“The goal of the National Community Survey is to give you a very high-level look that can inform strategic priorities and strategic planning processes.”
Nick Mastronardi is CEO of Polco, the company that conducted the survey measuring Grand Rapids residents’ quality of life compared to similar U.S. cities. Nearly 400 residents participated in the survey concerning city safety, mobility, economy, education, recreation, and community engagement.
“Residents view Grand Rapids as a great place to live and committed to community, so again, you’ll see these results are similar to the national benchmarks and similar to your custom benchmarks.”
One area of improvement focused on public safety, which the city scored lower than the national benchmark, but higher than previous years.
“I think this was also around the time that there was the police chief search was going on. Crime prevention rate relative to the national benchmark was a little low, and then relative to your custom benchmarking group, the police/sheriff services was a little low.”
The city has used the bi-annual survey since 2019 as a factor for budget discussions.
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