Page 37 - KCMO Parks Master Plan 2032
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working maintenance, or administering programs,
most parks and recreation positions require Respondents were asked what the Department
does well in the following areas, along with top
a physical presence. Some of that can be responses:
overcome with working hours flexibility, but it likely • Places: Parks
still requires a physical presence.
• Programs: Fitness
• Events: Seasonal/Holiday
Respondents were asked to rate their level of An important follow-up question to this would
satisfaction with their current position in the be, why do you think the Department does these
Department with a 0 being completely unsatisfied things well? Based on previous responses,
and a 10 being completely satisfied. The average both staffing and lack of budgetary resources
response of respondents was a 6.8. The
consulting team felt that this was a reasonable are concerns. It’s important to understand and
maintain strengths in the system while addressing
score given some of the concerns that were the shortcomings.
highlighted in the survey.
In contrast they were asked what they should do
Approximately 80% of respondents indicated
that they do interact with the public in their less of:
• Places: Skate Parks & Dog Parks
position. Those respondents indicated that • Programs: E-Sports
frequent compliments they hear from the public • Events: Plein Air Art
include “good job,” “clean and quick responses to
guests,” “ great staff,” “keeping parks clean,” “parks
are beautiful,” “thank you,” and “park workers Skate parks are a common dislike amongst
staff because of the “other” uses and users it
are appreciated.” Those same respondents draws when not being used as a skate park.
indicated the following common concerns or Many departments have engaged the users of
criticisms: trash, bathrooms, poor maintenance of skate parks to get them more involved and take
parks or parkways, homeless population, funding,
concerns about staff, timeliness of repairs, ownership of the spaces, which has had a positive
result. While dog parks are a favorite amenity
community centers need attention, reliability of residents, they are typically disliked by staff
of services, and length of time for projects. The because of the maintenance they require. Some
percentage of respondents that interact with departments have moved to an annual fee to use
residents in person, on the phone and through
email underscores the previous comment about dog parks to help try and recover some of the
costs associated with offering the amenity, while
requiring a physical presence to complete many others have engaged “friends of” groups to help
tasks. The challenge with what was reported offset some of the maintenance time. Though
back to the consulting team is that it can have many view E-Sports as contradictory to parks
a significant amount of recency bias prioritizing
recent events over historical tendencies. Many and recreation, most departments are exploring
either offering the program or creating the space
departments and communities of this size to do so.
often conduct resident satisfaction surveys.
The data collected with that type of statistically Approximately 62% of respondents indicated that
representative instrument would provide better
data in this area. Kansas City offers the Resident they felt the Department DOES NOT receive an
appropriate level of support from City leadership
and Business Satisfaction Survey, this survey and residents. This is another area where follow-
includes some questions focusing on the Parks & up dialogue may be required to understand how
Recreation department.
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