6.1CHINATOWN

Philadelphia Neighborhood Plans

CHAPTER 6 NEIGHBORHOOD INDICATORS: MEASURINGSUCCESS

Tracking the success of community revitaliza-tion through on-going neighborhood indica-tors involves three types of measurements. Thefirst focuses on whether the status of theneighborhood is improving in comparison toother communities-in effect a set of broadlyrecognized impact measures. The secondassesses whether the specific plan objectivesare achieved-the measurement of operationalsuccess. The third focuses on the impacts ofplan implementation on current residents-themeasurement of impact on plan participants.

Neighborhood Status Indicators

With regard to the broad assessment of neigh-borhood status, the PhiladelphiaNeighborhood Development Collaborative(PNDC) has researched potential measures ofneighborhood conditions (neighborhood indi-cators) to assess the possible impacts of revital-ization efforts on the health of neighborhoods.That research suggested eight measurementsto track six indicators of neighborhood condi-tion that would apply to all revitalizing neigh-borhoods (in fact, to all neighborhoods). The sixsuggested indicators are:

1. Housing vacancy/abandonment rate2. Market for single-family houses 3. Business activity, particularly retail4. Crime rate5. Socio-economic status6. School quality/educational attainment

The eight specific measurements recommend-ed to track these indicators are:

1. Vacancy/abandonment (overall). Therecommended measure that can be reg-ularly updated involves tracking theending of water service as reported bythe Philadelphia Water Department,through the University of PennsylvaniaCartographic Modeling Laboratory'sNeighborhood Information System (NIS).

2. Single-family housing market. The rec-ommended measure includes specificdimensions of house sales price, rate ofchange in house price, turnover (sales)rate, owner-occupancy rate, and popula-tion change that can be tracked throughlocal government records reported invarious databanks, including NIS andThe Reinvestment Fund.

3. Rental housing vacancy. PNDC recog-nizes that the suggested measurement--the percentage of all multi-family prop-erties that seem to have at least one unitvacant, as evidenced by a water shut-off-does not provide a particularly accu-rate indicator. For the three neighbor-hoods in this study, an alternativeapproach may involve developing a listof multi-family property managers in thearea and conducting an annual surveyof them for vacancy as of a particulardate.

4. Business activity. The suggested meas-ure is rate of commercial vacancy in des-ignated commercial concentrations(commercial corridors, etc.). An annual

community-business association survey,beginning with a baseline set at thebeginning of plan implementation,would provide tracking of this condition.

5. Crime/safety. PNDC recommends usingthe University of Pennsylvania reportingof crime data from the City PoliceDepartment. This data can be used tocompute crimes, or serious crimes, percapita.

6. Socio-economic/demographic status.Obviously, this information can betracked through decennial census data.PNDC further recommends use of therate of household poverty, drawn fromthe Philadelphia Health ManagementCorporation (PHMC) bi-annual survey,although there appear to be serious lim-itations with this data at many neighbor-hood levels.

7. School quality/educational attainment.Three types of data are available - test-ing data, school attendance and enroll-ment data and school characteristics. Alldata is completely public for everyschool (including charters, privates andpublics), conveniently available and canbe manipulated.

8. Early Distress Signals. PNDC proposestwo indicators that over time could indi-cate that a community is undergoingnegative changes. The one that appearsto be more easily tracked is sheriff's saledata, which is a decent partial indicatorof abandonment, to complement thevacancy information from water records.

CHINATOWN

6.2

Philadelphia Neighborhood Plans

We recommend that Chinatown utilize theseeight indicators to track general conditions,although issues of commercial vacancy are lessimportant in this community.

Specific Plan Objectives

Success in achieving several priority plan objec-tives will be tracked through the eight neigh-borhood status indicators detailed above. Forinstance, successful rehabilitation activities willresult in a decrease in property vacancy.

Other indicators of success in achieving planobjectives would include:

1. Availability of affordable housing2. New housing construction and

conversion3. Expansion of available commercial space4. Achieve of targeted image and

community facility improvements: "TheBig Lid," viaduct, Chinatown CommunityCenter, Franklin Square

5. Investment in streetscape, parking, and open space improvements.

Specific measurements recommended to trackthese indicators are:

1. Affordable housing supply. Tracking thenumber of affordable housing units avail-able in the neighborhood.

2. New housing construction and loft conver-sion. Tracking the number of new housingunits constructed and the number of unitsprovided through loft conversions.

3. Commercial space rehabilitation & construc-

tion. Tracking the square footage of newretail/commercial space constructed andcommercial space rehabilitated throughoutthe community.

4. Achievement of targeted image and facilityimprovements. Monitoring a checklist ofkey facility improvements: "The Big Lid,"viaduct, Chinatown Community Center,Franklin Square.

5. Streetscape, parking, and open spaceimprovements. Tracking the dollar invest-ment in streetscape improvements. Alsotracking the square footage of availablepublic open space.

Impacts on Current Residents

One key community concern is whether cur-rent Chinatown residents and businesses bene-fit from the process of revitalization or whetherthey are displaced for economic reasons. Totrack these impacts, we recommend three indi-cators:

1. Household mobility rate2. Availability of affordable rental housing3. Business turnover.

Specific measurements recommended to trackthese indicators are:

1. Housing mobility rate. This recommendedmeasure is likely to be effective only once.Decennial census data reports at the blockgroup level the number of householdsresiding in the same house as five years pre-viously. 2010 data would report on house-hold mobility since 2005 (effectively the

start of plan implementation). Comparisonof this data with data from the 2000 censuswould indicate whether mobility hasincreased-a potential indicator of displace-ment.

2. Availability of affordable rental housing.Decennial census data on rent distributionwill give a timely report of data for 2010,though less timely for subsequent periods.This data can track the number of rentalunits with rents below a selected thresholdof affordability. (Note: Number of affordableunits is more useful than proportion ofaffordable units, since revitalization may beassociated with increases in the number ofmarket-rate units.)

3. Business turnover. The annual tracking ofbusiness vacancy in the community (seeabove) could be extended to collecting anannual business roster for year to year com-parison. At the annual update, notationcould be made of the reason for businessesleaving the area to track any economic dis-placement of current businesses.