Dallas Residents' Satisfaction With City Drops; Here's the Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Dallas residents are the least satisfied they've been in almost a decade, according to a new community survey.But the survey also shows that Dallas fares better among its residents than an average of other cities across the country.Dallas Chief Financial Officer Elizabeth Reich said the community survey, conducted by ETC Institute, is used as a gauge by city officials to make decisions about priorities.In past years, the survey has also been used to tout successes. When the ratings climbed in 2016, then-City Manager A.C. Gonzalez said the numbers were evidence that his tenure was moving the city forward. The 2018 ratings are the first since Gonzalez left and City Manager T.C. Broadnax shook up City Hall and tried to revamp some city services.Reich said despite the falling ratings, the questionnaire is a "perception survey" and a snapshot."We're always going to see changes in public opinion based on whatever may have been going on at the time of the survey," Reich said. "But what we see over time is that largely, the city of Dallas has stayed consistent in that we're better than other large cities in terms of satisfaction."  Continue reading...