Evaluating, not listing
A chronology of what happened in a year is one task. Judging whether the year brought progress is another. This article provides a set of questions for the second task, and it assumes you have already established the facts from primary sources. It does not give verdicts for any particular year. The questions are meant to be applied to whatever data are current when you read.
Start with the frame
Before looking at any number, settle three things.
- Whose progress? Residents overall, a specific neighborhood, renters, young people, small business owners or the city budget? Each can give a different answer.
- Compared with what? Last year, five years ago, similar cities or the state average? A single year is a small sample, and comparisons across several years are more reliable.
- What counts as progress? Decide beforehand which direction of change you would count as good, so you do not interpret data after the fact to suit a view.
Jobs
- Did employment among residents change, not just the number of jobs located in the city? Jobs in the city and jobs held by residents are different measures.
- Did the labor force participation or unemployment figures move, and are the figures from the same source and method as before? A drop in unemployment can reflect people leaving the labor force.
- Did wages or hours change, or only the headcount?
- Which sectors added or lost work, and are they accessible to people with the training available locally? Background on the overall picture appears under economy and jobs.
- Did training programs report outcomes such as placement and retention, or only enrollment?
- Did new small businesses open and survive, or just open?
Safety
- Which measure is being used: reports to police, arrests, resident surveys or hospital data? They can move differently. The limits of such figures are explained under crime rate.
- Is the period long enough to see a trend, rather than a single unusual year?
- Did the categories change, or did reporting practices change, in ways that affect comparisons?
- How do residents describe their own sense of safety and their experience with public agencies? Survey data, where available, adds something numbers on incidents cannot.
- Were there changes in lighting, street design, lot cleanup or youth programs that bear on public safety initiatives, and is there evidence about their effects?
- Do the results look similar across neighborhoods, or are they concentrated?
Housing
- Did rents and sale prices change relative to household incomes? Prices alone do not show affordability.
- Were new units added, and at what price levels? A count of units says little without their prices.
- What happened to vacancy, and were vacant properties returned to use, cleared or left as they were?
- Were there signs of displacement, such as rising eviction filings or residents leaving areas where investment occurred?
- Did the stock of subsidized or income-restricted homes grow, shrink or stay about the same?
- Did the condition of existing housing improve, based on inspections, repairs or complaints?
Public finances and services
- Did the city’s budget remain balanced, and how much depended on outside aid?
- Did the basic services, such as trash collection, street repair and schools, appear to improve or decline? Budget documents show priorities, and the basics are explained under municipal budgets.
- Was there progress on any long-term commitments announced in prior years?
Voice and process
- Were residents consulted before major decisions?
- Did public meetings include meaningful opportunities for comment, and were the concerns raised answered?
Reading the answers
Few years produce a clean sweep. A reasonable summary may read, for example, that one indicator improved, another was flat, and a third could not be assessed for lack of data. That is a legitimate finding. If a source answers every question favorably, or every one unfavorably, that is itself a reason to look for what is missing. Where data are not available, say so, and check official sources before drawing conclusions.