City Services Satisfaction Survey 2004 City Services Satisfaction Survey | Page 7

Overall Rating Of Arlington And City Services
It appears that Arlington residents continue to rate the city highly as a place to live
overall, in terms of quality of life. A large majority of residents (82%) rate Arlington as
either “good” or “excellent,” while only two percent rate Arlington as “poor.” The overall
rating of quality of life in Arlington remains about the same as last year, but still has
declined significantly from 2000.
City services in Arlington generally receive high overall ratings, with about half of the
services rated receiving a top-two-box rating (“good” or “excellent”) of 80% or higher.
The Arlington Fire Department continues to receive the highest ratings among city
services, followed by libraries, water services, ambulance, parks, garbage, police, and
recycling collection. Services receiving the lowest ratings are street maintenance
(which has traditionally been rated low) and managing traffic flow (a new measure
added in 2003).
Overall ratings of city services are generally similar to previous years, but several areas
showed significant improvement from 2002. Among areas showing improvement were
fire services, water services, recycling collection, code enforcement, and park & ride
services. The only area of notable decline was athletic facilities, which decreased only
slightly in 2003 but continued a three-year decline.
Decision Analyst, Inc.
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