The City of Menlo Park recently commissioned a community survey to provide a report card on City services and to help focus City resources in alignment with community priorities. Menlo Park contracted with Godbe Research to conduct a custom survey specific to Menlo Park issues as opposed to a generic survey tool used by many cities across the country. Menlo Park scored high marks for community quality of life as well as a number of City services including library, parks and recreation, and police according to a presentation of the results to the City Council Tuesday evening. This provides the City with a solid baseline for assessing services going forward. 

Almost 750 Menlo Park households responded to the online and telephone survey conducted in December 2015 utilizing a methodology that ensures the respondents are a representative sampling of Menlo Park’s population as expressed in the most recent census.

According to Menlo Park City Manager Alex D. McIntyre, “I am delighted by the results. We’re especially pleased with the results showing how highly residents rate the quality of life in Menlo Park with 85 percent rating their neighborhood as a “good” or “excellent” place to live.”
 
Perceptions of community safety were also highly rated with 96 percent of respondents saying their neighborhood is “very safe” or “somewhat safe.” A similar amount (96 percent) said they felt the downtown area was very safe or somewhat safe. 
 
According to the survey results, residents feel there is room for improvement, specifically with downtown, parking and traffic congestion. For example, just 56 percent are satisfied with downtown Menlo Park. Respondents also offered suggestions for changes they would like to see downtown, specifically additional dining options. Sixty-seven percent of respondents would support building an above ground parking structure in the downtown.