District C residents said walkability and damaged sidewalks are the top priorities and challenges in the district.
The results
District C council member Joe Panzarella shared the results of a recent budget survey that asked residents how they would like to see their district dollars spent.
When asked about their top priorities, over 33% of survey participants said walkability improvements were most important. Just under that, 32.9% said street upgrades were a top priority. Other priorities mentioned included park improvements, public safety, resiliency efforts and enhanced programming.
Over 23% of residents also said that some of the top challenges in District C were sidewalks that were either missing or in disrepair. Similarly, just over 20% said unsafe streets and 19% said deteriorating streets were top challenges.
Other challenges mentioned included:
Poor drainage - 11.5%
Public safety concerns - 7.3%
Lack of green spaces - 6.8%
Access to nearby parks - 2.2%
Illegal dumping - 1%
Access to community amenities - 0.8%
Access to city government - 0.5%
The results also showed that many residents did not feel connected to the District C office, with over 35% saying they didn’t feel connected at all.
Also of note
The survey was part of Panzarella’s 100-Day Town Hall, where he answered residents' questions and shared updates about what was happening with projects in the district.
Panzarella said his office was expecting between 200 and 300 responses, but received over 1,000.
“This tells me that District C residents are deeply passionate about their communities,” Panzarella said in a statement.
He added that the results mirrored what he heard while campaigning for his seat.
“I plan to deliver on these promises while taking these results into consideration in every decision I make for District C,” he said.
