For Immediate Release: Oct. 14, 2008
Contact: Communications Manager
Heather Lammers, 303-538-7238

2008 Survey Shows Residents Pleased with City Services

Most Thornton services garner approval ratings of 70-96 percent

The annual citizen survey conducted by the City of Thornton shows residents are very pleased with services the City provides.

Overall, 78 percent of residents feel that the City of Thornton is headed in the right direction, only 11 percent of city residents feel the City is on "the wrong track" and 83 percent of residents approve of their quality of life in Thornton. Twenty-three percent of residents rated quality of life as "excellent" while 60 percent rated quality of life as "good." Only 17 percent rated quality of life as "fair".

City services also received high marks from voters…

• 96 percent of residents are pleased with trash collection (75 percent "very satisfied" and 21 percent "somewhat satisfied")
• 95 percent of residents are satisfied with the City's water (62 percent "very satisfied" and 33 percent "somewhat satisfied")
• 92 percent of residents are satisfied with maintenance of parks, trails & open space (61 percent "very satisfied" and 31 percent "somewhat satisfied")
• 89 percent of residents are happy with fire protection (67 percent "very satisfied" and 22 percent "somewhat satisfied")
• 87 percent of residents are pleased with the City's recycling program (70 percent "very satisfied" and 17 percent "somewhat satisfied")
• 80 percent of residents feel the City is easy to drive around (35 percent "very satisfied" and 45 percent "somewhat satisfied")
• 78% of residents felt Thornton was a good place to start a new business

Areas where residents still had solid but not glowing satisfaction ratings between 70 and 80 percent were snow removal, code enforcement, street repair, city planning and Inside Thornton magazine.

This year's annual survey also asked residents about the impact they perceive RTD's FasTracks will have on their quality of life. Sixty-seven percent of residents feel the project will have an overall positive impact on their quality of life (23 percent "very positive" and 44 percent "somewhat positive") while 10 percent believe it will have a negative impact and 12 percent say it will have no impact on their quality of life.

A sample of 401 residents was taken from the City's active voters. The survey was conducted by Hill Research Consultants in late July 2008 and has an error rate of +/- 4.9 percent.