If you’re happy and you know it – clap your hands. And in Burlington – we appear to be clapping our hands.

By Pepper Parr

BURLINGTON, ON May 17, 2011 – Do we like where we live? We do. Are we happy with the services provided by the civic administration? Apparently so. The folks in Ward 4 would appear to be the happiest campers while those in Wards 1 and 2 are not as certain that Burlington is a second heaven.

This information is contained in a Quality of Service survey the city had done by a research firm in the Big Smoke to the east of us. This research work was first done in 1998 and repeated again in 2001, 2003, 2006 and 2008. The 2011 survey gives people who reads these reports a look at where the city is today and where it was in each of the years the survey was done.

The city wants to know if they are delivering on the promise when you put the cheque in the mail to pay your taxes. The research firm interviewed 752 people. It took on average 17 minutes to get answers to all the questions. The person answering the question had to be more than 18 years of age. The survey was done between April 4-11. Some over sampling was done to ensure that at least 125 people in each ward were interviewed.

Interesting data. In the next few days we will provide data and commentary. If you are a real data geek the full report is available at: Click here.

A difference of 10% in impression level is significant. Those who thought it was very good has been in a consistent decline while those whose impression was excellent has increased. The difference based on ward is quite telling.

How happy are we with the services provided by the city. Basically half of us are somewhat satisfied while the other half is very satisfied. No one is reported to be totally ticked off with the service.

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