Kristen’s article in the December 2009 American Planning Association’s Planning Magazine is part of the Dillingham Comprehensive Plan! She’s excited that someone actually read it and found it helpful!
Sarah presented on the legal framework of environmental justice analysis. You can watch Sarah’s portion of the presentation here:
The Present
Brandy presented on the current state of TxDOT guidance. One very interesting portion of her talk was a list of major elements of environmental justice analysis. Brandy asked a series of questions that I’ve outlined below.
Major Elements of Environmental Justice Analysis
1. Users and Options
Who is using the facility?
What are their choices?
How do you figure out who is using the facility?
Are there free, parallel access roads?
What are the non-toll routes?
2. Accessibility, Policies and Collection Methods
Where is the excess toll revenue going?
What kind of projects are being funding with the toll revenue?
How easy is it to get a toll tag?
Does a toll tag require a credit card?
What are the payment options other than a toll tag?
How far do people have to go to get a tag?
What are the payment choices?
How much more does it cost if users don’t have a toll tag?
3. Economic Analysis
Today, TxDOT uses a simple reasonable scenario analysis to determine economic impact.
How often is someone likely to use the facility?
How many times per year?
How much would a reasonable scenario cost (i.e. likely times to use the facility x number of times per year)?
What percentage of income would the reasonable scenario be for a person of low-income versus a person of medium income?
You can watch Brandy’s portion of the presentation here:
The Future
Finally, Jolanda presented her research on the Appraisal of Available Analytical Tools To Assess Environmental Justice Impacts of Toll Road Projects. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that Texas is a leader in analysis of potential environmental justice concerns followed closely by Washington DOT. Learn more about the methods used by the different states in Jolanda’s portion of the presentation here:
Does your company block YouTube? If so, check out the PowerPoint of the presentation here.
The Housing and Regional Economic Report now has more recent housing data from the American Community Survey 2006-2008. This report also has Building Permit data. Check out the revised Housing and Regional Economic Report Sample.
Leave me a comment about what other data should be included in this report.
I find myself googling for this data once a month or so. I just can’t seem to remember where to find it on the Federal Highway Administration’s website. Below are states by total 2008 lane miles–which is the most recent dataset available today and is dated October 2009.
When planners need demographic data, they often turn to the US Census. But Census 2000 data is now horribly outdated. Even when Census data is up-to-date, there are potential inaccuracies as highlighted by Justin Wolfers in his New York Times post “Can You Trust Census Data.” When having accurate demographic data is vital to the success of a project, planners should consider using a Community Social Assessment (CSA).
What is a Community Social Assessment (CSA)?
A community social assessment is a self-completion survey that measures a geographically-defined community’s demographics, the relationships within the community and the opinions about current neighborhood conditions and future roposed projects. Some people refer to CSAs as social assessments, community impact assessments and several other names; while to others, a community impact assessment is another thing entirely. I’m focusing on the survey tool only in this blog post.
For example: Dr. Richard Krannich from Rocky Mountain Social Science recently used a CSA in an environmental impact statement (EIS) for the Utah Department of Transportation’s Geneva Road project. Krannich’s CSA asked dozens of questions about issues such as resident and household characteristics, neighborhood social integration and cohesion, resident use of the project corridor, resident opinions about traffic and road conditions and about action alternatives.
Now I can hear you thinking–”What a waste of time. No one would respond to a self-completion survey for a new road.” But Dr. Krannich was able to achieve a nearly 80% response rate. I’ll tell you how he did it below.
But first, when would I use a CSA?
If you have time and money in a project’s budget, a CSA can provide more current and thorough social data. This data could prove invaluable for projects that are likely to have environmental justice or community cohesion impacts. In an article for the American Behavioral Scientist Journal, Krannich stated that community studies may be better predictors than socio-economic data for obtaining what people think about their environment.
How do I conduct a CSA and get people to respond?
Step 1: With your project area in mind, write a questionnaire that can measure the community cohesion, public opinion and the social impact of your project. Some interesting questions from Krannich’s CSA include:
Are you likely to move in the next two years?
How sorry would you be if you had to move away?
How many personal friends live within 2-3 blocks?
How often do you socialize on the other side of the road?
Step 2: Mail the questionnaire to either all people in your area of interest (if it’s small) or to a random sample (if it’s large). Local appraisal districts are an excellent source of name and address information for residents in a project area. Include a self-addressed, pre-paid postage envelope for responses.
Step 3: Keep track of the questionnaires that are mailed back to you. For those questionnaires that are not returned to you, follow up with multiple callback attempts. Appraisal districts may have telephone numbers of residents. If they don’t, try looking up phone numbers via a reverse phone book like WhitePages.com. A reverse phone book allows you to enter an address, and it will provide a phone number.
Step 4: And for the residents that you can’t reach via mail and phone calls, consider a field visit to knock on doors and speak with them in person.
You can save money and time by using low cost touch methods (i.e. mail) first and then following up with only the residents that don’t respond with high cost touch methods (i.e. a personal visit).
What results can I expect when I conduct a CSA?
This process can give planners access to information that they could not find in Census data, such as how much a community is physically active. For example, Krannich’s CSA included questions like: “How often do you get out to walk, jog, or bicycle?” and “Do your children walk or bike to school?”
Also, obtaining more accurate data is possible with a CSA. For example, in Krannich’s case, the project area’s Census 2000 data reports that 10.1% of the population is Hispanic, whereas their 2007 CSA survey reports that 13.6% of the residents are Hispanic. Granted in this case, there is not a huge difference between 10.1% Hispanic and 13.6% Hispanic. But some regions in the United States have seen large demographic shifts in the past decade years (see “Diversity Spreads Out: Metropolitan Shifts in Hispanic, Asian, and Black Populations Since 2000“)
Where can I get more information on conducting CSAs?
The Social Assessment and Social Impact Assessment page on HD.gov has some good links to guidance documents for conducting CSAs or social assessments. I think the best place to go to get more information is to read actual CSAs and see how planners used this tool for real projects. Here are two examples of projects that used CSAs:
Geneva Road EIS – This project studies proposed improvements to two major roadways, Geneva Road and a portion of Provo Center Street in Utah.
Tortugas Ecological Reserve – To protect the reef from further degradation, the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary oversaw a three-year collaborative process, dubbed “Tortugas 2000.” Sanctuary advisory members, stakeholders, and government agency members were represented throughout the process. “Tortugas 2000″ resulted in the implementation of the Tortugas Ecological Reserve, a fully protected marine reserve within the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary.
Your Thoughts?
Have you worked on or reviewed projects that used CSAs? If so, leave me a comment below. Was it a helpful tool? If possible, please link to your project for others to review.
So for now, the 2009 poverty guidelines will remain in effect until at least March 1, 2010. The 2009 guidelines are as follows.
2009 Poverty Guidelines for the 48 Contiguous States and the District of Columbia
Persons in family
Poverty guideline
1
$10,830
2
14,570
3
18,310
4
22,050
5
25,790
6
29,530
7
33,270
8
37,010
For families with more than 8 persons, add $3,740 for
each additional person.
2009 Poverty Guidelines for
Alaska
Persons in family
Poverty guideline
1
$13,530
2
18,210
3
22,890
4
27,570
5
32,250
6
36,930
7
41,610
8
46,290
For families with more than 8 persons, add $4,680 for
each additional person.
2009 Poverty Guidelines for
Hawaii
Persons in family
Poverty guideline
1
$12,460
2
16,760
3
21,060
4
25,360
5
29,660
6
33,960
7
38,260
8
42,560
For families with more than 8 persons, add $4,300 for
each additional person.
SOURCE:Federal Register, Vol. 74, No. 14, January 23,
2009, pp. 4199–4201
NOTE: The poverty guideline figures above are NOT the figures the Census Bureau uses to calculate the number of poor persons. The figures that the Census Bureau uses are the poverty thresholds.
The Short Answer:April 2011 through September 2013
Summary files for the 2010 Census data will be released “on a flow basis from April 2011 through September 2013.”
The Long Answer:
Population counts will be delivered to President Obama within nine months of Census Day (on or before Dec. 31, 2010), as required by law. This data will include “the apportionment population counts by state, and the number of seats in the U.S. House of Representatives apportioned to each state.”
Also, “Public Law (P.L.) 94-171 requires the Census Bureau to provide only counts of the total population for a variety of geographic areas to be used for the redistricting process. In addition, other data items, such as race, ethnicity, voting age and housing unit tallies, are included in this data set. P.L.94-171 also requires these data be delivered to each state no later than April 1, 2011.”
An Unscientific Survey of Real Estate Data in 14 EISs published in January 2010
I read 14 EISs from the NEPA Library to see what real estate data was being included in these documents. Below are the results of my unscientific survey.
The chart above indicates that:
5 EISs had homeownership rates (i.e. 70% homeowners, 30% renters);
5 EISs had median home value/price data (i.e. $200,0000 per home);
4 EISs had total number of residences in the project area (i.e. 150 homes);
4 EISs had vacancy rate data (i.e. 12% of homes were vacant);
4 EISs had average household size data (i.e. 3.1 people per household); and
3 EISs had new building permits counts (i.e. 100 permits in 2008).
Real Estate Data Sources
The majority of the documents used city and county level data. The US Census 2000 was the most often referenced data source by far.
__________________________________________
So What Now?
I’ve been trying to decide what current real estate data to include in Cubit’s Housing and Regional Economic report. Based on my survey, I’m going to add homeownership rates, median home value/price, total number of residences, vacancy rates and average household size data to the Housing and Regional Economic report.
I’m going to use 2006-2008 American Community Survey data, because 1. it’s more up to date than 2000 Census data and 2. it’s available for large counties/cities (which are the project areas that were most likely to be used in the 14 surveyed documents). I’ll also consider adding permit counts from US Census Bureau’s Building Permits data.
Small Area Median Home Values
Small area home data is often difficult to find.
But I am disappointed that more of the documents didn’t include small area real estate data, like for zip codes or Census tracts. When I was writing NEPA documents, I needed small area data. Sure, county level data was helpful. But if a project was going to displace a home, I needed real estate data about that specific neighborhood or zip code to determine relocation opportunities. So I’m debating adding median home values for small area geographies like Census tracts to the Housing and Regional Economic report.
__________________________________________
Would median home value data for geographies smaller than cities or counties be helpful? Or is city/county level data sufficient for your analysis? Or maybe you’d like a blog post on good data sources for small area real estate data? Let me know what you think in the comments below, or contact me.
Check out the Census 2010 Hard-To-Count Interactive Map (http://www.censushardtocountmaps.org/). It pinpoints census tracts that the U.S. Census Bureau considers difficult to count. It also displays the detailed demographic and housing characteristics that the Census Bureau believes will create challenges to achieving an accurate count in certain communities.
Hard To Count Census Tracts in San Antonio, Texas
The mapping tool is based on the Census Bureau’s Tract Level Planning Database (http://2010.census.gov/partners/research/), which identified twelve population and housing characteristics associated with low mail response in the 2000 census. There are six “person” characteristics:
• language isolation;
• unemployment;
• mobility;
• below poverty level;
• receiving public assistance; and
• no high school diploma …
… and six housing characteristics:
• crowded housing;
• multi-unit buildings;
• lack of telephone in home;
• vacancy rate;
• renter occupied; and
• complex households …
…to calculate “hard-to-count” scores, ranging from 0 – 132 for every census tract in the country. The new mapping site uses a threshold score of 61 or higher to identify hard-to-count census tracts. The cutoff score of 61+ identifies roughly the top 20% of all tracts nationwide that are the hardest-to-count. In addition to showing these characteristics within hard-to-count census tracts, the database shows tracts with low 2000 census mail return rates and high foreclosure risk.
“This web site will help groups promoting 2010 census participation across the nation get the biggest bang for their buck by focusing precisely on the communities that will be hardest to count,” said Steven Romalewski, director of the CUNY Mapping Service. ”The tool will also help these advocates communicate effectively with people in hard-to-count areas because the maps reveal why each location will likely face enumeration challenges.” Mr. Romalewski pointed to language barriers, large numbers of renters, high poverty rates, and a prevalence of non-traditional households as some of the characteristics – alone or in combination – that the Census Bureau’s research indicates will contribute to a difficult environment for the census. ”The website provides visual evidence of those challenges with powerful maps and interactive data,” he noted.
————————————————-
I found out about this awesome resource in the Census News Briefs, which is prepared by Terri Ann Lowenthal. You can check out previous Census News Briefs at www.thecensusproject.org
According to the Department of Health and Human Services website, the 2009 Poverty Guidelines will remain in effect until at least March 1, 2010.
The reason for the freeze is that for the first time since the poverty guidelines were issued in 1965, the annual average Consumer Price Index has decreased from the previous year. If the 2009 guidelines weren’t frozen, the HHS would have had to issue 2010 poverty guidelines that were lower than the 2009 poverty guidelines.