during this period. In addition, emphasis was placed on Communication – how residents currently receive information regarding the city and how they would like to receive it in the future.
The survey was posted online on September 11 and was accompanied by a postcard sent to every address in the city. This was followed with city website posts, Email blasts and continuing articles on the city and neighborhood Facebook pages. The survey closed on October 9 – four weeks later. The result: 872 residents completed the survey – 42.5 percent of the city’s population 18 years and over!
The final report, including detailed appendices of ‘open-ended’ responses to a number of the questions, was completed on November 13, with findings presented at the Nov. 14 Commission meeting. The report, appendices and presentation are available on the city’s website. This article will highlight a couple of the major findings.
Streets and Sidewalks – The city has invested a great deal in recent years to improve sidewalks across the city and will be starting to redo all streets as it meets the requirement to replace all lead service lines while replacing its 100-year old sewer system.
Public Safety Services – While Pleasant Ridge has its own Police Department, it contracts with Ferndale for Fire and EMS services, and with Berkley for Police/Fire Dispatch. Residents who had interactions with either Police and Fire indicated high levels of satisfaction. When residents were asked about their ‘feelings of safety’ in the city, 99 percent answered in the affirmative – safe or very safe.
Parks and Recreation – Residents were asked to rate the city’s parks and recreation facilities. City officials had particular interest in seeing how post-2016 investments in the Community Center and Gainsboro Park (which runs along the east side of the city) and have affected their ratings. It was gratifying to see the Community Center’s ‘excellent’ rating increase from 45 to 59 percent, and Gainsboro Park’s ‘excellent’ rating almost triple, from 23 to 66 percent!
City Services – Top Problems Facing the City – Residents were asked to rate a host of city services, followed by a question regarding what they judged as the major problems facing the city. In addition to a set of preselected issues, residents were able to enter additional issues of concern. When 2023 concerns were compared to those of 2016, ‘careless driving/speeding’ experienced the greatest increase, rising from 23 to 38 percent of respondents, while ‘crime’ dropped from 18 to only 2 percent.
Reasons for Selecting Pleasant Ridge – In spite of age or years of residence, Pleasant Ridgers were in agreement on why they selected PR as their home – walkable neighborhood, geographic location, tree-lined streets and sense of community. Recent residents also found the proximity to Ferndale and Royal Oak downtowns a definite plus.
The last two questions asked about resident satisfaction with Pleasant Ridge as a place to live, as well as offering the opportunity to make additional comments on any other issues. While I will not summarize the 277 comments that were received (an amazing amount of input at the end of a 28-question survey), I am pleased to summarize resident satisfaction – 70 percent ‘very satisfied’ and 28 percent ‘satisfied.’ Just goes to show that you can ALMOST please all the people all the time.
Learn more about the community survey, including more results, at https://cityofpleasantridge.org/community-survey-results/
