IT’S USUALLY DEATH and taxes that define the inevitable. However, in the city’s 2013 National Citizen Survey, comments about roads and taxes dominated the open-ended question responses. Respondents were asked to record their opinions about City priorities in the following question: “What should be City leaders’ top three priorities to maximize the quality of life in Ann Arbor?” The verbatim responses were categorized by topic area and those topics are reported in the chart on page 3 with  the percent of citizen responses given in each category.

A total of 778 surveys were completed by Ann Arbor residents; of these 567 respondents wrote in responses for the open-ended question.

The responses are presented in a 28 page document available on the city’s website. In that document, 57 percent of responses focus on the “worst,” “unsafe,” “abysmal” and “terrible” roads. The responses dealing with roads, transportation, traffic, traffic enforcement, bikes and pedestrians account for the largest number of responses.

A small number of responses, only about 7 percent of the total, have to do with homelessness and services for low income residents. An even smaller number of responses identified community events and culture as top priorities for city leaders: exactly four comments. Sixteen percent of the responses given  focused on issues related to land use, planning and development.

While Ann Arbor’s mayor, a handful of City Council members, as well as members of the Board of the Downtown Development Authority, push to have City Council focus on land use, planning and development, resident responses to the National Citizen Survey show that those who were surveyed want to see exponentially more attention paid to roads, basic services such as police and fire, parks and the city’s high cost of living. What follows is a selection of citizen comments taken from the Open End Report:

Question: “What should be City leaders’ top three priorities to maximize the quality of life in Ann Arbor?”

Roads 

Road repair, Road repair, Road repair—lights, timing.

Fix the road / streets. One of the comments guests from out of town make is the poor quality of the streets in Ann Arbor.

The snow removal and quality of roads in Ann Arbor are horrible. I grew up in an area where there is much, much more snow and yet the road quality & snow clearance was light years beyond that in Ann Arbor. The  idea that plows should wait until snow stops to go out is crazy. In Toronto, plows are out throughout a storm  clearing streets and putting down salt. Many times in Ann Arbor side streets are not even plowed. This is really  my only complaint but it is a big one. The number of potholes in Ann Arbor is embarrassing. So my 3 would be:  1. Snow removal. 2. Repairing roads 3. Keeping up with 1 & 2.

These streets really need updating.

Fix the roads especially Jackson/Huron.

Maintain roads. I have lived in many areas, and not only are the roads the worst I have seen in the county, but are  unsafe to cyclists & cars. It is embarrassing & detracts from the overall quality of life here.

Street repair—for a city doing so well it’s just unacceptable.

1. Road repair. 2. Road repair. 3. Road repair.

Fix the disintegrating roads — Streets such as Huron (between 1st Street and Maple) and Forest (between S.  University and Hill ) are so bad that I try to avoid them. This means more traffic in residential districts as  drivers try to avoid deteriorated main routes.

Low emphasis on art expenditure more attention to street repair.

More attention to the roads, too bumpy!

Safety Services 

Safety. In light of the recent homicide and unsuccessful investigation, many community members have  been rather unsettled. There are also a number of places in town that feel less than safe after nightfall.

Minimizing crime/improving safety.  Improve relationships with the community and police by returning to  community based police. Increase their presence where citizens car get to know them and begin to trust who is their to ““help” quality & snow clearance was light years beyond that

Police & fire-number of personal & equipment.

Concentrate on basics first-police, fire.

Improve police response (low crime is b/c of the population, police are incredibly poor at solving real crimes  when they happen.

Ensure the downtown area remains safe. It’s becoming a concern lately especially at night.

Top priorities For Ann Arbor is having a police presence again. Ask any police officer why they rarely pull people over anymore. They will tell you there is too much paper work for a traffic stop. A2 lacks police presence  on the streets.

Taxes 

Reducing taxes, I pay $13,000 annually and get virtually nothing, even leaf pick up ended. Recycle & garbage  + compost have too many rules. They have left items when only a few off. As you get older, cannot deal with  this. So I am leaving.

Reduce property taxes.

Less money to art better streets repair.

Property taxes way above appropriate percentage—need to be adjusted to allow residents to live/own within  city limits and still be able to enjoy local businesses/establishments in Ann Arbor. Is a nice city to work/live in  but the unjustifiable taxes make it difficult to do so (this from a household income of $ 100k +).

Stop putting taxpayers’ money into idiotic projects like an underground parking facility next to the public  library.

Lower property taxes.

Spend tax dollars on basic services restore police & fire. Fix the roads!!

Taxes are way too high for services received.

Cut taxes. Stop wasting so much money.

Find ways to raise revenue others than taxes. Lower property taxes on houses under $250,000 my husband & I work here & work like to buy a house in Ann  Arbor but cannot afford the high property taxes on even a $200,000 family home. I’d like to raise my kids here, but the high property taxes means I’ll probably have to move to Ypsi. I am middle class — lower middle class  yes — but middle class & it is ridiculous that I can’t afford (with 2 incomes in this family) to live & raise a  family where I work.