Dallas residents feel the City government needs to do a better job of keeping the city clean, according to a recent survey.
The satisfaction survey from the City of Dallas indicates that more Dallas residents are disappointed with the City’s trajectory than support it, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
One issue some residents expressed dissatisfaction with was the cleanliness of Dallas, indicating the City is falling behind in its responsibility to keep it clean.
Only 4% of survey respondents said the City does an “excellent” job at street cleaning, with 21% saying the City does a “good” job.
Meanwhile, 44% said the City does a “poor” job at maintaining clean streets.
The street cleaning approval rating is the lowest recorded in recent years, with 34% of respondents saying the City does an “excellent” or “good” job in both 2014 and 2016. That percentage has steadily declined since then.
A portion of the satisfaction survey report included various comments and suggestions from respondents voicing their frustrations with City operations.
“Downtown is filthy, and has become dangerous unless the law abiding citizens are able to defend themselves,” one resident said. “Clean up the city!”
Another respondent complained about “infrastructure issues” including “badly timed traffic lights, broken curbs, potholes and rough street surfaces, [and] dirty streets due to no street sweeping.”
“I also believe the city is really starting to look dirty and unkempt in some areas and I believe we need to invest in the police presence a bit more,” another resident said.
These sentiments align with the larger trend of declining approval of the City of Dallas, as indicated by the survey.
“It’s a pretty shocking decrease,” said Council Member Cara Mendelsohn. “This trends over time. You just can’t help but have it jump out at you.”
The “biggest problems” in Dallas, according to survey respondents, are homelessness and crime — two issues that exacerbate the lack of cleanliness throughout the City.
In a statement sent to The Dallas Express by public information officer Ashley Guevara, City staff admitted that residents are dissatisfied overall with street cleaning but argued that it is a relatively low priority for Dallasites.
The statement noted that 7% of survey respondents said street cleaning should be one of the City’s top two priorities related to streets and infrastructure.
“Although satisfaction is relatively low for street cleaning, this category based on resident responses, was not ranked as a high priority for the City,” the statement concluded.
Polling conducted by The Dallas Express aligns with these results, with a recent survey finding that parents, in particular, view homelessness, vagrancy, and panhandling as “serious problems in Dallas.”