The water's good, most everyone recycles, red lights don't hold us up for too long, and there are plenty of doctor choices and recreational opportunities in Duluth.
But in 23 other ways -- including police and fire protection and the quality of public schools -- the city has work to do.
So indicates a first-for-Duluth citizen survey being completed by the National Research Center of Boulder, Colo. Initial results were released yesterday. The final report is expected to be posted at the city's Web site at duluthmn.gov after a
2:30 p.m. news conference tomorrow.
"There is a lot of room for improvement here, and that's what our focus will be," Mayor Don Ness said while discussing the survey's results yesterday with members of the News Tribune editorial board. "I don't think there was anything that was a shocker or outside my understanding what the community is [but] I'm ready to work to improve these numbers."
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The numbers include that only 48 percent of the approximately 564 Duluthians who filled out and returned the randomly mailed survey (which has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percent) said Duluth's public schools were "excellent" or "good." That's below the national average.
And while 92 percent of respondents said fire service was "excellent" or "good" and 79 percent offered the same assessment of the city's police force, those seemingly strong ratings are only "similar" to the responses in other communities. And "similar," in the words of new Duluth Chief Administrative Officer Michael Ashcraft, is the same as, "We're good but we can do better."
Duluthians expressed the most dissatisfaction with "street repair." Only 2 percent said Duluth's streets were in "excellent" or "good" repair -- leaving many of the rest of us to wonder, of course, just where those 24 respondents live.
Anyone who has ever criticized City Hall for not being run enough like a bottom line-minding business can be encouraged by the broad citizen survey. Like a store owner interested in being closer to customers, the city made an effort to find out what residents want and what they think.
And the information resulting from that is valuable -- and can become even more valuable when it helps to dictate policy and when it's used to play a role in setting priorities.
About a third of the $15,000 cost for this year's survey was paid for by St. Mary's Duluth Clinic and the nonprofit Duluth Local Initiative Support Corporation. Other organizations can step up to assure that follow-up surveys are completed at least annually. That ongoing data will show whether the city is making the progress Ness promised.
"We're dedicated to making improvement," the mayor said.
The numbers won't lie.
