John Tierney New york times article titled “How Happy are you? A Census Wants to Know”, discusses how Somerville a city in Massachusetts filled out a survey given by officials in Boston who wanted to evolve pass the traditional measures of success and economic growth so that they can encourage new polices they can put to play to promote more than just the materialistic being of the community. As stated in the article “Somerville used to be renowned for crime and nicknamed “Slummerville,” …..” Taking that into consideration many the citizens there made sure they participated in this survey test taking it was noted that “more than 7,500 people have mailed back the survey, some of them clearly not limiting their answers to municipal concerns.” As a result the mayor was greatly pleased with this survey it allowed him to the mindsets of his Citizens and what policies he needed to get to bring improvement to the community. The survey asked questions like “to rate the nuts-and-bolts aspects of their communities — the police, the schools, the availability of affordable housing — as well as the “beauty or physical setting” of Somerville, an industrial town full of triple-decker houses. The city wants to know: “Taking everything into account, how satisfied are you with Somerville as a place to live?”……” and so forth therefore showing that they truly cared for the opinion of the people which in they end flattered residents by the cities attention thus encourage more positive attitude from the citys people.