Quality Life Experiences
Sub-theme: Preserving dynamic, diverse, engaged neighborhoods: Franklin will be a place that offers a high quality of life for all citizens who choose to live and work here.
Franklin citizens are proud of their community. They want it to remain among the best places to live in the United States–a place envied for its engaging quality of life. People are invested in their neighborhoods as well as in the city. They willingly volunteer, participate, and support the many activities, recreational pursuits, and special events that bring them together as a community.
Franklin’s rapidly growing and increasingly diverse population, both in age and ethnicity, is both a strength as well as a challenge to the vision of our city. Our citizens understand the importance of ensuring that everyone who works within our community is able to live within our community.
A critical part of sustaining our unique sense of inclusiveness is ensuring that a range of housing options is available for varying income and demographic groups. As our boundaries expand, the efficient and effective varieties of land uses–residential, commercial, open space, and institutional–are critical components for sustaining our vibrant community. Our citizens are concerned that traffic congestion is increasing everywhere–on major streets and in neighborhoods. They would like a functional transportation system, more bicycle and pedestrian connections between residential neighborhoods and shopping districts or employment centers, and better transit options, not only within the city but connecting the greater metropolitan region.
There are four goals contained within this sub-theme:
Citizens will recognize and celebrate the unique sense of community and cultural diversity that is Franklin.
Goal: To have 90% or better of citizens who consider Franklin’s quality of life to be excellent/good.
Franklin of today has become one of the most desirable places to live in the mid-South because of the high quality of life available to its citizens. It is a goal of FranklinForward that the City maintain that high quality of life. This is measured through periodic citizen surveys of residents. Starting in 2012, citizens were asked about their perception of the quality of life in Franklin. The goal has been to have 90% of respondents rate the quality of life in Franklin as either excellent or good.
Baseline: 94% of citizens responding to community survey considered the overall quality of life to be excellent/good. (Source: 2012 Community Survey by ASI for Franklin Tomorrow)
Franklin will promote a strong arts, cultural, and historical community to serve the citizens of Franklin as well as visitors to our community.
Goal: To increase participation by 10% annually at permitted arts and cultural events in Franklin.
The City of Franklin is well known for its annual special events like the Main Street Festival, Fourth of July Celebration, Pumpkinfest, and Dickens of A Christmas. Hundreds of special events are held across the City every year. These events draw tens of thousands of people from across the region and America to the streets of Franklin, contributing to the cultural vitality of our City and enhancing the economic sustainability of small and medium-sized businesses from Downtown Franklin to Cool Springs and beyond.
The City works very hard to provide sufficient guidance, regulation and services to ensure these events can be as efficient, enjoyable and productive as possible. Although the actual attendance at these events is difficult to estimate, we are able to show the total numbers of permits - special event and film - granted annually.
Baseline: The total estimated attendance at City of Franklin events. Track annually the estimated number of attendees at BOMA permitted events.
Goal: Increase annually the number of events that satisfy all the criteria identified on the application for permit.
The City of Franklin hosts a variety of permits, fairs, festivals, music events, performance events, team tournaments and other activities in its 14 parks and Downtown Franklin. But we are always looking for more. A great example of such an initiative is the annual hosting of the two-day Pilgrimage Festival at the Park at Harlinsdale Farm in late September.
We will continue to evaluate our data to develop performance metrics to analyze the impact of these events on our community from a quantitative aspect.
Baseline: To be established from those applicants that meet all criteria identified on the application for permit. (Special Events Committee applications).
Franklin citizens will perceive they have excellent/good parks, recreation, and amenities.
Goal: To increase the percent of Franklin citizens who perceive they have excellent/good parks, recreation, and amenities.
Franklin of today has become one of the most desirable places to live in the mid-South because of the high quality of life and variety of services and amenities citizens can enjoy. Among the most important and accessible of these is the City of Franklin Parks system. Continued planning and construction of parks in new areas of town which compliment the varied and diverse needs of Franklin's citizens (which have been identified in the Parks Master Plan) is a key to maintaining a high citizen perception of City facilities.
The 2019 National Citizens Survey asked Franklin residents to rate the quality City parks. 93% rated City Parks services as Excellent, an increase of ten-fold from the 2012 survey. We are proud that so many citizens utilize our parks and enjoy the natural environment here in Franklin!
Baseline: 9% of citizens responding to community survey identified (unprompted) parks, recreation, and amenities as excellent/good. (Source: 2012 Community Survey by ASI for Franklin Tomorrow)