© 2024 Kansas City Public Radio
NPR in Kansas City
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Citizens Again Not Satisfied

Councilwoman Beth Gottstein implores her colleagues to work to end the perception that City Hall leadership is ineffective and unethical.
Photo courtesy of KCCG, Channel 2. Click to enlarge.
Councilwoman Beth Gottstein implores her colleagues to work to end the perception that City Hall leadership is ineffective and unethical.

http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/kcur/local-kcur-869484.mp3

Kansas City, MO – City Auditor Gary White presented the latest quarterly citizen satisfaction survey to the city council yesterday, and it was no cause for celebration.

Overall, there wasn't much change from the preceding quarter.

Maybe there was another slight gain in satisfaction with the way streets and public facilities are being maintained. Definitely more people were unhappy about bulky item trash pickup and difficulty reaching a representative at the 3-1-1 city services number.

And the scores for leadership by the mayor, council and city manager and whether the city conducts business ethically were still miserably low, prompting council member Beth Gottstein to remark, "Those scores eclipse eveything else. And I would urge my colleagues to look real harshly at the statistics, at ourselves, and we need to come together and figure out what to do about this."

Colleague Melba Curls wondered whether the questions were worded in a way that prompted negative responses. But the auditors and the mayor noted that the same questions produce much more favorable answers in other cities.

KCUR prides ourselves on bringing local journalism to the public without a paywall — ever.

Our reporting will always be free for you to read. But it's not free to produce.

As a nonprofit, we rely on your donations to keep operating and trying new things. If you value our work, consider becoming a member.