Pleasant Ridge residents see positive results in community survey

PLEASANT RIDGE — At its Nov. 14 meeting, the Pleasant Ridge City Commission received a presentation about a community survey with resident feedback on a host of city issues.

The survey was made, the city stated, to help officials “improve the delivery of government services, enhance its communication tools and prioritize budget allocations based on what the residents value most.”

The survey, which was sent to residents via postcards, e-blasts and Facebook posts, was presented by resident and former mayor Kurt Metzger.

According to the city, a total of 872 residents responded to the survey. The last time a survey like this was conducted was in 2016, when a total of 306 residents responded, which is 35% of this year’s total.

“If you look at census numbers, we actually accounted for 42.5% of all Pleasant Ridge residents over the age of 18 and 44% of all Pleasant Ridge residents over the age of 25. That’s a hell of a response rate. You’re not gonna see that anywhere else,” Metzger said.

The survey results stated that 96% of residents rated their own street as in excellent or good condition, while 4% rated it as fair or poor. Residents also rated their satisfaction with routine maintenance as 40% very satisfied, 55% satisfied, 4% dissatisfied and 2% uncertain.

“I think the overall message is people are quite satisfied with the services, with the infrastructure, with a number of things, but as you can see … people tend to like their street better than streets across the city,” Metzger said. “They like their sidewalk better than sidewalks throughout the city.”

Regarding snow and ice removal on the street, more than 90% of residents said they were very satisfied or satisfied. For fall leaf pickup, 89% said they were very satisfied or satisfied.

When asked if speeding is a problem on their street, 59% strongly agreed or agreed, and 38% disagreed or strongly disagreed. Asked if cars running stop signs is a problem, 46% of residents strongly agreed or agreed, and 39% disagreed or strongly disagreed.

“We tend to see cars running stop signs more of a problem on the west side than the east side because we have so many stop signs along Indiana (Avenue) and people are running those signs left and right,” Metzger said.

From the 2016 survey to the 2023 survey, residents went from giving Gainsboro Park a 23% excellent rating to giving a 66% excellent rating after the upgrades it has received over the years. Residents also went from giving the Community Center a 45% excellent rating to giving a 59% excellent rating.

On what amenities they’d like to see added to Pleasant Ridge, some answers were pickleball courts, outdoor exercise equipment, a toddler playscape and a splash pad.

Overall, 99% of residents stated that they were satisfied or very satisfied living in Pleasant Ridge, and 98% of residents said they feel very safe or safe in the city.

“I think the results that we saw were fairly consistent between 2016 and 2023,” Mayor Bret Scott said. “There were a couple of categories where things changed dramatically, and for those it might make sense to just go back and do a sense check to see if there’s still some trending or something that’s dramatically changing that we need to address, but the rest felt fairly consistently good, actually.”

For more information on the survey and its full scope, watch the Nov. 14 City Commission meeting on the city’s YouTube channel or visit cityofpleasantridge.org/a-message-from-mayor-bret-scott.