The City of Pensacola released the results of its community survey. The overall mean satisfaction is slightly up over last year- from 3.68 to 3.71.
| Mean Satisfaction | |||
| 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | |
| Fire | 4.27 | 4.46 | 4.39 |
| Recycling, Garbage, Yard Waste Services | 4.19 | 4.20 | 4.04 |
| Number and Appearance of City Parks | 3.81 | 4.08 | 3.99 |
| Police | 3.82 | 3.98 | 4.03 |
| Community Centers | 3.91 | 3.96 | 3.69 |
| Recreational Opportunities | N/A | 3.96 | 3.77 |
| City Athletic Facilities | 3.81 | 3.87 | 3.67 |
| Appearance/Cleanliness of the City | 3.76 | 3.54 | 3.67 |
| City Street Lighting | 3.62 | 3.53 | 3.60 |
| Value of Services for City Taxes | N/A | 3.29 | 3.62 |
| City Sidewalks | 3.43 | 3.28 | 3.35 |
| Ease of Obtaining Info | 3.30 | 3.27 | 3.69 |
| City Streets | 3.06 | 3.11 | 3.29 |
| Stormwater Infrastructure | 2.70 | 3.01 | 3.07 |
| Average | 3.36 | 3.68 | 3.71 |
The Haas Center conducted the survey. Out of a random sample poll of 13,712 city residents, 444 were sampled.
District 7 was the least sampled city district – 7.2%. Districts 1, 3 and 4 made up 60.4% of the survey.  According to the Supervisor of Elections, those three districts contain only 45.9% of the city’s registered voters. Last year, Districts 1, 3 and 4 made up 42.1% of the survey.
The breakdown by district was:
| District | Responses |
| 1 | 82 |
| 2 | 42 |
| 3 | 89 |
| 4 | 81 |
| 5 | 45 |
| 6 | 48 |
| 7 | 30 |
Though the city population is 28.1% African-American, only 15.8% were surveyed.  Three out of every four respondents was white. More males than females were interview (52%-48%) , even the city’s population is the opposite (males 47.9% to females 52.1%).
In its report, the Haas Center didn’t explain the discrepancies. The researchers wrote, “While the survey under sampled African Americans and oversampled White residents, the distribution of gender and age for respondents was much closer to the population.”
The Haas Center survey has an “approximate 4.6% margin of error (+/-).”
The largest jumps in satisfaction are in Ease of Obtaining Information on City Services (3.27 to 3.69) and Value of Services for City Taxes (3.29 to 3.62).  The biggest declines were in Community Centers (3.96 to 3.69), Recreational Opportunities (3.96 to 3.77), and City Athletic Facilities (3.87 to 3.67).
Stormwater Infrastructure and City Streets remain the lowest rated city services. Â Fire is the highest rated service, followed by Sanitation Services and Police.
“Seeing that by a margin of 8 to 1, city residents are telling us that the city is on the right track, and that the City continues to get high marks for core services such as public safety, sanitation and city parks, I think these survey results validate that our priorities are aligned with the community’s expectations,†said Mayor Hayward in a press release.  “The survey data is useful to us as we begin our budget planning process. There were a lot of positives in the survey, but it also showed us opportunities for improvement, especially around issues of infrastructure.â€
The UWF Haas Center added one more question: “How would you describe the direction of the City?â€
69.3% of respondents said the City is headed in the right direction.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | Total | |
| Right direction | 63% | 62% | 70% | 80% | 60% | 77% | 57% | 69% |
| Wrong direction | 10% | 7% | 9% | 7% | 11% | 6% | 13% | 9% |
| Not Sure | 24% | 31% | 20% | 12% | 29% | 17% | 27% | 21% |
| Prefer not to answer | 2% | 0% | 1% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 3% | 1% |
| Total responses | 82 | 42 | 89 | 81 | 45 | 48 | 30 | 444 |
The PYP Quality of Life survey is conducted by Mason Dixon and statistically matches the demographics of the city and county. The survey that was released in September asked its respondents: Â “And generally, do you think that the City of Pensacola is heading in the right direction, or are things on the wrong track?” Â The results were very different. Â City residents said: Right Direction 46.7% Â Wrong Track 46.2% Â Not Sure 7.1%
From PYP report: “The margin for error, according to standards customarily used by statisticians, is no more than plus or minus 3.5-percentage points. This means there is a 95 percent probability that the “true†figure would fall within that range if the entire population were sampled. The margin for error is higher for any subgroup, such as a gender, income or race.”
