State of the City: How's life in Philly?

The Philadelphia Research Initiative, over at the Pew Charitable Trusts, has launched a landmark survey intended to gauge the state of the city. For about the last week, pollsters have been dialing landlines and cell phones to find out what Philadelphians have to say about pressing matters of the day and general quality of life issues. The targeted sample size for the survey is 1,600 people.

Former Inquirer writer Larry Eichel is in charge of the Philadelphia Research Initiative. He says the State of the City survey is intended to be conducted on an annual basis, in order to help create benchmarks and serve as a point of reference over the years to come. On certain topics, the same questions will be asked every year.

Eichel says he expects the collected data will be ready for public release sometime in the next month. He declined to discuss or provide a list of specific questions asked on the survey, saying it wouldn’t be a good idea to put out the questions before getting results. But we talked to some folks who were called for the survey and found out some of the questions, which we’ve posted below. The questions may not be the exact verbiage but they give you an idea of what was asked. Take a look, and let us know how you would answer some of the questions. While we don’t have a complete list of questions, what questions would you want to make sure were included on the state of the city survey? By the way, what letter grade would you give the state of our city? Take our poll.

Sample questions from State of the City Survey:

How would you rate Philly as a place to live?  Excellent, Good, Fair, Poor

How long have you lived in Philly?

Where in Philly do you live?

Do you rent or own?

What’s the best thing about Philly?  Say a word or two

What’s the worst thing about Philly?  Say a word or two

How would you rate some of the following (Using answers Excellent, Good, Fair, Poor):

trash collection                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               library system                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    recreational facilities                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               health clinics                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     schools                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    public transit

Would you pay higher taxes in general?

Would you pay higher taxes for: (1) trash collection; (2) police; (3) schools; (4) recreational facilities; (5) street cleaning?

Should the city raise taxes or cut services?

How would you rate Mayor Michael Nutter?

Give a letter grade to rate City Council.

How confident are you in Mayor Nutter to deal with the budget deficit?

What do you think of Nutter’s plan to suspend wage tax and Business Privilege Tax declines?

What do you think of Nutter’s plan to close the libraries?