File photo
A sign welcomes people to Homewood, Alabama.
Nine days after I Love Homewood Day, the Homewood City Council heard the results of a survey that confirmed what they already knew: Homewood residents love Homewood.
Jason Morado, vice president and director of community research of ETC Institute, told the council during its pre-council meeting that the city graded very highly in the survey of 460 residents.
“We found that residents have a very positive perception of the city of Homewood,” Morado said. “Ninety-nine percent of respondents rate Homewood as an excellent or a good place to live, and 98% rate Homewood as an excellent or a good place to raise children. Those are obviously incredibly high numbers, some of the highest numbers really anywhere in the country where we conduct surveys. We also find that Homewood rates higher than the U.S. average in 47 out of the 49 (categories) that we compared.”
The researcher said Homewood rates 41 percentage points above the U.S. average regarding the overall quality of city services. That, he said, is one of the most important questions on the survey.
“Here, we're asking residents to take into account all the services that you're providing and really give kind of an overall satisfaction rate for how well the city is doing delivering services,” Morado said. “Then we also found that Homewood rates 34 percentage points above the U.S. average when it comes to customer service provided by city employees. The top overall priorities for city services are management of city streets and facilities, traffic flow and congestion, and stormwater runoff and the stormwater management system.”
Councilman Chris Lane noted that while traffic concerns were mentioned in survey results, there was another vehicle-related category he didn’t hear reported.
“The one item I didn't see on there is parking, which to me, is one of the major issues we do have here in Homewood, especially downtown,” Lane said. “I would say Edgewood also.”
City leaders said results of the survey and the city’s comprehensive plan will help them set priorities during the upcoming budget period.
Full results of the survey, including maps and charts, are available on the city of Homewood website.
During Monday’s council meeting, council members also:
- Approved a budget transfer of $25,000 for equipment and traffic signals.
- Set a public hearing for June 22 for the possible vacation of an unnamed alley adjacent to 200 Virginia Drive.
- Accepted a $5,000 state grant arranged by state Rep. David Faulkner for the Shades Creek Greenway trailhead pavilion.
